moscow — it is a city that oozes empire. from the skyscrapers ofjoseph stalin, to the residence of the czars. the message is unmistakable — this is a country with ambition. throughout its history, russia has had an unswerving belief in its own greatness. you can feel that inside the kremlin. this is stunning. look at this. this says power, omnipotence. this says empire. russia was built as an empire, russia has existed as an empire because the essence is we are great, we have to have areas of influence and we have to have buffer states between ourselves and the outside world. so this is an empire. but in 1989, the buffer states broke free. people power swept away the iron curtain, and with it moscow's domination of eastern europe. what had come to be known as the soviet empire was tearing at the seams. viewed from moscow, these events were earth—shattering. in 1989, i was a student in moscow, i was studying russian here and i can remember that every night i would sit down to watch the television news and what i saw, what

which have almost 4 decades been invaded tickled for from moscow. he had the right to manage should withdraw actually rock at that time the president of france and with other european leaders and of course as years passed by 1st with the conflict in georgia in 2008 and then more sick much more significantly with the change of power in ukraine in 2014 and the russian response to it of course the relationship with europe has frayed moscow has taken a stance whereby it would like to have a better relationship with brussels and with the european capitals but the european capitals are essentially not responding to that and moscow is not willing to make those steps or those concessions that would be needed in the eyes of the european. to improve that relationship so at this point the russian leadership is quite pessimistic it would like to improve that relationship but it's pessimistic about the chances that he'll chances of improving the relationship with europe at the same time it is pursuing. efforts to improve or at least normalize stabilize elations

and a session as wrapped up in moscow spanning more than 4 hours. of intense joining us here on r.t. to nashville where we start with breaking news from central moscow because numerous shots have been fired in the immediate vicinity of the federal security service building or thought he's the shooter has been neutralized his identity that has yet to be confirmed here is video of the moment of the shooting. ok let's get an update from our correspondents who are on location in central moscow now remind. for us not far from where the shooting occurred 1st. no i like where you are. hello to you from the center of russia's capital as you can see the city's ready for christmas and new year's celebrations is beautiful and lies everywhere but today the most the central moscow has become a scene of a deadly attack we receive different reports on exactly what happened and the information changes all the time as they say it's an ongoing story so let me be your rise on the ground and describe it what i can see right now behind me that huge building is russia's

international where we start this hour with breaking news out of moscow numerous shots have been fired in the immediate vicinity of the federal security service building one person has been confirmed at this video reportedly shows the shooter at the moment of the attack the shooters thought to be acting alone and is not yet been identified the area around the scene has been cordoned off and coming up next we have footage of the moment of the sheet. i was sitting with my friends the ball when the shooting began it was the sound of a kalashnikov assault rifle i know what it sounds like my friends were light. you know it must be firecrackers but i told them no way it's not firecrackers and then we saw people running down the street it was scary was 1st we saw people running and then a swat team armed with assault rifles came running in the opposite direction and then we heard massive goma fire we don't know what exactly happened their offices all sista stay away from the windows and they let us leave the bar after a few hours. and was recently means if the when we heard strange sounds we

that does turn out to be the case exactly a lot of traffic building up around that central area in moscow. a lot of pictures any more this came all these it back on the live feed now the traffic we saw earlier there was something going on a little earlier. we're now of course for its traffic especially in the rush hour given that whole area has been cleared traffic has been diverted i expect a lot of people wondering how they got to go before going to get home at all for the next couple of hours given the scale of the situation. something you mentioned earlier as well jacki the f.s.b. headquarters are on lockdown course that's not the only if people think there are other buildings in the in there also on lockdown as security services tabish exactly what's going on and what that device is are going across all the way to us for us on that thank you. and other news a school in the u.k. has found itself in the headlines after 12 year old pupils were asked to imagine they were the parents of a victim of the 2017 manchester arena terror attack they were then asked to write an essay responding t

and moscow have slammed the latest u.s. sanctions targeting companies involved in russia's north stream to gas pipeline to germany berlin and brussels say that america should mind its own business russian foreign minister sergey lavrov added that moscow will respond to washington's move and convince the north stream to as well as turks stream will be completed so extremists that for launch in just 2 or 3 weeks will respond to sanctions but in a way in which we will not harm ourselves but we will definitely respond of course we will keep in mind when developing our relations i'm surprised the politicians reach such decisions which give no credit to high profile political figures the german government has regretfully taken into account that sanctions against north stream 2 and turks stream initiated by the us congress they think german and european companies and are tantamount to interference in our domestic affairs. the pipeline is being built from russia to germany through the baltic sea and will supply enough gas to power

one person has been killed in a shooting incident at the federal security service building in central moscow. a federal security service is reportedly investigating the incident as an act of terrorism. police say that the attacker acted alone and according to reports the suspect was neutralized after what witnesses have described as a long series of shots the shooter's identity has still not been confirmed. 5 or 10 minutes past 6 the gunfire began and it was not just a few shots that came in bursts we saw officers taking cover behind the cars. leaving them welcome to our teens and ashleigh will start this hour with breaking news from central moscow numerous shots have been fired in the immediate vicinity of the federal security service building this shooter has reportedly been neutralized his identity is yet to be confirmed and the moment of the attack was caught on camera. i. want to coast from a riff an ocean or is believe across the road from the others me of course this where the shooting took place what's the situation like at the moment with. the yes i'm in central moscow right now beh

person has been killed in a shooting that occurred near the federal security service building in central moscow witnesses have described what they saw. 35 to 10 minutes past 6 the gunfire began and it was not just a few shots that came in bursts which we saw officers taking cover behind because they knew to release footage reportedly shows the shooter at the moment of the attack police say the attacker was acting alone she does identity that has yet to be confirmed. thanks for joining us here on out international for breaking news this hour from central moscow where numerous shots being fired in the immediate vicinity of the federal security service building one person as being confirmed killed this video will show you here it is reportedly. shows the shooter at the moment of the tank shooting a still it's a being acting alone his identity is yet to be confirmed the area around the scene has been cordoned off for the following we'll show you now is footage of the moment of the sheets. but as i was sitting with my friends the people when the shooting began it was the sound of a kalashnikov assau

was neutralized taken live to moscow also on the program. the terror attack in the center of the city 3 years ago 12 people died when the terrorist a drove a truck into a christmas. christmas market and india a truck crackdown on nationwide protests against a controversial new citizenship place arrest dozens of demonstrators at least 3 people have been killed. i'm for welcome to the program. russia's security service the f.s.b. says it has neutralized a gunman who opened fire near its headquarters in central moscow and the f.s.b. also confirmed that one of its employees was killed in the attack the health ministry said 5 people injured moscow police have cordoned off the area and no motive has yet been established but the shooting took place soon after president putin at the end of the yet news conference. let's go straight to endeavor to show in moscow welcome back emily what more can you tell us. well phil there's been a huge flurry of information of course from the media but there have been some confirmations from the official side as wel

summer moscow is denying any involvement. let's talk more about this with you political correspondent kate brady here in the studio with us and sure one in moscow good day to both of you keith this investigation is still ongoing but at this point what can you tell us about why you german prosecutors believe moscow was behind this killing well prosecutors have said so far that there is sufficient evidence to indicate that this killing could have been carried out by russia or chechnya so if we look 1st at just some of the circumstances even though the suspected perpetrator 49 year old russian national and he had actually already previously been wanted a different mode a case in russia also very similar to a case in which the victim was shot during a drive by shooting which was also carried out by a man on a bike that victim was also shot in the head and then if we look also that will closer as well to some of the circumstances around the victim in this case here in berlin german prosecutors have said that the victim was classif

joining us now from moscow is correspondent even. following as today's events of for us to see you even do we know yet how many prison is have been exchanged and who they might be. well by the end of the day we expect that the exchange will total between $1200.00 total prisoners so far of the 2 breakaway republics that have handled the exchange only one has gone so far that is lugansk and we expect and it's a bit later today lugansk sent 25 prisoners back to kiev and key have sent 63 to gonski most of these prisoners worst from there were guns god were central government soldiers fighting for care and the reverse side actually has a bit plenty of people who have nothing to do with the war these were included that's why the ukrainian side is sending so much more and more to the breakaway republic to get their soldiers back some of these as was mentioned at the top of the broadcast are these 5. police officers who fired on your mind on protesters they have nothing to do with the war and they have actually sparked some protests in kiev

of garbage it sends to places that don't want to we have a report from moscow correspondent. i'm good to have you with us authorities in the somalia capital of mogadishu say at least 78 people have been killed by a truck bomb explosion hit during morning rush hour at a busy security checkpoint it's the deadliest attack to rock the somali capital this year. it was survivors of a massive truck bomb explosion being ferried to hospital out of all the attacks the capital suffered in 2019. this is the worst. i've been here all the beauty of it knocked me to the ground with its force i've never seen such an explosion in my entire life with him but i hope that even with the mention of that violence a blast took place as i was getting off a minibus. off what i was on my way to work the opposite my leg got injured some of. the tangled wreckage on saturday morning the people of mogadishu were gearing up for the new working week when the bombers struck. the right their truck loaded with explosives was detonated at a busy control checkpoint the explosion led to many deaths and injuries. t

the european union and moscow have slammed the latest u.s. sanctions targeting companies involved in russia's north gas pipeline to germany the kremlin stresses that washington has broken diplomatic etiquette once again while berlin and brush or say that america should mind its own business. we're looking very closely at the us crossing a crucial edge of foreign policy as it starts imposing sanctions which russia has already become accustomed to against its own allies we can see the intention to make europe buy american liquefied gas and thus to slow the development of the continent's economy to undermine its capability of competing with the u.s. in the global markets washington has decided that even the closest nato allies don't deserve mercy if the us geo political and commercial ambitions are at stake. the german government has regretfully taken into account that sanctions against north stream to turks stream initiated by the us congress they affect german and european companies and are tantamount to interference in our domestic affairs th

headquarters in central moscow the f.s.b. is the russian federal security service there an important security security organization the equivalent to the american f.b.i. this building is a very much central part of moscow in fact it was about. 7 to 8 minutes walk from the square about 1012 minutes walk from revolution square leading up to the kremlin so it's a very central area it's rush hour now safe to say in moscow this attack happened about 2535 minutes ago 630 people leaving work leaving their offices making their way to one of the tube stations very much nearby we saw some videos coming in earlier this is one of the videos from the scene you can see people running along the street in panic moving away from the sounds of gunfire. the attacker or attackers there was at least 2 attack as we understand began firing at the entrance to the f.s.b. building or just inside the lobby now from the sounds it sounds like there was automatic gunfire that has been confirmed by reports from the scene that the attacker or attackers were

well moscow from all indications moscow wants peace there is this they're seeing this is a moment especially especially because the landscape has so clearly said he wants to end the war as a time to negotiate the major issue is the fact that moscow feels like it holds all the cards and it's not really going to let go of its leverage. kieve keep of course he wants better terms for itself and moscow is going to hold firm and so foreign policy analysts that are speaking in moscow are following on twitter today a lot of them are saying well you know this prisoners swap is all well and good but what i can expect in 2020 is a frozen conflict into the war so this is hopeful for the new year but we'll have to see in the new year what i think what actually happens with the war even. thank you. now straight he is bracing for another week of bushfires as temperatures are expected to soul emergency services have been trying to contain the blazes since september 8th people have died 2 of them firefighters how many of those on the front line all volunteers and now the australian government say's it will p

who lived in the moscow region he killed and f.s.b. officer before being shot and killed himself another officer later died in the hospital 5 other people including one civilian were injured the investigation into possible motives is still ongoing here's a quick reminder of what happened that evening. this usually means if the when we heard strange sounds we needed to realize that we should hide it then we heard someone in the street shouting go back go back. the signals and you'll miss it when mom wasn't shooting randomly and i think we heard him shout out something but we didn't manage to make out what he was shouting at. the city in a basement we're watching now when a guy came and we're just going outside and he told us there was a shooting i'm so unsure possum he told us the engine had been dragged into the cafe. we spoke to neighbors and of the father of the gunman he was described as a quiet man though a bit reserved as of late. but lately he became very secretive and also got some kind of strange eastern accent he used to tell

recycling comes to russia moscow is introducing trash separation and recycling to reduce the amount of garbage sends to places that don't want it we have a report from. all strictly it is all alert for even more intense wildfires the government is sending in the army to help ahead of another explain peak wave and strong winds. hello i'm terry martin good to have you with us authorities in the somali capital mogadishu say at least 70 people have been killed by a car bomb explosion hit during morning rush hour at a busy security checkpoint is the most deadly attack to rock the somali capital this year. it was. survivors of a massive truck bomb explosion being ferried to hospital out of all the attacks the capital suffered in 2019. this is the worst. i've been here all the beauty of it knocked me to the ground with its force i've never seen such an explosion in my entire life will be much. more mention of that but it's a blast took place as i was getting off a minibus. i was on my way to work the short of it my leg got injured some of. the tangled wreckage on saturday morning the people o

guarded building the most heavily guarded area aside from the kremlin or the white house perhaps in moscow he very much knew what would happen and indeed the timing of this event how quickly it wrapped up how many lives were saved by the actions of the security service as well is something is one silver lining as you quite rightly say if you just look back through i mean russia had its fair share of terrorist attacks as. you know developed countries if you look back 2010 moscow metro bombings the least 40 dead over 100 injured 2011 domodedovo airport bombing 37 killed 2070. st petersburg metro bombing 15 died we were very sadly used to multiple fatalities when you're talking about a terrorist attack and that says again there has to be some kind of credit go to the security services that this was over very quickly. you know the minimal number of fatalities which sadly is not something we're used to talking about when you're talking about terrorist attacks but again just remarkable though because when we talk about an assailant with an automatic weapon if they had wanted they could have caus

also this hour the russian foreign minister rejects germany's claim that moscow has not been cooperating with an investigation into the murder of a georgian citizen in berlin this summer. faces fresh censorship accusations after a change to its terms of service leads to fears of shadow banning. their live news and reaction 247 this is r.t. international from moscow where it's now 8 pm here on thursday it's 6 pm in france that's where we're starting this hour the country's been paralyzed by the biggest strike in years this thursday with workers protesting all mass against the government's plans to overhaul the pension system transport networks have been brought to a standstill and schools and hospitals badly affected too demonstrations have been held right across the country let's catch up with them now our correspondent in paris is keeping with the protesters all day it's been a massive show of anger across the country why is that fury so deep. that fear is so deep because the idea of messing with people's pensions in their time and sort of hits to the core of every french person i saw s

and broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is our t. international i'm john thomas certainly glad to have you with us and dozens of people convicted of terror offenses in the u.k. who were released early are said to have their cases reviewed as according to prime minister boyce johnson this comes after it was revealed friday friday's london bridge attacker had himself been released early. or in the same he was out and there was no in this it was nothing to do with perot there was nothing to do with probation it's how many legal the same is legally there if. this is really become a talking point over the weekend since that on friday on london. bridge towards the side where the city of london financial district is now of course the person involved. was somebody who had already been found guilty of involvement in a plot to blow up the london stock exchange but then was released as part of a scheme and there were attempts to try to rehabilitate him and put him back into society if you will that it was actually one of those offense which wer

the sound of gunfire rips through the moscow night as pedestrians run for cover. police then quickly cordoned off the area and one of the most heavily secured parts of the city. stated by. gunshots of course i didn't get any closer because i wanted to live. but there's very little police officers ran up to the ambulance and loaded somebody into his quickly but apparently he was already dead. then they asked us to move further away. from us that. the russian intelligence service says there was only one attacker and that they had neutralized him a term used when an assailant is killed they haven't released the name or information about a motive it happened at about the same time that russian president vladimir putin was giving a speech celebrating the work of security services and calling for more efforts to prevent terrorism or shouldn't be doing this this will mean that. terrorism is an insidious and dangerous animal and the fight against it must continue systematically and decisively issue but he took out a note saying that this work must be conducted as i've sai

in march 24th seen relations between russia and ukraine worsened after moscow an exclusive mia then fighting began between ukrainian forces and russian backed separatists in the east and in september of this year russia and ukraine exchange several dozen prisoners in a sign of e.'s intentions. well let's bring in our guests joining us on skype from kiev is our lexi her professor of comparative politics at kiev more here our cademy in moscow victor only of each lead analyst at the moscow based think tank center for actual politics and also on skype from young gone in myanmar anna mcvey of are a member of the eurasia and russia research group at king's college london and welcome to you all let me start in kiev with a ski hire on these talks that will be taking place in paris see see them as a positive step forward and what would you say ukraine is wanting from these talks . well i think it's positive because previously for more than 2 years mr putin didn't want to have any thoughts with former president so this time was there were some steps that zones a ground so basic i sings there

so the stories that shake you awake moscow in the you lash out in u.s. sanctions targeting russia's nordstrom gas pipeline to germany berlin saying it amounts to interference in domestic affairs and another inspector breaks ranks from the global chemical weapons watchdog the a.b.c. saying its final report on an alleged attack in the syrian city of duma misrepresents the facts. follow their latest news and look back at the last 7 days to you watch the weeklies here on r.t. international now russia's investigative committee has released the identity of the gunman who opened fire at side the headquarters of the federal security service building in central moscow on thursday evening the shooter was 39 year old you have any minute of who lived in the moscow region he killed in f.s.b. officer before being shot dead himself another officer died later in hospital 5 other people including one civilian were injured the investigation into possible motives is still ongoing we spoke to the suspects neighbors and father. but lately he became very secretive and also go

headquarters in central moscow. metro station it's very much a central area very busy and it is of course the evening rush hour now $20.00 to $7.00 in moscow is a time when people are leaving work going home and about the evening business we understand that there was at least one attack involved speculation among some news sources that could be as many as 2 or 3 women that the incident began at the entrance to the f.s.b. building or potentially in sawing to inside the lobby as well though that some confirmed as of now in terms of casualties were missed and that there are at least 2 casualties and they could involve f.s.b. officers as well they could be wounded the attacker allegedly opened fire from some sort of automatic weapon media reports media reports saying this could have been. ghar rifle which is a civilian use of the kalashnikov for automatic rifle used for military use the attack was chased out of the building or the proximity of the building. barricaded himself inside a nearby house where apparently he st

but against only $29.00 in the moscow database. he's not shutting down and you believe this might be a state nearly there not on some. little boy. involved. and they didn't. go i actually thought of boy and on the tour i knew center of moscow school but i thought it could have been a book and probably i did a couple of. its failings to. its online back here after the break this morning look at nato track record on civilian casualties in afghanistan after 2 killed in a drone strike in the break. you know world of big. law and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that made stream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the back and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the troops the time is now we're watching closely watching the hawks. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy to confront a shouldn't let it be an arms race based on off and spearing dramatic develo

russian foreign minister rejects germany's claims that moscow's not been cooperating with an investigation into the murder of a georgian citizen in berlin this summer. and twitter faces fresh censorship accusations after a change to its terms of service needs to feel is a shadow banning. i would live news 247 this is r.t. international from what's going on in colorado welcome to the program will bring you up to speed with what's been happening in france 1st the country's been paralyzed by the biggest strike in years this thursday with workers protesting on mass against the government's plans to overhaul the pension system transport networks were brought to a standstill and schools and hospitals badly affected as well demonstrations have been held right across the country to bensky has been following the protest in paris. this is against a proposed changes by the french government to the pension system here in france the idea is that they want a malcolm a number of different systems around 42 different systems into a universal system but people say that i will have a massive impact on their

russia is supporting this current syrian government offensive is moscow no longer committed to this deal this deescalation deal well the situation is rather complex because well right there are different opinions about that in the russian establishment because of course the mostest the syrian government they don't like turkey at all and they don't pry occurred the gun and they would want that turks out and they'd live kind of finally pacified is all the other. zones so-called of the us go away sions and the south and close to damascus and parts of the russian military would work closely with the syrian regime most likely have the same opinion but the kremlin and the russian foreign policy from there is run by personally by president vladimir putin he has other priorities and which is to the base just once was back in the picture and i believe that this may be a small specs. powell roster of russia will russia not lose. mattick face if this deal which it's brokered as you hear presents is continually continuously violated and the russians now are supporting the escalation against the