artists spoke of more civil liberties in belarus. the situation suddenly changed after election night. he cannot explain why. >> my friends and i rejected. what is happening here is real but no one expected it. no one thought the powers that be with lose their nerve like that. >> the european union has threatened consequences if the regime does not soften its stance. the german government's human rights commissioner traveled to minsk in the hope of mediating. but, his calls fell on deaf ears. >> of violence against demonstrators, injured people being taken to jail without treatment. people prevented from contacting their relatives. police searches and ngo offices, and independent journalists offices, and other forms of persecution. i expressed our art rage and demanded the release the political -- our outrage and demanded the release the political prisoners. the europeans are calling us to respect the rule of law. they expect us to ignore our own laws when it suits the west. that is not right. >> dannell is too young to understand al

belarus, in german anti-partisan actions. belarus was the center of soviet partisan activities. it was here more than anywhere elsewhere the germans killed civilians in reprisals. it has to be in quotation marks. some of the reprisals involved taking whole community, putting them in barns, burning. putting them over ditches and shooting them. or by the end of the war, taking and killing all of the women and children, and taking all of the men back to slave laborers. that was not a reprisal in any traditional sense. hundreds of thousands of people in belarus died in this way. more than 300,000 nonjews in belarus were shot by the germans, civilians i'm talking about, during the war. if you put into the soviet p.o.w.s and the belarus russian soviet citizens who died in other german policies, it was the territory that was most touched by the second world war. in the final chapter, i deal with the death facilities in occupied poland, starting with belzets. it was the person that executed the final solution in poland. it was also t

but it's taken quite a while but it seems that russia and belarus have come to terms over the recent oil dispute that's come between the two nations a proposal has been put forward is accepted there's been no oil sent from russia to bellary since the first of january now it seems that we will see the resumption of oil transport from russia into valerie's following the meeting between the prime ministers now this had threatened to affect the production of diesel oil in belarus that could be shipped into europe. to the fact that belarus wasn't receiving the oil that it was supposed to get from russia because it refused the initial deal that the big oil russian oil companies put forward now for the prime minister vladimir putin and his brother russian counterpart seem to have come to a deal in which russia will give a subsidy of four point one billion dollars to bellary to ensure that crittur of oil and the distribution of oil can continue between the three nations used. there are of course questions regarding the details but we have reconfirmed our position and we will get this approve

don't have double standards. >> belarus has a border with the eu. this village has a very european name. they had even built themselves and eiffel tower, but after what has happened after the elections, this country feels further away from europe than ever. at the local winter festival they celebrate the spirit of the cold and hope the diplomatic freeze is not be. >> we are closer to europe of course. >> belarus is between russia and europe and always will be. >> we are probably closer to europe. we have a border with it. >> but for the time being, 8 seems their leader is pulling them in a different direction. >> here in britain there has been widespread criticism of the massive cuts to bbc world service radio. 650 jobs will go. so will also find language services. opposition politicians are saying it will undermine britain's reputation. the bbc says it is responding to cuts in government funding. >> it started as the bbc service. it has helped people abroad and now is facing the biggest cuts in history. >> it is a sad day for some people who are lo

welcome to our business program on tronic eon russia and belarus have reached an agreement following their route over oil prices which led moscow halting supply to its neighbor on the first of january prime minister vladimir putin met with isabella rusin counterpart. to china are not the conflict our correspondent peter oliver has the story. it's taken quite a while but it seems that russia and belarus of come to terms over the recent oil dispute it's come between the two nations a proposal has been put forward is accepted there's been no oil sent from russia to bellary since the first of january now it seems that we will see the resumption of oil transport from russia into belarus following the meeting between the prime ministers now this has threatened to affect the production of diesel oil in belarus that could be shipped into europe due to the fact that belarus wasn't receiving the oil that it was supposed to get from russia because it refused the initial deal that the big oil russian oil companies put forward no for the prime minister vladimir putin and his brother russian count

artists spoke of more civil liberties in belarus. the situation suddenly changed after election night. he cannot explain why. >> my friends and i rejected. what is happening here is real but no one expected it. no one thought the powers that be with lose their nerve like that. >> the european union has threatened consequences if the regime does not soften its stance. the german government's human rights commissioner traveled to minsk in the hope of mediating. but, his calls fell on deaf ears. >> of violence against demonstrators, injured people being taken to jail without treatment. people prevented from contacting their relatives. police searches and ngo offices, and independent journalists offices, and other forms of persecution. i expressed our art rage and demanded the release the political -- our outrage and demanded the release the political prisoners. the europeans are calling us to respect the rule of law. they expect us to ignore our own laws when it suits the west. that is not right. >> dannell is too young to understand al

. > >> they fourth term as president of belarus, elected in december. most observers say the election was a sham. eu and u.s. officials stayed away from the ceremony, and brussels is considering imposing sanctions on belarus for the government's suppression o o opposition groups. >> president look at shankar, celebrating the start of a fourth term in office, after an election widely viewed by the west as fraudulent. since then, he is cracked down on the opposition. now he is casting himself as a victor over dark forces that saw to destabilize the country. >> our people have resisted economic pressure and political provocations. and ve refed to be influenced by corrupt politicians and journalists. together we have preserved what is most important, peace in belarus. >> ambassadors plan a boycott of the inauguration. but russian representatives were in attendance. the kremlin sees its chance to link minsk more closely with moscow. it is a precarious situation for the opposition and human rights activists who face severe repression. >> only one thing that h

antipartisan actions in belarus. the center of soviet partisan activities. it was here more than anywhere else the germans killed civilians and reprisals. reprisal has to be in quotation marks for partisan activities because some of the so-called reprisals' involved in things like taking hold communities come putting them in bonds and burning the bonds, taking whole communities, putting them over ditches and shooting them or by the end of the war tecum the women and children and killing the women and children and then taking the man as slave laborers to germany. obviously that isn't a reprisal of any traditional sense of the word and hundreds of thousands of people in belarus by denizli. more than 300,000 jews and non-choose of belarus were shot by the german civilians during the war. if you put into that the russian p.o.w. and soviet citizens who died in other german policies, the los becomes the territory in the world which is most touched by the second world war. in the final chapter on holocaust i deal with the f

hello and a very well welcome to the business news or disputes between russia and belarus have reared their head again with the russian oil producers halting deliver us while pricing negotiations drag on the companies want to raise the price of oil off to minsk said it would be hiking transit in the verse to europe well for more on this i'm joined live by our to you but the only one who is that the headquarters of luke or the moscow how do you not bash the dispute between russia and belarus appears to be settled last year what has gone wrong. well actually you know well and most go have failed to reach an agreement a new oil price agreement and that resulted in a hold on russian oil sales to bella russo starting from the first of january now russian oil companies are demanding to increase the price for ballot to increase the price of russian oil for bellerose to forty five dollars per ton something that doesn't suit millions but the move comes after minutes announced a. rise in the on russian oil transit to europe and that's about forty million actually i've got to say that a twelve a

russia belarus and kazakstan are speeding up the next phase of their customs union the single economic space with a free trade area and a common external policy the trilateral union was launched at the beginning of twenty ten just simplify the movement of goods and capital between its members stooping into growth we are creating the terms for fair competition for all the member countries to help the producers be competitive on the external markets the simple economics piece one of unified regulation rules and single economic policy russia belarus and kazakstan with a combined population of one hundred seventy million account for more than eighty percent of the former soviet union's economic output the combined g.d.p. is worth two trillion dollars annually according to the prime minister of kazakhstan together the three countries may gain a prominent position on the global market i think that gives the possibility to set up a new enterprise system to go for the better but of course the good in kazakhstan and there would have a field interest from the. rest of the first year of the custo

. >> belarus is clamping down on political dissent despite the threat of sanctions from the european union. they are pushing ahead with plans to put more than 30 political activists on trial. they were arrested last month in protest against the president. >> there has been no changing of the political guard in belarus but there has been a change in the temperature. the country's authoritarian leader seems to be turning his back on the west. when violence broke debt at protests following his reelection last month, opposition candidates were thrown in jail. four face trial and up to 15 years in prison. this woman's husband is one of them. she has not been allowed to visit him but she has been visited by officers from what they still call the kgb here. they took away much but it gave her baby daughter a new game. >> they have been taking things out. >> just what she observed the previous night. this is very sad. >> in protest, the eu ambassadors stayed away from the inauguration last week. the top diplomat says it was an overreaction. >> no one was killed, no one was wounded, no fire po

the new conflict may arise between russia and belarus absolutely right maybe not as heated as the football match but still russian oil producers are already halting deliveries to belarus while pricing negotiations are dragging on the companies want to raise the price of oil off to minsk said it would be hiking transit terrace for oil deliveries to europe r.t. is not thought of as anything else. gershon oil producers are insisting on a price rise by forty five dollars per tonne of timmins announced a twelve percent tariff rise on russian oil transits to europe russia annually delivers about twenty million tons of crude to ballerinas at a preferential price but minsk refined exports most of it to europe at a higher price in response last year russia imposed export duties on its oil however last december of two men's gratified the agreement on the creation of the single economic space of russia belarus and kazakhstan moscow finally agreed on duty free oil deliveries for bella roost on condition that minsk would return all the duties it received from reselling the russian oil at least one anal

belarus was the center of soviet activities. it was here more than anything elsewhere the germans killed civilians in reprisals. it has to be in quotation marks, because some of the so-called reprisals involved doing things like taking whole mustn'ts, -- whole communities, putting them in barns and killing them. or putting them in ditches. or taking all of the women and children, and killing them and taking the men back. of hundreds of thousands people died in this way. more than 300,000 jews were shot by the germans. civilians i'm talking about during the war. if you put into that, the soviet p.o.w., and the belarus russians that died in other german policies, it becomes the territory in the war which was most touched. in the final chapter on the holocaust, i deal with the death facilities in occupied poland, starting with bialgetz. he was the person that executed the final solution in poland, he was also the person that was in charge of planning the concrete planning in the soviet union. one can see how the germans fell back f

how to tally of the dispute between russia and belarus appears to be settled law as to what has gone wrong. hello to you here well indeed russian oil companies halted all deliveries to bellerose starting from the first of january the sides have failed to reach a new pricing agreement on russian crude russian oil companies are demanding a price increase of forty five dollars per ton for russian crude for balor roost something that doesn't suit however the move comes as a result comes up to a bell or rose said it would rise the transit tariff by twelve percent for russia and minsk says that this has been agreed with the russian side in the end of december now i have to remind you that russia annually exports about twenty million tonnes of crude to a ballerina most of it is being refined and a real export to europe at a much higher price while in result russia introduced last year russia introduced export duties for the room but after the sides in the end of twenty ten have already fied the agreements on creation. of the single economic space between russia and belarus that studio to st

yes that's right and russia and belarus may be facing a new world dispute will have one that just a second well basically we can have that more and more and that now russia red heads again with russian oil producers halted deliveries well prices go see actions drag on the companies want to raise the price of oil after men said it would be hiking transit tires for world in the breeze to europe is not only have about the details. gershon oil producers are insisting on a price rise by forty five dollars per tonne of timmins and also a twelve percent tariff rise on russian oil transits to europe russia annually delivers about twenty million tons of crude to ballerinas at a preferential price but minsk refined exports most of it to europe at a higher price in response last year russia imposed on its soil however last december of two mins gratified the agreement on the creation of the single economic space of russia belarus and kazakhstan moscow finally agreed on duty free oil deliveries for bella ruse on condition that minsk would return all the duties it received from reselling the russian oil

to the fact that belarus wasn't receiving the oil that it was supposed to get from russia because it refused the initial deal that the big oil russian oil companies put forward now for the prime minister vladimir putin and his brother russian counterpart seem to have come to a deal in which russia will give a subsidy of four point one billion dollars to bellary to ensure that crittur of oil and the distribution of oil can continue between the three nations used. there are of course questions regarding the details but we have reconfirmed our position and we will get this approved to soon as possible to be a low risk economy will receive a subsidy of no less than a full billion one hundred twenty four million dollars in return for cheap russian oil deliveries. analysts look at the market starting with the u.s. now american stocks are trading down for a second day ask concerned that. interest rates will rise in china weighed on commodity producers overshadowing a bigger than expected drop in jobless claims the dow is down close to a third of a percent and the nasdaq has lost less than o

i do not know how it happens in belarus. we we do not russia does not according to russian protocol we did not invite say anyone to the inauguration of the president or. any foreigners as for the. the incidents surrounding the election we. have closely followed. the destiny of our citizens. most of our citizens have been released two of them. have been charged now and well our diplomats are in contact with them. for. more a broader approach i think yesterday in the. council of europe has. agreed to a. consensus resolution and it also reflects supposition and he can read what he says. as for victor boot. no one has mentioned no one has discussed any plans to swap is to bid for anyone else i would not comment the process we have commented just on the way it is in our russian citizen has been. brought from one country to the us. in violation in defiance of the norms which exist in international law in thought i. and there's been an incident. with his. spouse he had a visa and activism she was held up in the airport in a separat

organize and finance a campaign that was aimed at doing just that and undermining the sovereignty of belarus. germany obviously is goioi to respond in clear diplomatic language on this. in concert with the european union foreign ministers, including the german foreign minister -- it will be meeting later this month to decide whether to pursue econom sanctis ains belarus for what it believes were falsified election results from december. lukashenko was confirmed in those elections last month. there were accompanied by a great deal of violence, a government crackdown on protesters who took issue with the way the government handled those elections. we can expect to hear a clear response from germany because the acquisitions are so appointed. we will hehe their response being coordinated with germany's european partners. >> that was harry martin, speaking to us earlier. new elections will be held on ireland on march 11. the government is on fire since it accepted a massive bailout from the european union and the imf. prime minister brian cowen has struggled to hold his government together. six c

. > >> they fourth term as president of belarus, elected in december. most observers say the election was a sham. eu and u.s. officials stayed away from the ceremony, and brussels is considering imposing sanctions on belarus for the government's suppression of opposition groups. >> president look at shankar, celebrating the start of a fourth term in office, after an election widely viewed by the west as fraudulent. since then, he is cracked down on the opposition. now he is casting himself as a victor over dark forces that saw to destabilize the country. >> our people have resisted economic pressure and political provocations. and have refused to be influenced by corrupt politicians and journalists. together we have preserved what is most important, peace in belarus. >> ambassadors plan a boycott of the inauguration. but russian representatives were in attendance. the kremlin sees its chance to link minsk more closely with moscow. it is a precarious situation for the opposition and human rights activists who face severe repression. >> only one thing tha

with new challenges for russian foreign policy alexander lukashenko won the presidential elections in belarus and harshly suppressed opposition rallies shortly after europe is unhappy and is preparing sanctions against minsk moscow has so far of frain from any criticism but has stopped pumping oil into the country however the biggest issue is the start treaty ratification. by the russian duma the document is called the whole mark of president obama's reset policy and the biggest success in recent russian u.s. relations. because the chair of the work until you know do you agree that this that the the the question of the ratification of the new arms deal with the united states is the main is the biggest foreign affairs issue at least for russia this this month definitely years and this for two reasons one is that. this treaty east to replace the previous one start one to reach was conducted ninety ninety one and the latest the showed the soviet union existence and that previous treated included not just the united states and the soviet union later on russia but other nuclear parts of the former

december of two mins gratified the agreement on the creation of the single economic space of russia belarus and kazakhstan moscow finally agreed on duty free oil deliveries for bella ruse on condition that minsk would return all the duties it received from reselling the russian oil at least one analyst is saying that the russian companies have reacted disproportionately to the hike in transit. the increase of transit fees not significant and that means expenditure will rise but only one dollar per turn clear when russian companies are increasing their prices by forty five dollars return seems the companies are trying to compensate the losses they suffered from losing income from exporting oil products from bellew's the negotiations between russia and belarus are underway and in the meantime the russian oil transits to the european customers remain unaffected. deposit interest rates are continuing to decline in russia as people add to their bank savings the interest rates are among the country's top ten lenders now eight point two five percent on average bank deposits grew to more than two h

markets the simple economics piece one of unified regulation rules and single economic policy russia belarus and kazakstan with a combined population of one hundred seventy million account for more than eighty percent of the former soviet union's economic output the combined g.d.p. is worth two trillion dollars annually according to the prime minister of kazakhstan together the three countries may gain a prominent position on the global market i think that gives the possibility to set up a new enterprise system to go over but of course to now because of time and what it is through the interest from the. rest of the first year of the customs union has revealed some teething problems imports russian oil and a preferential prize we export the most of it to europe at a high price in response russia introduced export duties and that almost brought the countries to an oil war only after belarus ratified the agreements on the single economic space russia agreed on a duty free oil delivery this will eventually benefit all the union members and provide the springboard for the next stage of integratio

to exercise political pressure on belarus for what east day have successfully concluded an agreement on the oil export prices and tariffs so at the moment the relations look fine and russia is more interested in integrating belarus into a customs union with kazakhstan so it has more pragmatic rather than pushing valorous to open up to democratic institutions for the gov the last dictator of europe. and he's accusing the european countries of plotting to get rid of him to do you think there's any truth in that. well the truth is and probably truth is that if directions where fair because dave belorussian opposition has been suppressed for so long it's quite likely that look would have been elected probably with a lesser number of votes but could have been elected as a president and that probably gives him the stance that he's actually president and when do european union openly says that they are going to fund students and. media outlets for a position then he's actually using days for his own advantage cheese thriving on these statements and saying look i was right all along that the

hello welcome to our business program russia and belarus are looking to resolve a rout of oil prices which led to moscow halting supply to its neighbor on the first of january rushing off incest bello's must pay more due to rising global prices and an internet traffic transit track tariff increase by means prime minister vladimir putin has met with his balancing counterpart me. to try and ironed out the conflict our correspondent peter oliver joins us live meeting. hello there peter so it seems once again all prices are in dispute between two neighboring countries has there been any headway in resolving this conflict. well it's taking quite a while but it seems that they finally hammad out some sort of deal between russia and belarus over the recent oil dispute prime minister vladimir putin's been in talks with this better russian counterpart the few hours this afternoon we were expecting to hear from him a while ago but we've just heard that they've come to an agreement they would see russia subsidizes full point one billion dollars worth of oil still below right now they had the oi

from the kind of studies many of us about the situation in belarus. now russian business men on the ledge to live at the bush is set to appear in a u.s. court for a pretrial hearing he's facing challenges of conspiring to kill americans and supplying weapons to terrorists all group that maintains his innocence the media continues to label him the merchant of death he's an associate reports. we. are one three. true to form hollywood and most of us love a great villain in the film lord of war nicolas cage please have your was officials celebrate his arrest the so-called merchant of death is now a federal inmate who is this merchant of death and why is he getting all of this attention as. the u.s. over the course of eight years cultivated this image of an evil mastermind apparently they have no other problems nowadays there is only victor boot there is no osama bin ladin no al qaida no problems in afghanistan no problems in iraq there is only victor boot the evil man is a russian cargo dealing businessman chased by the u.s. for a decade upon the request

and there are already -- >> we are reviewing bheas happening in belarus -- what's happening in belarus and we'll evaluate what steps are appropriate. >> isn't there nuclear material that the secretary struck in country. is there any fear they might pull back from that if you go too far? >> we would hope belarus wouldn't do that. that is in their interests as well as the region on global interests. >> have they given you any indication? >> no. >> i was asking you about russia, because they signed a deal last year and now they are cementing it. if you are putting sanctions and they are forming an economic zone together. how are your sanctions going to work? have you spoken to the russians about that? >> we have a wide range of discussions with russia on regional issues. we don't believe that we need to be competitors in that region. but obviously, what has happened in belarus is a violation of international norms and concern to us and we think it should be a concern to russia as well. >> can you say anything about the ambassador's trip to south korea and he will be going to japan and bei

the man on the left was the first head of state of the new country, belarus. his wife, he and she were both nuclear physicists, very much affected by chernobyl. 75% of the fallout of chernobyl fell on belarus. and as he told me, he immediately contacted moscow and asked if they could break out the potassium iodine tablets in the bomb shelters to get to the children to protect their thyroids from iodine 131 followed. and the response was comrade, are you a fool? we don't want to start a riot. to shut up about it, don't talk about. and even at one point confiscated the instruments that some of the other belarusian scientists were using to measure the radioactivity of the so i asked him why he so easily give up a nuclear arsenal that consisted of 81 missiles, enough to take out europe and north america. and he said because they came with russian soldiers. so he wanted them out of the country. and the oath in belarus took to the united states was support for the actual transportation process to move them out. then negotiated a little more but they get rid of their

is to say not so much russia or germany but the land between berlin and moscow the baltic states of belarus and the ukraine so of all of the killing that took place organized by hitler and stalin from the atlantic to the pacific, the tremendous majority of this mass murder was concentrated in the relatively small territory. this is the event that caught my attention. it strikes me once we know the numbers and can localize these numbers in time to locate in a place, is the event that has few comparisons in the world and the question is why is there no history of this event and nobody sees it as the event? i like to say a few words about why i think that is. in the last 20 years and headed to opportunity to raise such a history. of the reason we have this opportunity is the soviet union collapsed in 1990 line the archives began to open in 1989. this was very important. obviously in terms of understanding the history of the soviet union and communist eastern europe. however it was also incredibly important to understand the history of nazi germany. why is that? very simple. the germans carried