Live from moscow this hour this is r. T. International my names only we begin with breaking news in the program a plane with sixty five passengers including three children and also six crew members on board making a total of seventy one has crashed just outside moscow minutes after taking off these are the first pictures that we have received from the crash site the video was apparently shot by locals the village where the plane came down is located around sixty kilometers scythe east of moscow Emergency Services reportedly struggled to reach the area at first as you can see there jus heavy snow fall in the area and right right through russia indeed today and weather conditions are among the versions being investigated by the authorities together with human error technical malfunction and others. Lets bring up the mop here you can have a look at the trajectory of the five as you see it just moments after takeoff this accident occurred the flight took off from her report in the russian capital before it diverting east in fact just four minutes after taking off the plane disappeared from radar. As mentioned the plane was an off one for eight owned by a sort of ups off early lines took its maiden flight back in twenty tends to a relatively new plane this specific model of playing can reach speeds of a roland eight hundred twenty Kilometers Per Hour it is capable of occurring up to eighty passengers on board. What are they have is near the crash site he spoke to us just a little bit earlier this is the latest that he has. Theres a layer of police multiple layers that have cordoned off the area the when we got here they let us through they made this leave our cars by the first check one by the first cordon and we walked we walked through we walked to this village but were still a ways off of the checkpoint we were stopped on our colleagues told us that nobody was being led through a tool because the police said they dont want anyone distracting getting in the way of rescuers and investigators that are working here in fact theres a huge convoy of vacuum bulent is a. Prosecutors Office Vehicles investigate this as well as officials and Fire Services you know fire trucks have just left the scene about three dozen vehicles you know so i gather theyve made some progress we heard earlier that one of the black boxes has been been recovered popped the second one is rather recovered fifty fifty of the bodies which just moved from them seventy one victims of this tragedy sixty five passengers all of them russians all of them from the or in border region where this jet was headed out of them from there no survivors of course you talked about the physics of it you know a jet traveling at hundreds of kilometers a and now a crashing almost plummeting into this into this field well as survivors would have been highly unlikely but the weather that hes complicating the rescue effort the recovery effort because the field that crashed in kilometer away from us. Its very deep the snow there is very deep obviously nobody has been clearing it before the crash and the east complicating Recovery Efforts weve heard from the locals as well weve talked to a number of people there shying away from the press now obviously. But heres what they told us of this thunderclap but they heard when the jet crashed. My friend say the family say laos when days almost shouted. Killing the others watching the t. V. Anaconda band everyone. Yes i heard a loud cluck i was line in the hole badly and my cats hit it was a really loud. I would see it sounded like an explosion our house bounced more than they say there are more than one hundred rescue as in this field right now as well as dozens of trucks and ambulances very quick to clear away the day rita get it out to get to the bodies themselves theyve been thrown around in the big big radius the crash site itself from what the rescuers have told us an officially is pretty large and there isnt much left of the jet itself but the operation is continuing weve heard of course various various rumors reports as to the cause as the central Prosecutors Office says it is going to investigate Everything Everything that could have contributed to this crash technical difficulties human error the weather absolutely every fact of the could have led to this tragedy will be looked at. Some perspective and analysis on this now from consulting editor at Flight Global magazine david lear mine david youre very welcome to the program and just reading some of the latest wires here david the first black box has been following believed to be the cockpit voice recorder the other one would be holing Technical Information which of the two after an accident like this is more useful in the immediate aftermath in determining what happened. Well the voice recorder can tell you what the others were saying to each other and what they were saying to air Traffic Control it also records all the sounds the ambient sounds on the flight deck so for example if there were im not saying this up and if there were an explosion on board and you hear it now the flight data recorder which they said they havent recovered yet but im sure they will that has hundreds of channels of information on it giving the complete story of the aircrafts performance that its flight throw far its height it reached the rate of climb it had when it was leaving the airport and the rate of descent that it had before it hit the ground and the health of all the major components like the engines what speed they were were you know the revolutions per minute that those that the aircraft were were operating at the power that was being developed everything is on board the aircraft that will be in the flight data recorder. What is normal protocol david for a pilot when you understand something is wrong especially in this situation where the plane is still gathering altitude so youre still trying to get to a normal flying height what does the pilot do. Well the pilot is as they would say themselves they clean the aircraft up when they when they get airborne that means they pull the undercarriage up and as the aircraft. They pull the flaps up because theyre flying fast enough to fly the aircraft without any help from the high lift devices like the flaps and. So the rest of the time theyre just coordinating with air Traffic Control to fly up to the height that air Traffic Control has cleared them to go to set a fleet so once your family airborne there isnt its not really a tremendously demanding. Piece of flying and its not no great stresses on the airplane whoa what extreme conditions like snow and ice in addition to clouds in moscow today how would the impact on the flight we heard from russias main Weather Center who said that it would not whats your take. Well. Russian pilots are pretty used to flying in russian Winter Weather they are extremely good at it you have to be because you have to take it very very seriously but russian airplanes and of course this was a you know a russian airplane tight they are very well equipped to fly in severe icing conditions and there it is very dangerous if ice is able to build up on the wings or the fuse larche or any part in fact of the airplane but this aircraft has along with all modern planes it has heated areas on the front of all the of all the extremities the wings and the nose etc pro to make sure that the ice doesnt stick now in weather such as existed at the time the pilots would have been making full use of the icing condition bush and that the thing which i think it would better point out right away is at the moment nobody has reported that the pilots had made a distress call to air Traffic Control now that i mean obviously that obviously the airplane was in distress so the question is why did the pilots not say anything about us it work that overloaded with what they were trying to do to get the aircraft under control had they been badly hurt in lets just imagine this was sabotage we dont know yet but if it were were they harmed and therefore not able to make a call one thing we do know already from the data from flight radar twenty four thats the aircraft tracking service the commercial air traffic craft tracking service is that when this just before this aircraft hit the ground it was at a very very high rate of descent which you could only achieve if the aircraft was well nose down that is diving into the ground because it would couldnt be making a rate of descent unless it were doing that the question is if its got its nose well down is that because it was out of control or because of something else. Consulting editor of Global Marketing david thanks for your expert analysis is this Investigation Continues were just also hearing here some reports coming in to foreign citizens were on board were just awaiting whether it has been confirmed or not but thats the latest reports on this flight of seventy one people dead the two were foreign citizens. Jennifer a port where the flight took off several hours ago the investigation into the crash is of course under way in a special committee looking into different possible reasons behind the crash and of course difficult bad weather conditions are one of those of possible reasons and what we see here at the airport very well quite difficult weather conditions now it has been snowing quite how throughout the day today which makes the visibility quite low of course but i have to mention that it is not very windy which is another quite an important aspect to end the war. And the way the flights are being carried out by the captains now overall in the past couple of weeks moscow has seen some really how the snow falls even last week was a record breaking snowfall that disrupted the work of the three major airports of the capital now we do know that dozens of flights at that time were canceled and many flights were even many airplanes were even routed to there were two other airports because it was impossible to land in moscow now at this very moment the work of the airport is is normal it is a normal moment but i have to once again mentioned weather conditions are quite complicated here at the dome i did the airport. I was updating the new before and. Reports about the two foreign citizens were also hearing from the or. Office or school was the area where this plane had been going to the foreigners are presumed to be swiss bridge on the citizens along with the other sixty nine russian nationals more and not whenever we could for cation whenever there is some clarity and that we will bring it to you as you were saying about or school relatives have been gathering now theo port in the city where the plane was expected to land just a couple of hours after it left at moscow many understandably have been grieving Emergency Services doctors have been deployed to be or port deal will help provide psychological and medical help to those coming to terms with the tragedy flights have been suspended and some passengers have been handing their tickets back in now that flight six w seven zero three was. To run six pm local time and one journalist who was covering this story soon realized the tragedy had touched her personally am i what im trying to myself from what cost me to i didnt crash. Straight. Isnt it over the past eight years similar tragedies have impacted on russians on the world taking almost four hundred lives some plane crashes still were heavy in russia to this day. If youre perhaps just tuning in lets recap our breaking news at this hour on r. T. E. International a plane with seventy one passengers and crew on board house crushed shortly after takeoff from moscow airport and off one four eight operated by serato for lines was heading to or sc a city close to the russian border with cassocks them there were sixty five passengers including three children aged five twelve and seventeen on board beside the passengers there were six crew on board flight number six w seven zero three. So my money and entertainment have become good in our culture and we have children grow up playing playing well games on the computer this one has somehow been to mystic cited as entertainment to russia just because nothing funny about it is so serious russia will be the last to give up Nuclear Weapons because russia regards Nuclear Weapons as the bulbul. Against inflation no wolf but its a period come of this new phone number. Thats in American Interest to not see any russians die in terrorist attack as it is in russian interest to prevent any terrorist attacks in the United States or elsewhere in the world so i dont think theres any dispute on that in congress and i think maybe some of the posturing is frankly political as opposed to substantive. Ok welcome back lets get a look now on some of the weeks big stories so i think korea welcome the world to the Winter Olympics on friday a lavish Opening Ceremony was held in the host city. Nearly three thousand police from ninety two countries took part in the event however before there was celebrations in the Olympic Arena there were demonstrations on fighting outside the venue people supporting peace between north and south korea had gathered for a rally while another Group Protesting north koreas participation in the games clashed with police. Well after your lympics thirty im itself north korea march together in an iconic move to show their warming relations they also have a unified korean flag at the olympic torch together the south korean president says he is ready to accept an invitation to visit the north if certain conditions are met now that potentially sets up the first meeting between the countries in more than a decade the invitation was delivered by kim jong un sister whos attending the games shes the first member of north koreas ruling family to visit the site since the one nine hundred fifty s. But russian hopes were dashed just start before events got underway in south korea a last minute appeal from forty five russian up pleats and two coaches against a dope failed meaning they could not compete their lawyers branded the decision sanctions in disguise this was the official announcement made by sports highest court. Just arbitrators of concert that the process created by the i. O. C. To establish an invitation list of russian athletes to compete. At least from russia could not be described as a sanction but rather as an eligibility decision so there you have it according to the court of arbitration for sport ridding the russian athletes of their olympic invitations isnt equal to punishment and cast is perfectly happy with the criteria that the i. O. C. Initially shows for these invitations the president of the World Antidoping Agency is pleased he says that the timing is great and that all the clean athletes should now be reassured the i. O. C. Are happy to they have applauded the verdict as you can see and this tweet though the russians are obviously totally devastated i dont know what to say im really disappointed i cant understand the cast decision first they cleared the athletes and now they say sorry you cant go to the olympics this is some kind of madness its terrible not just for fleets but for all of International Sport did i expect cas to reach this decision fifty fifty especially after thomas buck in one of his later speeches pressured the court of arbitration for sport after ruled in our favor he was literally threatening the court he was only saying he would dissolve the court if it route again in favor of russian athletes. Coach Albert Dempsey and co who was by the way one of those the i. O. C. Was referring to all the things that were being said about the court of arbitration for sport ahead of the hearings including these statements by the president of the i. O. C. Kind of the decision is extremely disappointing. The decision shows says the need. For reform. In the internal structure of costs here thomas bach was referring to the previous cas verdict and that requires a bit of background the forty seven russian athletes and coaches who were suing the International Olympic committee were from two groups thirty two hadnt been sanctioned by the odyssey investigators as a result of the russian doping scandal at all fifty received lifetime bans their medals were taken away by the i. O. C. A few months ago but then the very same court of arbitration for sport last week cancelled these lifetime bans due to insufficient evidence the held the sanctions and the. Individual results achieved in such reinstated so the decision that we have right now completely contradicts the previous one and this is a real disaster for the country the athletes both the ones who are still going to compete and young saying under a neutral flag and those who are banned the coaches the fans they are baffled by how unfair it could get i have no words. I was hoping that gas would ruin our shame or right now i dont know what to do im disappointed but of course i wont give up on subordinates and a lot ahead of me and i will compete and win medals for my country. And to the very end we will see. Would go in our favor now i feel sadness and sorrow but i will compete in every competition i can i have enough strength and the opportunity to compete in the next olympics i will prepare. I have no emotions left we had all our bags packed you were just waiting for a decision i think such situations make you stronger emotionally. All. Right lets get a reminder now breaking news here on the program a plane with seventy one passengers on crew on board has crushed shortly after takeoff from moscow is dumb and yet of a report everybody is believed to be dead. One for eight operated by surat tougher lines was heading to a city close to the russian border with. Just the the numbers we believe are sixty five postures their three children among them each five twelve and seventeen besides the passengers there were six crew on board flight number six w seven zero three and just some opted since ive been on air above the passengers coming from the or mirrors office it is believed that there were two foreign citizens on board a swiss. Army citizens and also its a big operation there now as you can see in the snow a lot more rescue workers have joined it around six hundred. In the area following this crash a number of hours ago well what youre seeing now is near a village sixty kilometers scythe east of moscow Emergency Services say about there will be those recovery operations right around the clock and have recovered already one of the black boxes believed to be the cockpit voice recorder the other one is the flight data technical box at were not aware as yet whether it was being picked up lots of response lots of reaction coming in president putin expressed his condolences to the relatives and ordered a special commission to investigate the launch or the instant would be launched theres still no word on what may have caused the plane i should to come don but investigators say that all versions are being considered this point including weather conditions human error and technical function. Or i will leave the story for now and just try and get as much as possible for you next hour in a run thirty minutes time ill be back with all the updates on the tragic story of a plane crash with seventy one people all on board believed to be dead this is our two international. Manufacturers been sentenced to public will. When the ruling classes protect them so. When the final clear youre a. Normal middle of the room sick. For the. Tens of billions hundreds of billions probably a trillion dollars of u. S. Government subsidies they say that the Energy Industry u. S. Government can subsidize mining of big oil rather cryptic currencies and put those into the wall its called american citizens give each have an automatic wallet tied to their Social Security account and they can get a daily or weekly or monthly air drop of crypto coins that they can then years to boost economy with the government can easily do that. Welcome to worlds apart for decades russians have both laughed and despair that the inadequacies of their system while also struggling to accept this same kind of criticism from foreign there and when russia decided to hold a mirror to their west own imperfections including by setting up this child it turned out that western tolerance to criticism is even more wise its a difficult to communicate pointing out whats wrong with one another well to discuss that im now joined by tony cab and a former diplomat and the author of a book called return to moscow well mr cavanaugh its great to have you in the studio thank you very much for your time and happiest rally a day thank you very much. Now when you say australia in the russian context it conjures up an image of a beautiful faraway land with bright sun blue sky a beautiful beaches with friendly people who spent most of that time surfing and i know its a typical but i think its a nice mental picture to get you through the long russian winter but i suspect when you say russia in their struggle and contacts. The associations are probably not so positive are they. There if they can be quite negative unfortunately what its been fed a diet of cliches about russia. Russia is still very much seen through a post soviet lens as the success of the state to the soviet union and somehow or other images of go legans of stuff. Of ation in the countries of extreme cold discomfort of rudeness they say the kinds of things that unfortunately still linger on and you wrote the whole book to address some of those negative stereotypes and i think you have a very unusual take for a western or former western diplomat. When it comes to russia because. I think theres a lot of understanding theres also a lot of compassion in your book and i really appreciate that but i will want to ask you whether you ever felt that you are giving this country an easy pass i dont think so i think that the majority of the content of my book deals with the sometimes very disagreeable parts of russias history ive got a chapter on the leg museum ive got a chapter on the Jewish Museum of tolerance and i talk very frankly in those two chapters of some of the black spots in russias history and i think what i felt as a former professional diplomat for thirty years and i was an ambassador to poland and. There were mother asked postings i felt i had a certain responsibility to my own society to say look we are being fed. Bad fantasies about russia the real russia is not what were being told about. I want to go and i want to see what its like and my process of disenchantment from the west and proper