it's iran's revolutionary guard says that it seized in iraq e oil tanker in the gulf which they accuse of smuggling fuel to quote some arab states this would be the 3rd sea ship by iran in less than a month in the gulf war says sudan's military joined the opposition coalition have signed a deal on the constitutional declaration the agreement was reached through mediation 4 months after long time president omar al bashir was ousted the african union's envoy to sudan says the document outlines the division of power until elections can be held in 3 years time. i'll be back with a news hour for you at a little over $25.00 but it's just era right after today's edition of inside story .

hundreds of people arrested in russia and the leading opposition politician jailed protestors say president putin's opponents are being excluded from taking part in moscow city elections why is the government taking such a hard stance and could violence against the demonstrators backfire this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. it's one of the biggest security crackdown seen in russia for many years i guess what the authorities say are illegal demonstrations an independent monitoring group says more than 800 protesters were detained on saturday the week before the figure was almost 1400 and the leading

opponent of president vladimir putin unexplained avani was jailed russians are angry at the ban on some opposition minded candidates for the next month's city elections in moscow the council controlled by the pro kremlin united's russia party is responsible for a last minute simple budget the vote comes at a time when putin's approval rating although still high at more than 60 percent has actually dropped that's been put down to discontent over the economy and falling incomes we'll discuss all this with our guest shortly but 1st imran khan reports on saturday's events. from the police operation designed to stop large numbers of protesters coming to central moscow did exactly that still some did manage to get through the detentions was swift so all throughout saturday they've been arresting people like this they pick them up. and they take them into. a van where

the idea is a return of the protesters are normally take also a police station so then the register journalists were also detained but released almost immediately once they showed proper accreditation protesters are worried the upcoming last go city council elections are being rigged in favor of the governing party united russia most of the opposition candidates have been arrested but one who is at the protest said the numbers will load because the authorities were cracking down judy should say everything depends on how people will react so far there are not many of us many people are unhappy with united russia and its supporters is the lowest since 2006 but people are scared of coming to the streets or taking party rallies of half a 1000000 take to the streets trying despite the crackdown the protestors that did make it were hopeful change might come down more stormin yes i'm here because i have a conscience i don't like a lot of things that are happening in this country i'm happy that the young

generation woke up and want to have their voices heard i am here because candidates weren't allowed to run i'm against banning of alice i'm against the crackdown and i think protest is the only way to show your opinion police say the protest was illegal and detentions were low and opposition monitoring group says the numbers were you much higher than the police who claim it's not clear what's next for russia's protest movement but the authorities are hoping the show of force has stopped a completely immoral cardholders in moscow. they arrests were condemned by rights groups in a statement on this international said the russian authorities have shown nothing but disdain for humor whites and the notion of peaceful protests with the. on the russian authorities to respect the country's humorous obligations and constitution and ensure the wiat to freedom of peaceful assembly is respected and facilitated the unfounded mass disorder charges against demonstrators must be dropped and all imprisoned peaceful protesters released. so who are the main activists challenging

president putin limbaugh saw a lawyer and video blogger was briefly detained before saturday's protests she'd been on hunger strike after her disqualification from the election alexei of arnie is putting his most prominent opponent lost with the anti-corruption campaign or was taken to hospital from prison in what his lawyer said might have been a case of poisoning his number back in jail serving a 30 day sentence for organizing the protests several other opposition members and activists were also detained but some were later released critics say the kremlin has always used force to intimidate dissenters. let's bring in our guests from moscow we have victor all of its political analyst and lead expert of the center for actual politics also from moscow

a powerful flag and how are it journalist and columnist for novaya gazeta welcome to the program mr oliver church why is this happening i mean this clamp down on the protesters and how significant is it. well on unfortunately the moscow municipal election commission had made a decision not to register kynges its a number of candidates from opposition movements and parties and that each have become widely accepted that that decision was not exactly by the book so the mosque a municipal election commission had been political in making that decision and did not exactly act according to a law of course that was used as a b. text for brought to us by them or radical parts of the opposition but it must be said it must be said that the discontent that the number of people who feel

disenfranchised in moscow is is significant and not every brought down like yesterday's protest is not allowed is bound by by the russian authorities in fact last in fact. weeks ago there was a licensed eagle or a desk that was licensed immigrant and more than that 20000 people came out in fact weeks from now another protest is expected in moscow focused on this specific issue of the elections to the moscow city duma yeah and. also which is expect up to $100000.00 people to come out and that brought that it is not expected to be harassed in any way by the u.k. police so on the one hand there are issues that have been caused by. by decisions of the moscow city or stories of the moscow election commission

and on the other hand there have been attempts both more radicalized elements of the opposition to use them as a pretext for their actions. why it's such a hot stance was all about city elections i mean not talking about the dubai lushes we're not talking about. the president seductions which are going to be held in 2024 well it seems that the right moscow authorities are grossly overreacting in the. moscow city due mother we're just not sure this will be you act that in september doesn't yield any real power it's not even the professional so-called well i just which your i mean it's part time people they're not even paid for that work they sometimes gather to pass some kind of legislation and there was 0 possibility that the opposition could actually gain a majority in the this way just to ensure or could wield any power there but the

authorities are dealing with this like a military operation basically there had been reliable information coming out from sources in the cram on the scene as an act of. unrest in moscow seen as a. hybrid warfare that this is a western american led the intelligence organizations organizing discontent in russia in an attempt to chart turn it into a possible coup d'etat the way it was and ukraine on the so-called my don and that is being the russian authorities as being very afraid of that and so now they're clamping down real they're arresting people who all the way there so oppositional all the known leaders of the opposition and most of them are right now and behind bars there's they're running. searches they're working for information and the

intelligence counterintelligence organization f.s.b. is very much involved so they're working for evidence to show that this is a. hybrid war operation to the west and that maybe they're actually preparing some show trials afterwards. if they see it that way victor usually city city election is usually about infrastructure services and there's this consensus among many people particularly the government that the mayor who is an ally of president putin has been doing well over the last few years why is the government afraid in this case why is afraid and not allowing the position candidates to run for the city in the city elections. well i would agree with bible that the moscow cigar in the car was over reacted and the proper way to deal with this situation would have been to register as i was going to those who actually received enough signatures to

be adjusted to plea by the book and to have free and fair elections and in fact the popularity the readings of some of these opposition candidates are quite low so in free and fair elections if there are held in september to the moscow city duma most of them would have probably not the achieved victory most of these opposition candidates able to have simply lost in fair elections instead by clamping down seavey yearly by taking this somewhat unnecessary actions of these opposition including radical opposition figures and activists have gained more name recognition their reputation. among certain our layers of the population in moscow certain segments of the population there they are brand name and there are in name their condition has increased and their bipolarity has increased ok so

these actions by by the moscow authorities are certainly counterproductive from whatever vantage point you look at the. public the clum done back to the point where we can say safely now that the opposition is no on the path to build up more momentum for its own political agenda. that's not clear at all in 2012 such a very severe clampdown actually stopped the opposition movement then after the duma who actions the state duma elections that was a rather more massive than today so then and work must like with artie's believe it can work now too but then again that depends on other issues it's not just about moscow though this right now is a moscow city issue it's moscow elections it's happening in moscow there's very

much resonance to the entire a contrie side of russia. but right there their thirties have they're afraid and they have a reason to be afraid because this politico basically political opposition movement in moscow may begin to spread out and join forces with the social economic discontent that's really massive in russia because russia is in the car nomic those drums for over 6 years household incomes have been declining and there's the economic frustration it it's right now not public and it's not connection connected to the actions and through the moscow council but if a jew they join forces the affluent more politicised moscow public with the disk and a social discontent in the russian provinces then the russian authorities could be in really serious trouble you said that you don't think that the opposition

candidates. have any chance to win the city elections even if they were given permission to take part in the elections however don't you think that with the growing discontent nationwide about the track record of putting on his government this could tilt the balance in their own favor in the favor of the opposition. well most of them could not win in a free and fair election to the to the moscow city duma right now sound with them several of them could possibly have one in fact some of those that have not been arranged to die with a minute that within the last week between these protests one of the opposition candidates from yabloko should be made to work in has been registered the decision not to register has him has been overturned and so even. in a free and fair election the radical opposition against that would simply not be

able to get a majority there are not that popular and they would not even be able to get a significant portion of the seats in the moscow state duma i would also look at similar are somewhat similar examples of long term protest movements in various countries and how they go what their results are usually the best way to best a long term. more or less wide ranging but this movement is to compromise we have already seen some elements of this in the registration of said to me talking from yabloko also i would point to a comment some comments by the vice pico the russian duma this is the federal duma not the this is the russian parliament that it's on the roof of from the from the united russia party who had suggested that the in the next duma the next russian parliament elections that are coming up in 2021 it is quite possible that 1 the

liberal one of the liberal parties will be able to get get it so and not get seats which has not happened for for a number of years russia so what if the eve of these protests keep up if they are if they become more long term more wide widespread than they can of course affect the russian political landscape as you have seen similar effects in other countries. joining the discussion now from london dimeter last an expert on russian affairs and lecturer in security and development in the department of war studies at king's college london do matilda there are 2 key position figures who seem to be no instrumental in the protest movement volley. ball do you see them able to build up the momentum for the of for the opposition and shaping the narrative

for the future i think what is very interesting about this movement is i did is it follow some leaders but at the same time there are many many new figures that are coming up is not just one or 2 but there are a lot of young figures who wanted to become to promote their candidacy for the local elections of the city council in moscow so there are a lot of new faces there that are also sort of pushing this movement and also there are many people that are just complaining and protesting the situation and repressions so i think that there is a bit of a life of its own it's becoming partly a sort of leaderless movement but of course his figures are important and you were for war is an important figure she has been very powerful in her message is she's on a 21 day hunger strike people are following are the same with

a yashin that many important figures are becoming symbolic of these changes so i think that there is a combination of both novel. is by far the most prominent opposition figures so far do you see him as a potential candidate to unify the opposition against putin in the in the future. well that sounds very much possible because of course he's not taking part in this thing but he's behind it to a large extent. mr yashin and. sabo they are actually working for him there from the embassy organisation so he's backing them up and he's pretty presenting actually an alternative to the present regime to the russian public that's his idea it's not about this particular election it's about in general the course of russia and he's offering an alternative for the future and

that can be important basically the authorities are doing everything by the textbook they have they're trying to split the opposition they have detained almost all of the we do as they are busting the organisation of not vile names and they are kind of using heavy handed police tactics to. against the people in the street the kind of get them out of the street victor that should work but then i will think it can't work or not in a situation when there's so much social unrest and social tension and run i see your point victor you have an economy which is in tatters sanctions imposed by the international community discontent widespread discontent over the track record of president putting his government whether their position does not seem to be able to build bridges with the mainstream russians why is it that. well the level of support for the russian president putin and for the government is actually not not

that low of course if. it was it has become ill or than it was before because of the pension they form because of some other economic issues. the economy is not in the best of states however it is still not in in tatters as as you said and so there is still some political capital by some political capital that that the that the president and the government enjoys at the same time mistakes such as the one with not letting. position candidates register with the moscow state duma they will also serve as a b. text for our opposition rallies for him to increase up as rishon popularity and and of course we can expect more of this than that all that is why it is important for the government to fight this situation quickly and not by brute force but by

compromise. you haven't what do you think the opposition should do to change things do they need to rebrand themselves. i don't think they need to change something i think they're being quite powerful i am of the view that this movement is is is maybe going to change things it might take a lot of time but i sense that the authorities are a bit at a loss as to how to handle it because on the one hand if they open up a bit the room for political participation there is a risk that that could lead to further involvement by opposition parties and at the same time when they conduct repressions they can perpetrate themselves in power for a while but they also plant the seeds of their own sort of undoing so they're in a very difficult situation now in you know way that with an economy which is not growing very fast where there is a sense of stagnation and i agree i mean for putin remains popular but not as for

piller as before and there is this whole debate as to what will happen in 2024 so my view is that the opposition is increasingly govern ised and they're repressions only help to bring people behind you know opposition leaders and the whole question of corruption is also something which ok is driving very much these these movements so i think that things are slightly changing as opposed to a few years ago pavol with the approval ratings of president. putin declining and with this going. all the stress could this give us any indication about putin's putin future particularly post 2024. well the entire russian political system since the year 2000 has been both around putin he's an essential part of it he is the arbiter general he busy balances

different groups different interests he does an enormous amount of actual personal work and running russia if something happens to bush and he's not a very young man he's 66 approaching a neck tobar 67 and he is will not be able to run away his role in the political system the political system is going to melt down it can't function without and that's a very serious problem for the future of russia the law hinges on the workability on the intellectual and physical conditions of one person actually the host ability of the whole country and i think our fortune is going to is there at the helm i think he's going to prevail but he can't stay there forever the mattel or the path to democratic transition in russia which has been debated for is this something that could still take place in the future do you see it as

a wishful thinking with the political establishment the way it is and putting the helm of the establishment. i mean i don't rule it all would i think that there is there is always a desire in russia to by many people what i would call live under the rule of law. to have on a system that that represents their interests and that there is progress and that there is political participation of some sort and i think that you know i can't predict if this will happen or not it's impossible but i think it cannot be ruled out and it should not be ruled out. and i think that the system that was set up as was mentioned by poverty is very much than there are with a figure and when he's not around it's not clear what will happen there's going to be a lot of infighting it's already happening and i think that there is a possibility for the public to sort of capitalize on that and i think that they're realities of russia today are very different to the times when putin was very very popular i think there is a new generation of russians who has only seen 14 as

a media who connects very much with the outside world who hasn't experienced either communism or the 990 s. so they're not afraid of participating interacting and gaining on their new challenges that russia faces so i think that things can change and i think that we should not think that to this is stanley's thank you side show away and leave a in forever thanks to. all of the. slogan. and thank you too for so you can see the program again and its time by visiting our website dot com for further discussion goes our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter a 100 a chainsaw story for me hash and a whole lot of the whole team here i couldn't get my

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al-jazeera. this is al jazeera. hello i'm adrian for the given this is the live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes u.s. prosecutors treat the el paso mass shooting as domestic terrorism after 20 people were killed at a shopping center. turkey's president says his country's military will move into northern syria setting up a potential fight with america's kurdish allies. and our entire nanda are the top stories from europe including the day devil flying a frenchman finally succeeds.