Touch on claims about the death of democracy in his country. Today good morning its thursday the 25th of june youre watching r. T. International where shes gone 9 oclock in moscow now voting does get underway today in russia on amendments to the countrys constitution the package includes more than 100 provisions some of which have been widely criticised today both online and early voting does get underway all leading up to next wednesdays general vote so heres a quick recap then of the constitution and the proposed changes. It was january when president putin stunned russia by proposing changes to the countrys foundational law the constitution within hours the entire government had resigned the current constitution dates back to 993. 00 to western backed president Boris Yeltsin built from the de breze of the communist soviet era yeltsins constitution created what would be criticized as a hyper president ial system the president called all the shots and it was forged in bloodshed as a hostile communist control parliament trying to impeach yeltsin he resorted to the military to keep in power. 187 people were killed that autumn. One of the most important proposals today is to end that hyper president ial system while keeping the fundamentals of the constitution intact so what powers does the president currently have only he alone can nominate the Prime Minister and other cabinet Members Parliament just gives a formal green light to the candidates. The proposal would flip that giving parliament the final say on who serves in government and the president would not be able to reject the m. P. s choices. Powers would be redistributed between various branches of government intended to lock in more checks and balances into russias government system another big change would limit the president s tenure to only 2 terms in total as opposed to no more than 2 terms in a row as it is now that means future leaders wont be able to serve for as long as putin has but its not a member which has got western media excited putins perceived trick to stay in power forever the existing rules say putin must stand aside in 4 years time after his 2nd consecutive term albeit his 4th mandate in total m. P. s are pushing a proposal to 0 out his term count a reset button for an updated constitution i propose. That the current president like any other citizen would have the right to be elected to the post of head of the state that would. I mean putin could run again in 2024 and in 2030 if he wants to rewind back to january and why putin said he wanted to change the constitution he says its to develop a welfare state. The reason for these amendments is to ensure the further development of russia as a state governed by the rule of law to increase the efficiency of institutions in our country with that in mind the room more than one 140. 00 amendments one guarantees that the minimum wage will not be lower than the cost of living another secures an annual adjustment to improve the real value of pensions and allowances there would also be tougher requirements for Civil Servants such as banning key officials from having foreign citizenship and Foreign Bank Accounts would also be a ban on giving away any russian territory and a priority to domestic law over International Grass some controversial proposals to marriage would be classified solely as a union between a man and a woman and god gets mentioned all the constitution will still say russia is officially a secular state its an all or nothing vote russians wont be able to pick and choose which of the amendments they want to see its simply a yes or no to the whole package and the changes will only be enacted if the russian people give it an unequivocal mandate. If people do not vote for the amendments they will not be added to the constitution. Ok lets discuss this further now with his mark as they have not had to went through some details there but what else is on the table then with this vote. While the votes are already underway across 97000 voting stations all across russia and you know putin himself he never misses an opportunity to say how quickly the world is changing the remark and that russia has to keep up has to keep ahead of the curve these constitutional changes. The governments vision of the future for russia but it must also be mentioned how how important they think how vital they think these amendments are but by the fact that they are holding them now just as russia begins to emerge from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic theres all sorts of new mechanisms in place to make sure that its a its a safe route namely 1st of all voting which is becoming a very big thing more than a 1000000 people have registered to vote. Apps theres also Long Distance moves in this polling station set up in very remote areas of the measures this in take this affected stations is one of 7 day 7 days of. To ensure that there are new huge crowds that people have space theres no transmission of the virus and that all risks are minimized as as much as possible nevertheless not everyone is happy that there are plenty of people who are against the vote against these changes against some of the changes for example one Political Party in russia yabloko has urged its followers to booklet the vote to end the vote after all the communists on the other hand have told their followers. To goof but against the amendments promising to follow through with online protests and media campaigns. Nevertheless the communists for example theyre part of a bunch of groups that are against the changes. The police are doing when the president dissolved the government and proposed this revamp we actively supported be idea we submitted 108 amendments expected or amendments to be adopted by the last they willing United Russia Party rejected them this raises the question whats the point of changing the constitution if we dont changed. Konami if we keep on killing for a resource based economy if we choose not to teach children subjects relevant to today or to support science so whats the point to prolong his term what for the president still has 4 years ago the country out of this crisis sold its problems when you mix together a number of proposals you cant expect people to vote them all through with a single click of the box. The more radical opposition those against everything government entirely gets the vote against the men went together they say that the amendments are necessary they say that the votes will be fair something that have told us that simply isnt true. Our main goal is the health and safety of our citizens voting is safe i think going to the shops or walking in the park there is no obligation to vote and no one will know which way he wrote and people should feel free to come in in whatever way they want if they decide to vote at all the roll going to be more electoral observers than ever before there was no screening everyone was allowed and we only had 4 cases where people were not able to register for some reason but we sort of. We welcome everyone all the critics the debts as the skeptics as well as vote they can observe the process throughout the entire 7 days they can even keep watch at night is their right and this applies to every method of the motoring. Like the vote on the constitutional amendments was initially said that happened back in april but of course the coronavirus. Pandemic put put paid to that so there was many months of campaigning that was all sorts of arguments against and for and just argument for the sake of argument nevertheless. It must be mentioned that according to polls one of the a verb of the number of people and they were of the amendments outweigh those outnumber those against them 67 percent of russians voters polled think of the men amendments 20 percent of those polled recently was still undecided and just 13 percent d have voiced their desire to boycott the election not to attend the vote at all. Ok thanks that was arties moderate gaz with more details there will the german politician from the ruling party even does believe that critics of the amendments to you have an agenda. For the past decade or even more one can say that western media do not give a fair judgement of russia theyve retreated into their shells and spewing venom and by all towards russia unfortunately this is the development that we could not imagine but judging from the current reality in our media it will remain on the same course they will not say a good word about a president or constitutional change but that has nothing to do with reality but rather with the intentions of the western press when you hear some voices from moscow in the western media but then look closely you can see that those are russians who are on the payroll of the west do you think tanks this is not allowed in any other part of the world but unfortunately this is the strategy against russia and that poisons the International Relationships im hopeful that a Lively Parliament with more responsibilities and influences in making decisions on a national and International Level will emerge. Now i think coronavirus restrictions easing in russia r. T. Has welcomed his 1st official guest in months with the hungary and foreign minister dropping by he had a chat with our correspondent about hungarys decision to rule by decree during the pandemic but it wasnt all tough questioning for the sports loving minister. Well. I hope we can. Actually it will be extremely important because i can tell you. That. Not only by ministers but. Everybody everybody knows. Everybody is an expert what do you think. Has happened here that the world should be a favorite. With. One another. That. Is really really good this point right at this point whats going on with mr or bans powers to rule by decree a state of emergency allowed us to make decrees like in every other e. U. Member states every other e. U. Member states what was the problem of the opposition they said and liberal mainstream in europe they said that there is no concrete date of conclusion in the law which allowed us to govern by decrees we said of course there is not a concrete theyd because who knows when. Allow us to come back to normality but it comes to Decision Making so what we have done now we seized we concluded the state of emergency less than 90 days opposition demanded 120. 00 had the beginning now it took less than 90 days so this is number one number 2 when it comes to the special economy zones yes. Decree but but in the meantime we submitted it to parliament so parliament can make a law on that because yes of course to force quickly but parliament should approve that i think is a very democracy way of. Managing things. For him and speaking to him. That he wants from us just after this break. Join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and ill be speaking to get us out of the world of politics sports business im show business ill see you there. Welcome back now after months of Lockdown People around the world have been enjoying their 1st taste of freedom in recent weeks following the easing of many coronavirus restrictions but for those thinking that the fight against the virus has been won the World Health Organization is warning its only just begun. Globally the plunder meatless still accelerating. It took more than 3 months for the 1st 1000000. 00 cases to be reported the last 1000000. 00 cases were reported in just 8 days and south korea received much praise around the world for how it handled the pandemic but earlier this week officials there did confirm that the country is now battling a 2nd wave of infection. I do magical know what recently was found and it errored predictions that covert 90 will slow down in the summer were all incorrect and we believe that the various outbreak will continue as long as there are close contacts between people enclosed space while another Success Story was china which managed to cope the spread of the virus relatively quickly or so it seemed because a recent outbreak was recorded in beijing and quickly started spreading after locals contracted the virus in a wholesale food market a local journalist from the c g t n news network sent this report from the chinese capital. They genes coastal food market she remains in the spotlight after new coronavirus cluster was linked to which on june 11th covering an area the size of 170. 00 soccer fields the complex supplies more than 80 percent of the Capital CitiesAgricultural Products chinese authorities quickly shut down the entire market in the hope of curbing a 2nd wave of coal the 19 as quickly as possible to trace the original and cut off the spread of corona virus in beijing more than 2000000. 00 residents have been given nuclear gacy taxable prone a virus since june 13th thats around 10 percent of the total population and now the citys spending its daily Testing Capacity to more than 200000 in beijing shooting shown district a massive testing can paint has also been conducted on people who live at a moderate risk areas residents from the streets and shooting share power carefully lining up in one hour by part reading for swap the street is the only place labeled as moderate risk and should insure an area where one confirmed case was found recently Officials Say they plan to finish the testing of all residents on the street thats more than 60000 people in 3 days. I thought it would be fast to take such a test but in fact i spent 3 hours queuing up for the test but when i saw the doctors my heart sank because their protective googles will. And their sweat was running down my face says. 5 other testing points like this are set to complete the task more than a 1000 of government officials the medics work hand in hand every day to ensure a smooth swapping process though we only takes a few seconds to conduct a thorough swap chinas experts say the recent corona Virus Outbreak in beijing has been brought under control the trend will persist for some time but done now. Cases were decrying this might those people in beijing will still be on high alert the habit of Wearing Masks in keeping social distancing in public areas mind you are much longer time them free to sleep thought c. J. D. Endless array for russia today. The modern germany new cases of the coronavirus their continued popping up in various regions leaving local authorities to impose countermeasures which have differed from city to city in north rhine a failure for example new to impose measures do resemble those they took at the very 1st stages of the pandemic peter all of a small. Dealing with coronavirus here in germany has moved away from sweeping National Measures with restrictions being lifted or imposed based on regional factors. Here in berlin authorities have lifted restrictions that have limited get togethers to a maximum of 5 people from 2 different households earlier the same move it be made in the states of brandenburg. Its a very different picture in north rhinewestphalia an outbreak centered around a meat packing plant in the city of the scene over 1500. 00 people test positive and a Strict Lockdown until the end of the month has been imposed on the area. Undoes we will order a lockdown for the whole district of killer slow the purpose is to calm the situation to expand testing to establish whether or not the virus has spread beyond the employees of tony and we will get a better picture of the situation or intensive testing and can then see more clearly within 7 days what the situation is we want to bring about this lockdown which will stay in place until june 30th and bring us more cleared of. Long queues have formed as tests of being made available to everyone in the affected regions the military being drafted in to help with the large scale testing Operation Health professionals suggest that a large number of symptomless code would carry is a behind the spike the largest localized outbreak in germany. It is already the idea of these tests because we know that there are symptoms people who dont have a high fever who carry the virus and you know unfortunately spread it today weve counted around 402600 people waiting and we will also be setting up a hotline in the next few days to help with registration. Local skewing to test science at all happy with the slaughterhouse at the center of this spike all the state authorities they say should have done more. Akin to 40 found that dont want to be careful and take the tests i dont have symptoms and what should i say im a bit angry with the slaughterhouse that they didnt read sooner and now our region is headed into another log down we have to go through it. Often find definitely the politicians in their thirtys should have reacted to you know and then completely convinced that the 1st kind of those infected were faked and then not taking any responsibility it isnt guns away from north rhinewestphalia theres also a localized lockdown in the city of my. Workers and boulder is being seen bringing water and supplies to some of the 800 also families who are being too. To quarantine. Around 700 people remain in an apartment complex and get again a forced quarantine which turned violent last weekend. And remember i said restrictions were being lifted in berlin well not for old berlin as in the friedrich china area of the german capital almost 40 households of being put on lockdown those living nearby a concerned about the risk posed a not too happy with those who faulted social distancing the party in the summer. And see if i have a feeling of fear can you explain why because i belong to the risk group and i have medical conditions. We are doing this for weeks and months we dont do visits and the more mostly we sit on the balcony apart from Grocery Shopping or walk pharmacy or the doctor thats it. You push it you dont understand why some hope in the box and you become bones we dont understand this. Off the back of those regional covert 19 spikes authorities here in berlin have said that they will be enforcing fines against those law wearing face coverings on public transport or in shops as we try to get back to his normal a life as possible while still remembering that corona virus is infectious today as it was a few months ago picture all over all see it. Well for more on the coronavirus situation we can i speak with dr melita few novich she is the representative to the Russian Federation a very grateful that youve come on to you good morning to. A number of countries were seeing which seem to have beaten the virus such as china south korea and germany and are experiencing a 2nd wave to says show that no country is safe yet. We have to understand that the transmissibility of the virus has not changed and it is still present in the communities this is why the recommendations of the World Health Organization have been to all countries and all communities where the numbers have gone down or even cannot be traced at the moment to be very vigilant to identify clusters new cases very quickly and to interrupt it youre right yes the virus is around the transmissibility is above the 2 cases so one person can basically in fact more than 2 persons and this makes the virus having an epidemic potential everywhere so we have to be vigilant we have to continue with the measures that will quickly identify the virus isolate the people who need treatment identify the contacts and in this case we can sort of canteen or isolate very small communities or people affected rather than go into full lock downs as we have been seeing over the hall or the 1st half of the year to see or do you think countries could have done more to prevent this 2nd wave perhaps did they sort of ease the lockdown they were really in your opinion or is there nothing that they could have done i think that it is important to continue to have the public communication and crisis communication to people to make it understandable that the virus is still there even if the numbers are down and it is clear that there have been criteria so i Mean Community every country its not never the same for the whole country as we can see need to make their own decisions because of course we understand that our life in canton cannot go on indefinitely but once going out of the cabin jeanne as you are sad the freedom does not mean freedom if you have a. Symptoms of respiratory disease even like ones even likely work going into the community transmitting possibly the virus to someone else so this vigilance remains the key issue the understanding of their list of every individual and Health Authorities it is a burden but we have to bear with it because we will not be able to. Defend ourselves without a vaccine or until we have more than 70 percent of immunity. In the population now globally the number of cases is rising very quickly isnt it was this to be expected or has the speed of it spread shakti. Well you know now it was obvious that the virus was gaining speed india epidemic and this is what a doctor ahead of us has been repeating as a warning every 2 days because we have 3 Global Press Conferences weekly cerro it is actually shared with everybody communities which do not detect when the virus starts spreading can very quickly go into the what we call the Community Spread mode of interaction and then it is very difficult because the system gets over about what is very important is actually to identify when the cases start happening to have adequate capacities for testing entreating people and that requires really a preparation of how systems very quickly. Now youre the representative to the Russian Federation what you make about the situation in russia we are seeing the number of cases on a downward trend that there were just over 7000 new cases i think recorded yesterday. Well we have seen that the epidemic has stabilized its decreasing now especially we can see that in the communities that have the majority of the cases the Major Urban Centers like moscow is going down relatively well however it is still not as it would say out in the green so continuous vigilance is needed even with the easing locked down it is very important that people do keep physical distance where it is not possible especially in close places right like the metro like the public transport or shops that they follow the hygiene measures interface cover. Sanitising the hands very very important in case of any symptoms staying at home contacting the Health Service making the task because that is going to prevent. Players or spikes that would follow i would not speak about a 2nd wave the 2nd wave means that we have almost no cases and then we see another rankly that it spread and this is something that we can and should prevent. You were invited to the victory parade in moscow yesterday did you have any concerns about that unfortunately i have had a very bad medical condition. That is something that i have missed and i think i will always regret that. But what we know is that major measures have been taken into consideration but yes every mass gathering is always causing us to think whether there is going to be a plaster on our from there but what we understand is that for example there was a ford or parade participants for the soldiers a caring team before asking and all of that so we do hope that it would not cause any concerns later ok talk to me to time this morning were going to have to leave it there dr. Represents if the Russian Federation thank you. And thank you at home for watching today were back again with headlines and more stories and holiday. Greetings and sal you take a shim its all right as we now enter the Halfway Point of june which in turn is the way point to 2021 thing we have discovered is that he