Transcripts For RT News 20240712

Talks to r. T. At length about bringing citizens back home during a pandemic border restrictions. Minister my job is not. In line with the russian. Constitution does not apply to those russians back home of government expands the role of moral judgment. By their late morning then the 11 am here in moscow this 29th of june money was covered over the r. T. E. International World News Center with the latest update started with this thing New York Times is facing widespread criticism after publishing an article claiming russia offered bounties to taliban militants in afghanistan to kill u. S. Troops it also claimed donald trump was briefed on the matter however the director of National Intelligence denies that either the president or the Vice President were ever briefed on that and trump himself labeled the piece. The freak news New York Times must reveal its anonymous source but they can do it this person probably does not even exist the articles being slandered by the Russian Foreign ministry to which called the peace deliberate this information saturday also saw the taliban denying the New York Times article he goes down off next takes a closer look at the piece in question and asks who than might benefit from its publication. Its time to blow off the dust that circled around any smear tactics guide book since the last us election but as democrats are looking to wash away the humiliation of 2016 by trying to bring down trump this time they are resorting to the same auld narrative that failed them in the 1st place russia gate american intelligence officials have concluded that the Russian Military Intelligence Unit secretly offered bounties to taliban linked militants for killing Coalition Forces in afghanistan the peace rests on the familiar pillars of pulitzer winning journalism Anonymous Sources that believed concluded and assessed the claims are said to be based on interrogations of captured outgoing militants at least in part the article says well because less than in part well would be nothing at all really the alleged culprits is the same russian Intelligence Unit that is accused of this elsberry poisoning western intelligence official say the unit which has operated for more than a decade has been charged by the kremlin with kerry knows a complaint to destabilize the west through subversion sabotage and the source nation. The west by bribing the taliban into something they are doing anyway comic book villains have more logic and motivation than russia in this article but as evil and sleazy as russia may be portrayed in this story its still just Collateral Damage and not the actual target president trying to get briefed in march that russia is paying bounty money for dead american soldiers right now. And his response to that is nothing his entire presidency has been a gift. But this is beyond the pale its a betrayal of most sacred duty we bear as a nation to protect and equip our troops and restrain them in the harms way. If trump refuses to hold putin accountable for funding terrorism against u. S. Troops in afghanistan then Congress Must again step up i expect the trumpet ministration to take such allegations seriously and inform congress immediately as to the reliability of these news reports the story is taking jabs at trump amid reports he is about to take another step towards ending the catastrophic 2 decades long invasion russias Foreign Ministry has dismissed the allegations as fake pointing out that more school has all along been trying to mediate the conflict and have the United States and the taliban in fact sign a peace deal the simple this information clearly illustrates the intellectual abilities propagandists among american intelligence who have to come up with such nonsense instead of inventing something more reliable however what else can we expect from intelligence which miserably failed in the 20 year war in afghanistan its russia collusion 2. 00 as if that has ever been worth anything more but a house impeachment but left trump unfazed by hey maybe at least Robert Mueller will have a 2nd shot around 2021. Bucks abrams for the Quincy Institute for responsible state craft in the us told us to not amisse Intelligence Data like that its always questionable. When i 1st broke this story in the New York Times i pointed out the twitter that it was weekly source to know a number of people replied and they said yeah but were you know its been corroborated by you know the wall street journal it sucks on c. N. N. And so the more Mainstream Media empire will stop on a story like this the more it takes on the impression of being true but again we cant really know that right without knowing more about this in town how is the intel generated out who is providing this into hope and is it pure or is it largely partisan driven begin Television Series how very largely trouble and so its not hard for Mainstream Media to get in touch with sort of another anonymous intelligent person to verify the veracity of these stories even if theyre not necessarily true where even if were hearing only you know a partial truth about it its certainly trying to be spun in the way in a way that implicates trott in the worst manner to help push bike across the finish line. The number of women and girls in germany whove undergone the dangerous circumcision procedure female genital mutilation has risen significantly in the last 3 is a new report suggests the number of f g m victims has increased to 68000 thats a 44 percent rise since the last estimate in 2017 the rise is being attributed to greater migration from countries where g. M. Is widely practiced up to 15000 girls in germany are thought to now be at risk one f. G. M. Victim told us of her experience. I was there are 4 years old and they know. What i called from i can say 100 percent of the girls are. They go after remember how my mom asked me it must try. To be so serious me i remember that the ladies one was holding my hand and the other one my leg and there was a turtle on were did something quite for i do not know what she did to me but when i went into college and i started learning about this woman it does when i discover that it was that day that they met did it my but its estimated that 200000000 girls and women have undergone have g. M. In countries where its practiced mostly in africa but also some middle east countries too in most cases its carried out on girls who are under 15 and some are still babies when its carried out a far too dear to again says it is a problem countries like germany really needs to turkle. The bo was thinking this is african issue but its not kids watch it men was there one here in germany they are also in the risks and most of the god that doesnt even know whats happened to them that i didnt know that mother. Explained debbys is a box of our culture a lot of People Living in germany in the diaspora living in germany that was big old the language you dont know what is forbidden and what is not the thing is for me its have something to do and so was integration we have a different project where we can really get the communities involved or the demo about the consequences of s. G. M. I think agenda should not say that all ya dishcloths. Is distant just was that if youre just a would just like was that as we are and how german a minute teach and i think if that is something issue like its going on in 2020 in germany i think a big action. All the way exclusive for the Russian Foreign minister talked to us at length about helping 5000 to stranded russians get back home from abroad with border restrictions bearing great because from country to country its coming up. Or. Nice guys are financial Survival Guide liquid and cents now those that you can convert insignias quite easily. To keep in mind l. As if im in your place and its guys are for. Good morning the number of corona virus infections around the world is now top 10000000 and led to more than half a 1000000 deaths although travel instructions are slowly easing there are still plenty of people stuck in other countries unable to get back home thousands of russians are in that very predicament and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has been talking to us about the complex task of trying to help you get home again is the full exclusive interview. Yes i was coming well be talking today about the role of the Russian Foreign ministry has been playing in bringing russian citizens back to russia during a pandemic how did all this happen our constitution stipulates clearly that the state is to ensure that the rights of russian citizens be upheld at all times including when they were abroad is that really so did the Foreign Ministry have to get involved and to what extent but in spain general ensuring safety end up holding the rights of your citizens by all legal means globally is what any states Foreign Office does and that mandates is usually set forth in legislation russia is no exception however the options to facilitate our citizens return home can vary depending on the country and the circumstances. When they become clear the number of russian stock abroad is large enough and that you have to step in and you put in the decision was made by the Emergency Response center that was set up to coordinate the activities of a number of ministries including the Foreign Ministry the ministry of Digital Development communications and mass media provided digital platforms and tools for the program the ministry of internal affairs was in charge of all migration issues the ministry of transport and the federal Consumer Rights Protection Agency were also part of the effort each agency was in charge of its own mission all the key decisions on restrictive measures and then the reopening plans were made with the key input from the Health Ministry the federal Consumer Rights Protection Agency and the Emergency Response center team not what when they become clear the russia has about 250000 people who need help to get home people who have purchased International Tour packages were quite easy to bring home the bulk of work we had to do was for our citizens who were brought for other reasons that must be pointed out that the majority of these people were tourists too so there were 2 types of tourists which were different as youre saying could you possibly clarify what you mean our city. Isms enjoy freedom of travel in and outside our country when a person purchases a holiday tour that means they will have a return ticket back by the guarantees of the top Company Running the tour nonetheless any person is free to go abroad without a thought or return ticket because they might want to decide later on their return plans there are quite a lot of people who do that believe me also in addition to tourists of both kinds quite a lot of russian citizens go abroad for studies or for treatment many who are permanent residents of foreign states decided they wanted to go home now that they got concerns over the pandemic this includes residents of the United States for instance and of new york city in particular many decided it was time to go home and apply for help via our a Government Service website goethals will give what we do is ensure the implementation of the decisions made by the Emergency Response center based on the epidemiological situation in essence we identify and organize people into groups keep them informed and put them on the flights home from or wherever they were it is basically everything that needs to be done gathering people communicating with him and put him on a flight right 1st of all the flight itself has to be arranged initially a decision was made to bring back no more than 500. 00 people a day using special return flights to moscow and the Moscow Region and no more than 200. 00 people on flights to other russian regions most travelers have already come back but there are still at least a couple of dozens of 1000 from aning abroad we have not been able to bring them back for various reasons it could be small groups scattered throughout different hard to reach areas for example oceania or some other islands in the philippines and latin america too because there are some exotic places that are quite far from civilization so you have to bring them all together we have to set up special hubs to take them to russia and then similar hubs in russia to take them to different russian regions its the responsibility of the north origins of those russian regions where these people are from to take them home and place them under quarantine this is the most labor intensive work right now at the ministry a number of teams have taken up that task such as the coordination. Center which literally works 247 the Crisis Management Center Department and the corresponding territorial departments this effort is spearheaded by the information and press department i. P. A. D. Why the i. P. T. On the one hand its aki Communications Tool on the other its that part of the Foreign Ministry that any person in the world not only russias nationals can send the suggestions requests and complaints to the feedback can be different sometimes its a pat on the back sometimes criticisms outcry was the work of all these Coordination Teams organized at the ministry or did it happen naturally on its own no i gave the instruction i did it quite a long time ago actually in early march 1 of my deputies is in charge of all departments that ive mentioned are working together here another deputy is part of the Emergency Response center led by deputy prime is that the general besides we are part of the Coordination Team of the state council led by moscow massive get serbian. Did you expect to see so many people apply you know do frankly i wasnt surprised i can even tell you that there could have been even more there was some confusion with those who have long left russia to reside permanently elsewhere and then suddenly thought it would be safer to come back they started applying so we would bring home some 5000 people and then another 10000 would pop up on the waiting list or definition you pass something i really dont understand those people decided to live permanently abroad mike in the us for example and yet the Foreign Ministry the state is helping them to come back russians are an expense why. Its not really like that these people still have to buy tickets and the price is a set by the Russian Airline aeroflot and the federal air transport agency which is government pays each and every person who is registered with the state Services Platform or meets the designated criteria a daily allowance of 2400 roubles per day these people are free to make their own choice its their life after all we wont double check if a Russian National wants to return thats their right of them set up so we dont really care no we do care we want to make it as comfortable for everyone as possible but again it doesnt matter what choice a person made but if they think they now need to come back home and how can anyone stand in the way i think it would be wrong to do that if we should think it means that we treat all people who this way or another Russian Nationals as equals theres only one way to be a russian citizen and thats having a russian passport and their approach is the same to everyone even if they also have other passports like us citizenship there is one higher minded saying we leave no one behind its time to prove that of course there were some shortcomings but no plan is without a flaw when you have so much on your hands its only natural to make mistakes i was pleasantly surprised actually i wasnt surprised i knew that most of the Ministry Staff were generous people and some embassies turned out to be quite creative in the poorer team led by the ambassador set up a tent camp for those who didnt have a place to stay because they were hiking in the mountains in the himalayas and those who simply couldnt afford a hotel. And they were given tents yes they lived in the tents and other diplomats would buy them food at their own expense you mean the staff would chip in yes not the state well this work is all well organized now but at 1st we had to do some micro management no one actually knew how big that crisis would be no one ever had to bring back so many people there were some previous examples like after a tsunami hit thailand we had to evacuate all russians but thats only one country with a handful of resorts interesting the charter flights with russian tourists on board with them still going to thailand some were fleeing and others are coming because they had already bought a Holiday Package but these 2 cases are worlds apart and they are thailand is only one of the many destinations where we have to bring our people from several thousands are still in thailand and some of them decided against trying their luck you mean theyre staying yes they want to wait it out there at least until the pandemic is over i mean he really depends on whether you can afford waiting abroad or not anything absolutely Real National would apparently we live in a country where the majority cannot afford it. True most people buy an all inclusive package that has a specific number of days and services included usually its a modest price but for most of the people its a significant purchase and staying beyond the end date of their prepaid vacation is a major issue this is why assistance by the government comes in very handy i would ask of miami because the governments including the Foreign Ministry pass any judgment these russians acted recklessly when they went on vacation abroad didnt they as russias foreign minister my job is not to pass more judgment but to act in line with the russian constitution the constitution does not apply to and if those russians back home at the governments expense again it is the realm of moral judgments as a private individual i could have an opinion on whether it was reckless or not to go to see results in the 2nd half of march despite multiple media reports on the pandemic and i also have my own attitude to those who help the panelists tourists out of mercy rather than by the force of the constitution. We also mentioned several times that more than 60 russian schoolchildren were stranded in the u. S. And russian Government Agencies were not told about it theres an injury here that works for the Us Education Fund they pay for some expenses put children on the plane accommodate them with rule us families in different states where they study in colleges and schools there are more than 60 students from what i know there are only 6 left in the u. S. Russian diplomats help many of them to reach new york but buying tickets for a plane or train 3 children the Russian Embassy staff board and take it from their own expense to 2nd hookers and yes without any orders or instructions present him why it was important to resolve the issue what are other options when the pandemic broke out these us family told russian underage students thank you and goodbye they provided accommodation as long as everything was fine but under the new circumstances they simply refused to work further under the program i think its not about why its about sincere willingness to help this is what deserves encouragement to keep in mind our diplomats commitment during this challenging time a measure of we did you expect such person involvement by our embassy and consulate staff i have some experience working abroad i know people are different but as a rule of thumb an average diplomat with an open heart would be willing to help people who ended up in a challenging situation. Washed up you know one could have predicted the scale of the disaster and it was impossible to set up Government Agencies to address such issues now there will be Lessons Learned about getting one lessons i can to give a specific list 1st we need to improve our preparedness if such a pandemic ever comes back particularly because more and more experts have been warning of a 2nd wave epidemiologists need to have a say here in terms of capacity of medical institutions in russia and post of the russia will continue to operate the new hospitals that were built during this time and they are not a makeshift affair but stay. State of the art medical equipment facilities and a sufficient stock of personal protective equipment they might be repurposed between outbreaks if there is a 2nd wave that is key the government will probably take a decision on a rail and car travel to other countries soon it will definitely depend on the outcomes of these couple of weeks what is the Foreign Ministry going to do my best performance you will provide information about the epidemiological situation in other countries to the relevant russian Government Agencies who then assess whether its dangerous or not for example europe is starting to open its borders but considering the number of cases russia as well as the u. S. And brazil are at this point unlikely to open up the brazils case unbelievable if we take the number of cases we also have many of the questions that we have a 1000 new cases a day now is fewer than 8000 and it keeps going down but the total number of infected people is hundreds of thousands thats a lot fewer deaths yes its important for the statistical data to be based on the same criteria so professionals should work this out between themselves today everyone has their own approach somewhat more liberal and they list every death as coronavirus related some differentiate between cause of death im not an expert on that we will provide the russian government was real time updates on the epidemiological situation in other countries and the decisions foreign governments make regarding opening their borders when do you think the borders when open. I dont know were slowly going back to normal after this period of Video Conferences weve had more than 15 of them including for such large scale events as foreign minister meetings for the c. S. D. C. I. S. Russian se and members recently ive held meetings with my counterparts in person last week i met with foreign minister of iran Mohammad Javad zarif and this week i met with foreign minister of venezuela who. Also went abroad for the 1st time in 3 months to serbia and belarus both of those visits were shared tool from march places deficiencies of shooters are you aware that people are going abroad through batteries now turkey has a mideast borders and behavior flies there we cant. People to use this option but of course the decision should be taken based on common sense and caution. Many leading countries are bringing their nationals home from the outbreak areas how is russias approach different from say germany or the us no one did it for free its either alone or britain know that the person in question will pay the necessary amount on their return we also had to take into account the available accommodation options to quarantine the travelers. Great of you said that for 3 months youd work via xoom everyone in the world started communicating remotely russian president Vladimir Putin has been Holding Meetings online how has that changed the way the government including Foreign Ministry operates if a pandemic like that had happened 10 years ago it would have probably been much more challenging for the Foreign Ministry to function normally but this happened after the Russian Foreign ministry as well as other federal and regional agencies started actually using modern day Communication Technology it was a very hard for us to get our work up and running online we havent faced any particularly big challenges president but i would appreciate when there were meetings with the president did it feel somewhat weird previously used to come to the kremlin around a sort of thing with that it wasnt face to face but virus scream but the whole affair has worked out well enough of course theres no substitute for talking face to face especially when a summit with a foreign partner is held and its not a mere formality there are some visits lets call them courtesy visits when one party states things are great then the other party also praises the relationship and then they agree to meet again i exaggerate a little but some visits are easy they are not intended to resolve a burning issue at that given moment when such difficult issues are on their gender its hard to settle them online you need to see the eyes and not on an l. C. D. Screen but in person some things can hardly be intrusted to even the most secure Video Conference system has to be understood i think after it all comes down hopefully itll happen soon well continue using some of these arrangements. Especially when it concerns partners that might face some logistical challenges for example those from south america they have to put a lot of work into planning their foreign trips they need to design an itinerary with 345 countries on the list not to spend 15 to 16 hours on every trip for so you havent actually been 1000 yourself i havent why mules mercy im not good option of a lot of the Ministry Staff members carsick mass and usually have some cases a few dozen and its all representative offices in the key russian regions with a lot of foreign Consular Missions about 40 cases the vast majority had a mild form one person died an old man. 62 years of age his wife is a Health Care Worker its no big secret and violence doctor she was just a carrier was no symptoms strictly abiding by all the federal Consumer Rights Protection Agencies and Moscow Health Department Guidelines including the ones concerning remote work about half of our staff continue working remotely a month by you have to come in and see as a matter of fact i work at my office like everyone else so you havent been working remotely you know im also monitored i dont come into contact with a lot of people were regularly checked several times a week we have all kinds of personal protective equipment for our visitors but they have been fewer of them we try to deal with matters by phone mostly thank you for your interest anyway thank you. Hello and welcome to cross top where all things are considered im Peter Lavelle what is the meaning and worth of history why are there are those so determined to destroy cultural artifacts and rewrite history and so their understanding of history a true and just bashing of understanding of history is really about 2 things reverends in a warning the culture side we are witnessing rejects both like. To discuss this and more im joined by my guest under i me me good im young and moscow is a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and in oslo we have learned eason is an associate professor at the university of user norway as well as author of russias geo Economic Strategy for a greater eurasia telling us up close and that means you can jump in anytime you want right now secretion ok i was going to also let you know in preparing for this program i was and were inside eden has ideas of orientalism started popping into my mind because orientalism was a way for christian west to define itself against the other other civilizations and people but it seems like orientalism as understood by slaves taken a very bizarre twist because now it is about self racism self loathing and this is where we have gotten to because theres no theres no reply. Smith for the history that theyre destroying is a boy and that may be intentional or not but it certainly creates conditions for creating a new past without being anchored or can restrain the past. This is true that identities are usually created in opposition to someone so you should with say they explore other west creators that dent in opposition to for example the east or as a contrast what do you not see with a lot of these people if they their identity they view the other or especially their own culture dont finish and so as you correctly pointed out they want to free themselves from their own past which is by definition a revolutionary moment rare moment now this is very problematic because. History it legitimizes that a medical institutions of the present and it also lays the foundation for a common shared identity