hosted its first ever conference in minsk.the ngos and opposition leaders said the same table as members of government for a conference on human rights. which was unthinkable until then. the west's takes on the challenge of entering into a dialogue with the last dictator of europe. plays a double game of faction both moscow and brussels. but there is also real hope for those who resist those who pray that the trap of real politic will not close in on them. an ancient land and one man's dream to transport hot tabulations from europe and fly them over his beloved country. in a nation reeling from decades of violence. can an international team of pilots get this man's dream off the ground. over babylon on al-jazeera. hello the weather slushy dry now for a good part of argentina pushing across into chile for the northern lotsa showers shaping up across the amazon basin the heaviest of which may well be across that western side of brazil pushing their way back into were proved very heavy downpours here as we can see and remember we

hosted its first ever annual conference in minsk. the ngos and opposition leaders said the same table as members of government for a conference on human rights. which was unthinkable until then. the west takes on the challenge of entering into a dialogue with the last dictator of europe. plays a double game of both moscow and brussels. but there is also real hope for those who resist those who pray that the trap of real politic will not close in on them. and an ancient land and one man's dream to transport to have billions from europe and fly them over his beloved country. in a nation reeling from decades of violence. five hundred meters of reform. can an international team of pilots get this man's dream off the ground. over babylon on al-jazeera. hello again and welcome back we're here across the levant we're picking up a lot of weather coming in off the eastern part of the med and we are going to be watching this very carefully because over the next few days the rain is going to start to expand across many areas so starting the day

hosted its first ever annual conference in minsk. the ngos and opposition leaders said the same table as members of government for a conference on human rights. which was unthinkable until then. the west's takes on the challenge of entering into a dialogue with the last dictator of europe. plays a double game of flattering both moscow and brussels. but there is also real hope for those who resist those who pray that the trap of reality will not close in on them. and we've got a lot of wet weather over australia still at the moment is all thanks to the remains of cyclamen trevor is still disintegrating of apostle and continuing to give us a very heavy rains that system is slowly not to get its way northward so it'll be around the coast or anywhere we see the wettest of the weather on thursday and then gradually that retreat further northwards as we head through friday and friday should generally be a dry a day for many of us here further south there was another weather system that's making its way towards us say for some of us in vict

minsk accords. and by the un security council resolution we talked about africa talked about the middle east. peace we also talked a little. probably a new civil. war syria crisis is we believe that resolution. two fifty four needs to be our pilled to actually talk to the what's being done to restore the infrastructure in syria talked about humanitarian support we talked about water that has been done as part of the us than our dollar platform you russia supported syria's to do mine its territories. the strategic stability. your english the while the u.s. is pulling out of key international treaties. in this area we believe that we hope that this discussion of the sea. national should use up in the book was one of the poor students and the war during darkon gauche asians with our european partners or if it is that we hold that we will be able to preserve the mechanisms that are three years linchpins of security in the year in atlantic region and have been deployed at the pillars of european security

with a clear purpose of russia stick to the minsk agreement. but we have always been working very closely in very much appreciated that corporation. of late we also find there's been more challenging to -- certainly this has resulted in intensified conversations, not just with the administration but also with congress. congress is, like you said, an important machine or motor of sanctions legislation. sometimes in the conversations from a european perspective we also meet some misconceptions as if europe was too weak on russia. it's good on this occasion to repeat that actually the eu has imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions as well as restricted asset freezes after the illegal annexation of crimea, and the impact of those sanctions is felt in the eu. the eu carried a much heavier economic burden than the u.s. for sanctions against russia. our imports from russia are almost half, and they declined from the same period last year by 25%. exports, similar trend, between 2013 and 2017, eu exports to russia declined by almost 40%, while u.s. ex

now it's the minsk. these are designed not to go anywhere, so the creeping push of borders and cease-fire violations. it was very much to the powerful conversation of our speakers. it is designed for us to forget about it, accept it. it's not going away. until the creeping integration, annexation happens again. so we did hear voices, but we chose to say, no, no, this is not going to happen. we're ok. we've got this. this has been happening a long time. this is creeping and i would argue the trans-atlantic response has been as best as we can make it, but it has been insufficient for in crisis. but i do agree, the humility we all must face, but we did hear voices and i think we didn't pay sufficient attention to them. >> okay. you were truly the back bone of the obama administration in responding to moscow's aggression in ukraine. did you get us a sense of u.s. poly then that policy then and now? -- policy then and now? >> and thanks to the institute of peace and the atlantic council and to our ukraine gue

so far there's been difficult chance for dialogue the ceasefire governed by the treaty of minsk is repeatedly broken. clock glory to ukraine glory to our heroes in the evening maria visits and in the headquarters of the organization new mary opal she's the coordinator here and wants to talk about the training of the civilian self-defense forces the next day. along with supporting the army knew mary opal is dedicated to fighting progress and propaganda. the population was totally disoriented in twenty fourteen. they had been fed russian propaganda for years. russia or since the the russians. most of them want to restore the russian empire they still have this imperial thinking the whole world is russia this is a russian city we should govern it. washes they've been trying to change our way of thinking for centuries but in some cases it worked. for instance even i speak russian but. at nine o'clock the next morning the volunteers line up for a roll call at a military compound near the say. she is very. very mad. for their training the group goes to the nearby beach men from all backgrounds to h

across the state but when you leave it that way or you live in minsk in moscow that it's quite like you have to solve this thing and like luck to you can solve a lot of problems. and bring more well yes for for logistic companies or any companies that sell us products from abroad so i think the spirit is like the real one that we'll see real love shame adoption and also health care where we need to tap like and supply chain health care and pharmacy and we need to be one hundred percent sure that these products i will look to place you in the logistics so in here we can also say that chained together with i had seen enough things will bring them in charge and how do you see. you know how do you see like a full implementation of like block chain technology throughout the medical industry throughout the finance world throughout. i don't know the business you know i want to say business world but you know i mean through any any area where information is transmitted you have the full implementation happening yeah first of all. what is called face what is i mean we're becoming the standard ye

and now it's the minsk. np these are meant not to go anywhere. this was very much to the powerful conversation of our speakers it is -- it is designed for us to forget about it, accept it. it's not going away. until the creeping integration annexation happens again. so we did hear voices, but we chose to say, no, no, this is not going to happen we're okay we got this. this has been happening a long time. this is a creeping russian ensclusp and i would argue the trans-atlantic response has been as best as we can make it. but it has been insufficient for in crisis. but i do agree, the humility we all must face we did hear faces li vases and didn't pay sufficient attention to them. >> okay. torre you were truly the back bone of the obama administration in responding to moscow's to ho aggression in ukraine. >> thanks, john. and thanks to the institute of peace and the atlantic council and to our ukraine guests. i'm honor ed to be part of this event. it's essential that we not only never forget but that we keep these issues front and center in minds i

and fully implement the minsk agreement. the united states has unp bending support for ukraine within its borders including its territorial waters. madam speaker, in our history, we have always seen the impact our nation has on others when we help them achieve a better tomorrow. we must help ukraine achieve that one that is free from russian adepregs. we sent the uss donald cook to transit through the strait as a show of solidarity. this will send a message to vladimir putin that the u.s. will never waver for those who push back against russian aggression. this is a great bill and shows the unity between republicans and democrats, the legislative body and the administration. i urge all members to support this legislation. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. engel: madam speaker in closing, we need to take a strong stand against putin and his aggressive behavior in eastern europe. this legislation would reaffirm american law that russia