is expected to meet the emir of qatar and the foreign minister lavrov has already held meetings with turkey's foreign minister on wednesday on al-jazeera as bennett's myth is following this visit for us here in doha than it is fairly busy meeting schedule for lavrov just how significant is this visit. sergey lavrov has already been to abu dhabi to dubai to riyadh and finishes or for city tour here in doha he's meeting at the moment with the cattery foreign minister and the turkish foreign minister of foreign minister russia russia's foreign ministry says the purpose of this tour is to look for business opportunities business opportunities in power generation in industry in agriculture the peaceful use of space and also he says a need to settle existing conflicts in this region there referring to libya to yemen and to syria turkey and qatar on the side of the syrian rebels holed up along the turkey syria border russia has been backing the assad regime and in libya in qatar on one side of the fight and the russians on the other so much for them to discuss but what's also interesting is

have essentially ground to a halt speaking at a news conference with his chinese counterpart sergey lavrov accused brussels of killing off all cooperation earlier my colleague kevin or discussed the latest escalation with our correspondent but i've got. we don't have any relations with the european union as an organization the infrastructure of further relations was destroyed by unilateral decisions from brussels well it certainly isn't business as usual business as usual has been dead since 2014 foreign minister sergey lavrov specified because that's when all these meetings and you'll consultation summits between senior our profile russian officials and european commissioners and leaders that is when they ended ever since then it's been a steep it wasn't a gradual it's been a steep decline but it is important to draw the distinction he said the relations between the european union as a as a huge bureaucratic machine soulless bureaucratic machine those are dead the relations between various european states and russia there are a lot of it in some cases very healthy but sergey lavrov did sa

various european states and russia there are a lot of that in some cases very healthy but sergey lavrov did say there are there is some hope because if the european union changes its outlook changes its approach decides that it wants to improve many relations russia russia will be there but that has to happen as equals on equal footing to mutual benefit so russia isn't about to bend over backwards to do something that europe wants especially not after not after everything that has happened in china shares much the same opinion. which european powers meet here china and russia but they know it's under invented pretenses an attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of china russia a long gone result to uphold international justice remains undiminished or. rob was in beijing making a statement as he was talking to his chinese counterpart let's talk for a minute then about russia chinese relations where is that going well the becoming closer and closer and they're being driven closer and closer because look at the european union's policy towards russia for the better half of a decade the

certainly isn't business as usual business as usual has been dead since 2014 foreign minister sergey lavrov specified because that's when all these meetings annual consultations summits between senior our profile russian officials and european commissioners and leaders that is when they ended ever since then it's been a steep it wasn't a gradual it's been a steep decline but it is important to draw the distinction he said the relations between the european union as a as a huge bureaucratic machine soulless bureaucratic machine those are dead the relations between various european states and russia there are a lot of it in some cases very healthy but sergey lavrov did say there are there is hope because if the european union changes its outlook changes its approach decides that it wants to improve mend relations russia russia will be there but that has to happen as equals on equal footing to mutual benefit so russia isn't about to bend over backwards to do something that europe wants especially not after not after everything that has happened in china shares much the same opinion. which you

the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov is in katha on what is now the final leg of his 4 day tour of the gulf region mr lavrov is expected to meet the emir of qatar and the foreign minister in doha he has already held meetings with turkey's foreign minister in doha as well on wednesday japan is marking 10 years since a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit its northeastern coast and triggered meltdowns as a nuclear power plant 16000 people were killed and 2500 remain still missing china's annual national people's congress has wrapped up in beijing its leaders have passed new laws restricting democratic participation in hong kong candidates running for office will be vetted by a committee appointed by beijing the biden ministration has announced plans for its 1st high level face to face talks with china secretary of state anthony blinken says he'll be laying out his concerns on a range of issues at next week's meeting and alaska. all those other headlines of folly will have more news for you here on al-jazeera after people unpalatable on a statement perhaps. need to take a mean mo

russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov said moscow no longer house relations with the european unionnd only with individual e.u. countries lavrov made the comments as he met with his chinese counterpart the 2 nations affirmed their ties in the face of criticism and sanctions by the e.u. and other western powers over human rights abuses in a joint statement the 2 ministers said no country should seek to impose its form of democracy on any other let's bring in either your correspondent emily show in moscow emily strong words there from the russian russian foreign minister are we going to see a break in iraq russian relations. well i think those words that we're hearing from said again lover all far more bluster and anger than a real indication that russia will break ties with the e.u. after all in a recent interview the russian foreign minister himself. again that the e.u. is russia's main trade and investment partner and russia is also currently trying to get its vaccines. registered in the u. so it be rather on strategic to break ties completely now i think instead this is a reaction

call league with the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov of wow i can tell you that it was from a christmas party that christmas party 2 loads of journalists were invited there even foreign journalists tens of them maybe even hundreds of them and everyone wanted to take a photo with sergei lavrov so that doesn't prove anything and my colleague is saying that no she doesn't have a direct line with members of the russian government today. to me. not just a member of the media looking back i'm trying not is not you. that me. next there was a part about ra please the party's video agency about the van staying day and night outside the charity hospital streaming that is something that video agencies do all the time that's their job i can tell you that when it comes to doing a song for example robert lee was able to catch the moment when the founder of wiki leaks was being dragged out of the equivalent embassy in london thanks for thanks to staying there 247 and the claim was that none of these broadcasts were made public but i can show you screen shots even from you tube that's availab

hostile ahead here on al-jazeera will get the latest on the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov sneezing with his counterparts from qatar and turkey. struggling to survive by businesses and zimbabwe say the easing of coronavirus sections may do a little to help them recover. hello there we've got a late taste of winter coming in across parts of northern europe here we go with this big massive cloud rolling in from the atlantic but in some rather cold air heading increasingly wet and windy as go through the next couple days across the british isles and that will eventually push its way in across the low countries through parts of france easing across germany right sleet and snow then irakli and on a very strong wind gals will see big al's at times it slides across a little see in sioux norway and sweden and you can see a fair bit of snow there as this moderate she bumps into the cold air readily turns to snow in the process and that's what the baltic states we have some snow in here as well we'll see some snowy weather there across the northern parts of poland down to the southeast have g

government and built even has a photo of one of my colleagues with the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov wow but i'll tell you what that was a christmas party and many journalists including foreign war ones received an invitation to it there were tens or even hundreds of journalists in the russian foreign ministry and everyone wanted to take a photo with sergey lavrov so that doesn't prove anything and my colleague is saying that she's never had any direct contacts with the senior members of the russian government and of story for her next 'd there was also a bit about the roughly that's artie's video agency a van that was there day and night outside the sheraton hospital filming again very serious accusations while tell you what this is how video agencies work and by the way this is how ruptly was able to catch the moment when julian assad was being dragged out of the quick door and embassy this is how it works they do live streams from there this is part of their job but mr langley claimed that these live recordings were never available to the public well i can tell you that we can sho

afghanistan is nowhere near as rude as it is here violence is on the up unfortunately and sergey lavrov himself said that all the indicators pointed to the fact that the spring offensive the taliban's spring offensive a traditional military operation underway for many decades now is already ramping up violence is increasing there was a bombing in kabul where a bus carrying government workers. was struck several people dead there there was also an incident with an afghan army helicopter which was the crash to short out the taliban hasn't claimed responsibility we've had in the past several days the united states launching a slew of airstrikes against taliban positions saying that this was an reprisal to the taliban could soon offensive the taliban nevertheless saying that the united states is acting in contravention to agreements made previously of course one of those the chief agreement being one struck between the trumpet ministration and the taliban in february of last year whereby the taliban agreed to to make sure that its territories never again used to stage attacks against the un

and russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov has been cast off and talks find out what that means as being u.s. calibrate recalibrates its role in the region. it's time for the perfect. sponsored plan qatar airways. stormy weather now piling in across northern parts of europe big banks of cloud harrowing across the low countries making its way into scandinavia you can see this rough of weather fronts just coming through here tightly packed ice about some very strong winds gales also vehicles are rattling in across the british isles and that's that moderate just runs into the cold air you can see it really turns to snow across scandinavia so norway and sweden seeing some significant snowfall comes down into the baltic states but we wanted to snow flurries that was possible in england and into that western side all scotland a weather system bringing some outbreaks of rain then across the low countries into germany good part of germany central parts of fronts seeing some very wet weather as well and down into the southeast for good measure that we missed out here we're seeing some rather wet

administration took office lavrov began his tour of the region earlier this month in the united arab emirates it was followed by visits to saudi arabia and qatar where he also met the turkish foreign minister among the saw fix discussed with a lifting of u.s. sanctions on russia's course our ally syria the foreign minister also explored the possibility of selling advanced weapons systems to saudi arabia while schools also hosting a conference between the parties to the afghan conflict later this month the u.s. special envoy for afghanistan says the meeting is a compliment and not a substitute for the door peace talks. well let's get more now from alexey klebnikov of middle east experts russian international affairs council joins us now by skype from moscow it's great to have you with us on the news or here given the information i've just read it does seem that russia is quite keen to expand its role as a power broker in the middle east why. well i wouldn't if you're a that and i think it's too soon to say that washer activated this diplomacy with white ministration coming into office

russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov has said moscow no longer has relations with the european union only with individual e.u. countries comments came as he met with his chinese counterpart with the 2 nations affirming their time in the face of sanctions by the e.u. and other western powers over human rights issues. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken has warned germany over its construction of a pipeline with russia speaking on his 1st visit to nato headquarters in brussels lincoln said orde stream to pipeline running from russia to germany ran counter to the european union's own interests he said he was due to meet his german counterpart to discuss the issue. lincoln also pledged to help rebuild the transatlantic alliance which he said is facing threats around the world we very much look forward to a productive couple of days of of discussions at really a pivotal moment for for the alliance i've come here to express the united states steadfast commitment to that alliance which has been the cornerstone of peace prosperity stability for the transatlantic community for more than 70

thejoint attack came during a visit to china by russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov.al affairs had "gone forever". ethiopia's prime minister has confirmed for the first time that troops from neighbouring eritrea have been inside the tigray region, where they've been fighting on the same side in the conflict. for months both countries have denied that eritrean troops crossed the border. the prime minister said he's spoken to eritrean officials about allegations that their soldiers carried out atrocities in tigray. germany has announced its toughest measures in recent months against the coronavirus, prolonging its lockdown for three weeks, to control a third wave of infections. the announcement came after 11 hours of talks between german chancellor angela merkel and regional leaders. 0ur germany correspondent, jenny hill, has been to a vaccination clinic in bremen and gave us this update. this is germany's largest vaccination centre. they can vaccinate 111,000 people a day here, but at the moment, they're doing just 2000, and that's because like every other vaccine cent

countries mr lavrov made the comments as he met with his chinese counterpart on the 2 nations affirmed their ties in the face of criticism and sanctions by the e.u. and other western powers over human rights abuses well in a joint statement the 2 ministers said no country should seek to impose its form of democracy on any other. well earlier today we as you know we of course want to unleash or win in moscow whether we are going to see a break in russian relations well i think those are words that we're hearing from said again overall far more of bluster and anger than a real indication that russia will break ties with the e.u. after all in a recent interview the russian foreign minister himself sized again that the e.u. is russia's main trade and investment partner and russia is also currently trying to get its vaccines. registered in the u. so it be rather unstrung t.j. to break ties completely now i think instead this is a reaction to the e.u. sanctions that were leveled against russia yesterday and it is of course though part of an increasingly confrontational rhetoric that we've be

russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov says he's country will respond in kind to any new u.s. sanctions of the treatment of jailed kremlin critic alexina valmy as lavrov made the comments after the us joined the european union in imposing sanctions against several senior russian officials washington says its intelligence has concluded that moscow was behind most in the valleys poisoning with a nerve agent in almost the opposition activist is currently serving a 2 and a half year prison term in a penal code way east of moscow. straight to washington then rejoined d.w. correspondent on a salary to welcome all of us president biden appears to be taking a much tougher live with russia than his predecessor all of us can hear you talk about tell us about this. joe biden's approach to russia as compared with donald trump's. i can hear you know phil well you know president biden promised a tougher stance against russia those were the 1st sanctions since he took office it was a coordinated effort with the european union targeting high ranking russian officials here donald trump at the

need in the gulf in the sense that it's hosting now with the afghan talks that contrary to what mr lavrov says seems to have made a good not a good amount of progress but also it's been a forum for others whether there were so the nie is or palestinians older than he is or others and last but not least it is an important in the ship power and it does have certain surplus that it has been more than happy to help other nations whether it was in libya syria yemen and other places but a stimulus notably and the libyan needs help with the aid the relief is the cut the foreign minister said thank you very much for that marwan bashar is our senior political analyst. let's turn our attention now to other world news and china has approved changes to limit democratic participation in hong kong's elections its annual national people's congress passed new laws to veto and screen candidates is follows mass protests in the semi-autonomous territory in 2019 calling for greater freedoms. when the meeting made a decision of improving the election system of the on constitutional administrative region all d

russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov says the country will respond in kind 20 renewing u.s. sanctions over the treatment of jailed kremlin critic annexing family and u.s. has joined the european union in imposing sanctions on several senior russian officials washington says its intelligence has concluded that moscow was behind mr nirvana's poisoning of a nerve agent you know just. indonesia's mount cinnabon has been spewing volcanic ash as high as 5000 meters into the sky activities increased over the last week but there have been no new evacuation orders it was dormant for for centuries before erupting in 2010 previous directions of killed dozens of people. now this is the image that almost landed 3 l. g.b.t. activists in jail for 2 years it depicts the virgin mary with a rainbow halo and bt activists hung the image of polish church in 2019 today a court found him not guilty of offending religious beliefs heal the verdict would have meant up to 2 years in prison but the judge ruled that they had intended not to offend but to fight for equal rights for poland's l g b t commu

the joint attack came during a visit to china by russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov peter is set between the eu and russia have been destroyed by unilateral decisions made in brussels. the chinese counterpart said of the era of interfering in china's internal affairs have gone forever. ethiopia's prime minister has confirmed for the first time that tops from neighboring has been inside the region, where they have been fighting the same side of of the conflict for months. both countries have denied troops across the border, but the prime minister said he had spoken to officials about allegations that their soldiers carried out atrocities. germany has announced its toughesteasures in recent months against the coronavirus, prolonging its lockdown for three weeks to control a third wave of infections. the announcement camefter 11 hours of talks between german chancellor angela merkel and regional leaders. our germany correspondent jenny hill has been to a vaccination clinic and give us this update. jenny: this is germa's largest vaccination center. they can vaccinate 14,000 people a

brussels bureau chief or some of the nominee there thank you meanwhile russia's foreign minister sergey lavrovhas said moscow no longer has relations with the european union only with individual e.u. countries love of made the comments as he met with his chinese counterpart with the 2 nations affirming their ties in the face of criticism and sanctions by the u.n. other western powers over human rights abuses in a joint statement the 2 ministers said no country should seek to impose its form of democracy on any other let's bring in d.w. correspondent emily show in moscow emily strong words there from the russian russian foreign minister are we going to see a break in iraq russian relations. well i think those words that we're hearing from said again lover all far more bluster and anger than a real indication that russia will break ties with the e.u. after all in a recent interview the russian foreign minister himself emphasized again that the e.u. is russia's main trade and investment partner and russia is also currently trying to get its vaccines. registered in the u. so it be rather on strate

russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov has said moscow to no longer has relations with the european union only with individual e.u. countries comments came as he met with his chinese counterpart with the 2 nations affirming their time in the face of criticism and sanctions from the e.u. and other western powers over human rights abuses in a joint statement the 2 ministers said no country should seek to impose its form of democracy on any other well let's bring in d.w. correspondent emily sure when in moscow 'd emily russia's foreign minister says moscow will no longer have relations with the european union only with individual countries what are we to make of that. well i think his statements today are more bluster and anger than a real break with the e.u. russia knows after all that the e.u. is one of its biggest trading partners and also the country knows that the e.u. is currently considering a registration of the russian vaccine sputnik v which would be a huge win including a p.r. win for russia and just yesterday russia's president vladimir putin held telephone talks with the h

moscow to try and rebuild the pace process speaking at a gathering the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov cold on both sides to deescalate tensions with that is the order we encourage both sides to remain committed to the provisions of the doha document supported by the u.n. security council resolution we are convinced that given the deterioration of the military and political situation further delays are an acceptable we urge the opposing sides to reduce the level of violence in the country with a joint statement included russia the us china and pakistan and all of them were hoping for the peace talks in afghanistan to restart parties more against the reports. these talks are supposed to restart the peace process restart negotiations give it a much needed boost the do have agreements between the trumpet ministration and taliban which stipulated by the way that the taliban on its part would avoid attacking american foreign troops and also make sure that its territory isn't used to launch attacks on the united states the united states on its part would make sure that it doesn't strike the

but i think putin himself knows that this is not the case right now that's why our foreign minister lavrov said this week that relations between russia and the e.u.'s an organization are i'm cold and practically debt so there are some good relations on the buy later level between russia and several members of the e.u. itself it is a very aggressive organization i would say i would call it legal almost needle you know in the in its dealings with russia and and the latest them message from russia is that indeed the ball is in your court because you a breach in the spirit of that fallen act on the russian need to relations signed in 1907 in paris by president yeltsin and the presidents over 7 westen you know be biggest countries in that in that statement basically in nato obliged itself not to expand you know its military infrastructure to the east that's why russia later it leased basically to the inclusion trust of hungary in poland and czech republic in 1901 and later the. oh $2.00 countries in 2004 into the nato alliance the idea was that these countries would be calm or peaceful when the

officials awake and not that's dangerous for america and you know lavrov predicted this last year he predicted that there would be that scene was taking place in 2021 some western states are trying not only to politicize the humanitarian aspect of the fight against corona virus but also to take advantage of the pandemic to punish governments they don't like and we've all heard about backdoor deals to secure vaccines in europe and the americas this is the 1st time i think that we've heard about backdoor deals to deny people millions of people a vaccine. well daniel schorr a lot in america studies scholars say is boxing diplomacy is another front line where the u.s. can confront its perceived enemies this is deeply unsettling to use vaccines as a little further. to look for russia this is part of this new cold war against russia now it's articulating it so a vaccine war is already a diplomatic war on any country that opposes u.s. unipolarity i think we have to analyze it within that this context that they want to keep resilience in their part in their sphere of influence and now they'r

employee in charge of lying does assignment was photographed with the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov at a public christmas party the horror never mind that this was one of hundreds of photos taken all but the hundreds including foreign journalists apparently this one photo is incontrovertibly proof that off on the russian government are in cahoots you also have to ask yourself do you believe in coincidence not long ago. it's opening a channel in germany shortly after problem started headlines some dubbed a smear campaign appeared that. bank accounts in germany was shot fast forward and now are being labeled a kremlin spies like i said coincidence you decide for that part all colleagues in germany convinced. them to see this is an attempt to this is history to be. i was going to love those staring and in the media at every turn against me and fools allegations and suppressing our journalistic freedoms and make an impossible task this is what it means to be an alternative voices in germany and it's also walk mentioning that doesn't exactly have the best track record between 20152028 wa

officials away could not that's dangerous for america and you know lavrov predicted this last he predicted that there would be vaccine was taking place in 2021 some western states are trying not only to politicize the humanitarian aspect of the fight against corona virus but also to take advantage of the pandemic to punish governments they don't like and we've all heard about backdoor deals to secure vaccines in europe and the americas this is the 1st time i think that we've heard about backdoor deals to deny people millions of people a vaccine. meanwhile serious concerns over the safety of the astra zeneca vaccine have prompted major players to temporarily stop using the n t v jab they do include spain portugal germany france and italy when it comes after reports last week of blood clots and one death among those who receive the scene and that an investigation is ongoing the 1st findings are expected on thursday our europe correspondent peter oliver has more details health officials and senior politicians from across europe said that the astra zeneca vaccine is going to be suspended in th