international with me nicky aaron. russia has declared a $28.00 czechs diplomats persona non-grata amid an escalating diplomatic spat between the 2 countries it's in response to prague expelling 18 russian diplomats while accusing moscow of being behind a huge explosion at an ammunition depo back in 2014 the russian foreign ministry says it's an effort to distract attention away from an alleged coup attempt in bello reuss. the accusations herb's surge especially as earlier the czech government laid the blame for the explosions at the door of the companies that. this hostile step is a continuation of a series of russian actions conducted over the last several years by the czech republic one cannot also fail to notice the american influence by trying to win washington's favor as the u.s. imposes sanctions against russia the czech authorities have even outdone their american masters so many diplomats were forced to start packing their suitcases in recent days because of expulsions and counter expulsions 1st of all america

international with me nicky aaron. german politicians are considering a bill to let the government overrule what regional powers and force hard to covert restrictions including stopping personal contacts and shutting sports facilities and sparks police clashes with angry demonstrators. earth. on wednesday the bundestag the german parliament voted through amendments to the infection protection act which would essentially take powers to impose covert restrictions away from the 16 states of germany and give that power to the federal government here in berlin now this is being called an emergency brake what it will do is it will give uniformity to what is essentially been a year's worth of a patchwork of covert measures that have differed from state to state across germany this will allow the federal government and angela merkel's government here in berlin to impose things like a curfew from 10 pm until 5 am also restrictions on meeting with other households there will be the closure of sports facilities and leisure facili

international with me nicky aaron. now world covert deaths past 3000000 at the weekend with a particularly just disturbing 20 fold new infections since last month in india meanwhile in europe daily new cases have stabilized after 3rd wave of infections u.s. pharmaceutical giant pfizer has hiked prices on future alders obvious facts potentially sending the cost more than 60 percent higher to some $23.00 a dose it turns as brussels seeks a new short supply contract with the firm from next year r.t. saskia taylor has the details. you wouldn't think that big pharma and ethics go hand in hand but you clearly haven't met by is that if we were to implement free open market principles in pricing the products we could go to huge prices and so everything we can manufacture but it would be unethical i think we will not do it's because that's really taking advantage of a situation and people will not forget if you do start it must've been hard when the 3rd wave started coughing through europe more curfews and lockdowns were announ

a very warm welcome from our team here in moscow you're watching the international with me nicky aaron. and we start in europe where governments are split on restricting the astra zeneca job on thursday brussels warns that without a unified response public confidence in inoculation it could falter we got reaction on the streets of paris. it's confusing yes because to say that the laws change from one country to another while the product is the same we wonder on which study they are based those who had complications were rather young so they said let's stop it for the young but not for the old well i mean it's weird their management of the thing is not clear. for me there is a risk since it has been shown that there are people who have unfortunately died after getting vaccinated it is important to get out of this health crisis and therefore we have to weigh the benefits and the risks of saying the risk is low in their best interest i think so they are never going to say that the risk is high and so that's right that doesn't surprise me confusing there is a bit of confusion we don't know

a warm welcome to you you're watching us he international with me nicky aaron. now you appeared serious drawing that's apparently contradictory cus you sounds lockdowns over a 3rd wave of the pandemic it goes down those reports on rising resistance to measure is this something violates basic rights. businesses shuttered parties banned national holidays canceled social life is in a log down chokehold all across europe as governments struggle to smother the pandemic and while some grit their teeth and abide others rebel. it's prohibition all over again but with a twist saloons hidden behind false walls are now in vogue as well as guerrilla picnics as police combed through the undergrowth for party partisans europe is just one big speakeasy youths are fed up in my opinion a moon in favor of holding us accountable individual or rather than banning us from doing anything the lockdown does not correspond to what it should be because people can leave italy freely while we cannot leave our region we can leave the host to visit friends during the day if i call out of the

a colleague nicky aaron has your next update in just about an hour's time coming up on r.t. international now though it is crosstalk in the u.k. and ireland when you get in is next stay with us. hello and welcome to crossfire are all things are considered i'm peter lavelle ukraine is back in the news and not in a good way escalating rhetoric could lead to more conflict within ukraine who is driving this impending conflict in why or is this all about isolating. russia. discussing ukraine i'm joined by my guest llangollen in oxford he is the director of the crisis research institute and here in moscow we're joined by dmitri bomb each he is a political analyst and editor in us me internet media project gentlemen crossed up rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i was appreciated when i was going to work for us in oxford market there's a lot of dangerous and reckless rhetoric i would say going on about what's going on within ukraine and ukraine russia relations here we have. the united states talking the defense chief there and thinking to his counterpar

a very warm welcome to you you're watching r t international with me nicky aaron our top story this hour of germany says it may go a list goes alone when it comes to ordering vaccines if the e.u. doesn't get its act together the country's health minister also stressed that it's imperative that stock up on enough jobs for 2022. what is important is the question of 2022 we have to secure our capacities for a possible 3rd or 4th round of vaccinations we currently don't know how long vaccination protection lasts hence we must secure these capacities as part of the european union or failing that as a nation the statement comes amid the block's sluggish vaccination campaign with a number of states threatening to do their own thing independently of the e.u. when it comes to vaccine procurement they include slovakia and hungary while austria has just entered talks to buy a 1000000 doses of the russian job despite it not yet having been approved by the blocs drug watchdog and the w.h.o. has also expressed his concerns calling the e.u.'s efforts unacceptably slow according to the organization only

very warm welcome you are watching r t international with me nicky aaron. a former u.s. intelligence analyst faces up to 10 years in prison for blowing the whistle on washington's targeted drone assassination program daniel hale pleaded guilty to transmitting and retaining national defense information his case comes amid mass disclosure of similar crimes allegedly perpetrated by the u.s. . i have to tell you when he called me a few hours ago he was surprisingly upbeat and optimistic and he he remarked about how much press this issue has been getting since he decided to plead guilty so in the end i think that he thinks that this is been worth it that americans know more about the drone program now than 8 they did 6 months ago or a year ago and even though he's likely going to go to prison it was worth it the u.s. is flying these drones or at least it was until recently that were used ostensibly to kill terrorists or would be terrorists but in reality to kill anybody who might resemble a terrorist and that included women children the elderly and anybody else who happened t

artie's nicky aaron joins us in the studio again for the details on that so there seems to be a difference of opinion between the mayor and european states on the safety of the asteroids and shark tell us more about this hijacking the astra zeneca saga continues the latest being the head of the european medicines agency insisting there is no evidence to suggest the best mode of action here would be to restrict the use of the astra zeneca vaccine this of course comes just days after germany decided to limit distribution dysart distribution of the job citing concerns over blood clots now worldwide there have been 62 cases of this rare blood clotting condition which has prompted a number of european countries to temporarily halt use of the vaccine in germany the medical regulator there has recorded 31 cases of this rare brain clots all of the cases were in people younger than 63 orbits who were women and 9 people have died and the chancellor angela merkel has said that this is data that her government has cancer ignore. then the game comes through and the standing committee for vaccination pu