Transcripts For RT News 20240712

And the heck were in the news 7 r. T. E. Channels pulled off air in latvia which claims the networks controlled by someone on the black list although when you dig deeper there he actually had different views agency will tell you all. So lets talk about then good morning it said kevin owen here in moscow is to say just turned 11 am now youre watching r. T. International and its news from russia this dominating our coverage 1st off this hour it is the final day of a week of voting thats been taking place across russia on proposed changes to the countrys constitution while many of already had their vote voting online president putins declared today a National Holiday in order to allow voters who havent yet done so the chance to cast their ballot. Its a complicated old package of more than 140. 00 amendments mainly adding social legal and economic guarantees to the constitution no one ensures the minimum wage for instance support a lot of people would not be lower than the cost of living another secures an annual adjustment to maintain the value. Of pensions and what theyre worth but also be tougher requirements for Civil Servants too such as banning key officials from having foreign citizenship or Bank Accounts abroad and then there are some proposal seen as controversial as well namely one of the marriage. Should be classified soley as a union between a man and a woman also the word god is reference to the constitution will still though define russia as a secular state but there are some political changes as well chiefly concerning the president ial term limits now at the moment the president can serve 2 consecutive terms take some time out and then maybe come back for more but if the constitutional reforms go through then president ial 10 years will be limited to 2 terms in total and the most contentious a moment is the socalled zeroing out coming out of of lithium of putins terms. Of the possibility crucially to run for another 2 terms if he wants to that is proving controversial a little earlier i discussed the reaction in russia so far with our correspondents ask you taylor them. Well this whole voting process has been pretty unconventional and that it all began on the 25th of june and as i knew wrapping up today a week later now the culprit is of course that 19 that staggering was done to prevent masses from flocking to polling stations on just one day i dont think we can underestimate the psychological toll the creative virus has taken for months people were told stay home its safe to go outside eat so naturally there were people who were hesitant about venturing out to cost the votes so authorities here in russia did everything that they could to give people options so that everyone could get to space in a way that they felt comfortable in a way that they felt safe so alternatives included 13 from term or in a couple of cities even floating online for those those who really want to stick by the Old Fashioned method of voting in the polling stations well it was safety 1st so you must gloves disposable pen social distancing a limit on the number of people at any one time and not shopping Walking Around the city a lot over the past week and i would say that people were actually listening to the rules quite carefully they were all standing separately apart and they were already mostyn plucked up ready to be elected and in terms of turnout at last count on tuesday evening the central Editorial Commission indicated that were looking at around 4 to 6 percent which is probably what we were expecting so of the russian people being reacting to this vote you say that about it well one thing we can safely say is that that is wide consensus in russia that reform is needed but i will also say that it has been difficult to gauge popular reaction and thats because of the all or nothing 13 schemes so russians are being asked either to vote for or against the entire package of amendments and they are all in the stone the 137 and thats a very simple question do you approve of the changes on a very simple onsets yes or no and thats left people a bit mixed because what if they really support 145 of them but really dislike 2 of them thats a big. If a conundrum and i think the defining moment will be in the booth you know the vote will go in a way this all up in the last whats the most important thing for me as my country develops and moves into the future in terms of the political establishment though theres been vocal opposition from the communist party they say that this will only serve to strengthen president putins power and they also take issue with the mention of god they said that lenin is tightening in his grave they have just to go out and say no to the proposed changes while another Political Party is that you just calling on people to boycott the event full stop but now lets hear from people themselves and what theyve been telling us from all corners of the country i think that its needed because the current constitution is out of date it is a modern time and even the view is that if it is new. Why have i come here to vote because im a citizen of russia and i agree with all of them men women and you know i am not ok with them and went about 0 out the president ial term i absolutely do not agree with. I became familiar with all of the amendments in the constitution of the member the most important to me is the prevalence of russian or over international the head of the Central Election Commission of says something about voting being like a meal deal you either take everything or you do not take it at all and i already do not like one dish in this meal deal so i will not take Everything Else i think it is nonsense according to all legal logical and ethical norms i love my country and you think everything that has been done is right i am going with pleasure to vote ever recommend everyone to do the same so as is often the case when it comes to political issues a bit of a mixed bag it will be the results which tell us how people really feel about all this year so were going to know related to my talk of this time tomorrow 24 hours while here in moscow the polling stations closed at around 8 pm its unlikely that were going to have any official announcement of results before then so were looking probably. Outside stay more negs of course we all know you just need to look at the map russia is an enormous territory its got 11 time zones 800000 polling stations 110000000 eligible voters so even if as with looking now around 50 percent of those cost votes still tens of millions of votes that need to be counted Barrie Cassidy in the meantime though as we near that finish line of whats been a marathon week of this popular vote lets take a look at some of the more and most adults we should say ways that people have been having that say in the future of that constitution. That you just. Lose. Lose. Lose. Sleep. Sleep you lose. Lose. Lose. Lose lose lose. Lose. Huge country never a dull moment with allegations of ballot stuffing and other voting violations or been circulating widely online lets talk about that all are being investigated fair few have been debunked as fake already the Electoral Commission saying right now that all inquiries its received only 2 percent or about possible offenses and some news in the last 2 Electoral Commission members have been suspended and simply does berg after video emerged of 2 women stuffing a ballot box a box is no sealed apparently no longer is going to be used for voting and investigation into what happened there is under way elsewhere 2 journalists claim theyd managed to vote twice both in person and online others have also tried say their efforts failed police are investigating the journalists over administrative offenses as described voting twice is considered fraud and punishable with a fine the Commission Says only one vote will be recorded in both cases members of the Election Commission were to police will be subjected to disciplinary action the votes of citizens will be counted but only once so as we heard theres a long list of proposed changes in the package being voted on but its just one element thats got much of the foreign media fired up russias parliament basically paving the way for Vladimir Putin to potentially stay on as russian president hes the longest serving russian leader since Joseph Stalin but a lot of the acute him wants to stay in power even longer addressing lawmakers abdu words saying he backed the amendment allowing him to seek another term in office. Lets go live to the Austrian Foreign Affairs Minister corinne class all joining us now i think she had time morning so abroad as we said a lot of the News Coverage is focused solely on going to putins chance to stay in power why there are social measures though the whole other measures in this thing being getting as much press. Good morning to lot once more her correction and looks at the car in the under former minister of Foreign Affairs as the star of. The filter of the storage look problem. Whether to do this is an issue or and ive been wondering myself because read through the various topics that are on the agenda and it has just been highlighted in your report prior to our interview there are dozens of interesting trollish answers that should also be discussed and the one that caught my eye was on children the role of children and all but often as i explicitly mentioned in one of the constitutional a mop land which i think is worse while reflecting because the children are wiser or all over the world they have always been by the rubble and if there is strong lucia and that that gives this promise illegal promise that they have a role to play or to have to write tool education to Health Service i think this makes a certain difference because im not aware that this is a topic that is really inside the constitutional provision lot in in many constitutions i know of course we do have to United Nations convention on the rights of to chide but if i speak of my country austria we have been lagging behind in implementing many of the provisions when it comes to children right right cause children are the future no matter how you look at it and bring them up properly and giving them a good result makes a country why do you think that the russian governments moving to refresh the constitution know what it actually needed or not do you think. Whether theyre of the Russian Federation of the year 2020 is in many regards i would say in a different situation than was the country in 1903. When we compare the International Circumstances but also of course the National Economic and political situation the early ninetys were marked by the implosion of the soviet union marked by the down brutal crime of the same and. It was more about being a success of the then being the Russian Federation that we have today with all the changes that we have seen also when it comes to. Economic recovery. Thanks to all to what happened on the island gas market but i think there is a need for meeting this new circumstances cost a constitution is almost a reflection of a society and also of the circumstances of the countries is in seoul. Of the legislator the parliament in order to respond to this new exigencies we talked about children being the future what about entrepreneurs of the country very very important as the any country develops its whole economics in a way forward the government will be obliged to support entrepreneurs in this package and help develop private business initiatives what are the benefits of in trying that there was a constitutional level do you think. Well being of trying to promote myself and facing the pandemic consequences i think the promise that the constitution gives is one thing and the other of course is how can you make your Constitutional Rights happen what is your legal right tool to to push it through sort of say 2 goals through the different instances and if this is guaranteed on a constitutional lever how tools. Are your business and now thinking of todays circumstances what happens to your in case of thoughts not show up. I think this is a very important progression because we see drag now. In many countries the big ones are saved because like in a banking crisis too big to fail or when the single Big Companies and the small and medium. Sized companies the 5 to 50 Person Companies they are the ones who pay the price but they are also the most important as employers is not getting older people in society as well another moment securing an annual adjustment to maintain the real value of pensions and allowances and a difficult is that going to be for future government assuming tomo of course during the tough Economic Times especially after covert know with so many demands on the budget yeah definitely and here again with you go by the rebel group because when youre up to 70 plus your part of the generation and that could not acquire property you could not buy your apartment you could not buy a house with a garden where you will lie. Your way to temples for instance youll many of those are facing like it was a really to kids in the 1900 in many polls communist countries that they have to pay tremendous rents with. Pensions which were following a different index and i think here actually as you rightly put it one thing is the constitution guarantees the other things of course the actual provisions that you can happily debt but its we i mean we have seen it in many countries like clintons in greece economic crisis of 201122 when you have such a deep cut in. Intentions that can really trigger a social crisis and that is a final thought about the way this is being done the whole logistics of it because the work of covert so much of a grown their online voting can play a big part of it to try and get the footfall there is other way forward because there are worries about its maybe not transparent enough or a cover. Are you happy with oh it was a good plan. Why i have given thought about online of all to myself several times its a global debate and i must admit. Very personally im a bit Old Fashioned i think it still makes sense the day of the vault to go out to go to the ballot box read and dress up and say tool to discuss this with your friends before and after then tool to simply make it click on yourself up with little and its a different story because if i wear swiss citizen and i had talked to participate in the record around every 2nd standing i wouldnt. Try to make to click down to go there but in the case of such. I would say whats that dont happen every man they really saw about it where you discussed it with your colleagues with your friends within the nam link i think it also makes stance to to go there and. To to to be a citizen also at the ballot box you know you got your course right now safety 1st is no every time of the moment with covert what a mess what kherington i saw former Austrian Foreign Affairs Minister lovely to have you on the program get your thoughts and thanks for making the time for us of a good while there i thank you for your time and i was sure a pleasant day in moscow thank you very much youre most welcome. The world is driven by dreamers shaped by one person or those with. Dares thinks. We dare to ask. You can be bold with yeah you like. To. History person of the morning lets check had some other news this making headlines around the world the lockdown has been extended to the german meat factory and the surrounding town after a huge number of workers came down with covert infections the been smaller outbreaks in similar types of workplaces too and all things got unions and officials really concerned over safety conditions for stuff as paper all of the reports. Germany was quite rightly praised for how it handled the initial wave of coronavirus now although its dealing with something but hops a little more tricky isolated localized spikes of covert 19 were on our way to a Meat Processing plant in the city of good to slow which has been the epicenter of one of those outbreaks over 1500. 00 workers tested positive at this facility the factory is currently closed down with the workforce in quarantine since corona was confirmed a lockdown that was imposed on the local area last week has been extended by 7 days and the federal governments in its calling on people to be page says its not a hard situation for many people the restrictions cause a burden in the chancel thinks all people who take the situation with patients and follow the necessary restrictions they are all helping now to prevent the virus from spreading the reason for the extension of this local lockdown is 100 cases of corona in the last week detected in people that have no connection whatsoever with this meat factory the working and Living Conditions of staff at the other 2 are have been brought under the microscope low paid workers from Eastern Europe often living in cramped conditions with social distancing is nigh on impossible being seen as the unfortunate catalyst for this spike People Living in this area on top either workers were forced to continue in these conditions during a pandemic. Management should have been more careful these are people who came here to work they should have been tested before they were hired but when the virus was already in the factory and you dont know who has it then you cannot stop it. We have guest workers from romania and sometimes they live 10 people in this same apartment they were. As for nothing and thats the problem. Theyre blaming the meat factory but the virus is still everywhere one of the reasons could be that people are working there in close proximity without maintaining the necessary save distance officials in berlin and local governments say this is the responsibility of business owners. The company must have civil liability through behavior where people obviously do not abide by rules corp took an entire region hostage it is currently being about your way through very carefully whether and against which rules the company has violated and where it can be held liable for those tasked with looking after work has rights of buying the German Government saying theyre willing to open a dialogue on improving conditions they accuse perlin of being all talk no action they have already been enough in nonsense and promises who heard it all before but nothing ever happens the Company Operating this plant of refused all requests for comment when it comes to working conditions they cite but this isnt the only coded spike in germany right now. But this type of localised outbreak has been noticeably absent from germanys blue chip manufacturing the Auto Industry is back to. Work with the correct precautions being taken in a normal working week 30000 pigs are slaughtered here every day and while low paid staff living in poor quality tauzin may allow for cheap 1st in schnitzel it also provides coronavirus with the optimum conditions to spread peter all over r. T. Germany. Seems where the news this morning r t v you is in latvia will no longer be able to watch our programmes weve been pulled off air there along with 6 other r. T. Multilingual channels by the countrys Media Council it says the networks controlled by a broadcaster whos currently on the e. U. Sanctions but as ever the devils in the detail because the person in question theyre talking about theres a guy called to me to kill me off but actually he had separate Russian News Agency not ours more ghost of explains the confusion. What you see here may look like news to you but others perhaps those that dont like the color green were made of soft stuff those working in latvian intelligence agencies all government this is horrible the evidence we have obtained is very strong and we call on the regulators of all other e. U. Member states to follow our example and ban r. T. In the territory such programs have no place in latvia or elsewhere in the e. U. Personally ive looked all over fairbairns watched r. T. Arabic with subtitles tried r. T. Spanish i even checked behind attorneys and know nothing just cables the very evidence that lab here has the literally made up then didnt try very hard perhaps it was just before the end of the working day that everyone iching to go home see theres a number of News Agencies and russia hauled but i see a civil order which translates to english as russian today and this organization is led by a thurlow whos on european sanctions list this organization by the way has nothing to do with r t thats been our name for more than a decade were r t and theyre right here seaboard even our names are in different languages but the Latvian Special agent or official is other than easily scared apparently a lazy thing given the subject to sanctions throughout the year you the National Electronic Media Council will inform media regulators in other e. U. Countries of the decision taken and considers that a similar ban on distribution would be acceptable throughout the e. U. Blew im sorry that was mean we just put last the other intelligence agencies on red alert agents running around their headquarters waving their arms and complaining loudly about our t. Scaring them again but it really is funny even the fellow who in the sanctions list. Seems to think so this decision is an indicator of the level of stupidity and ignorance of the latvian or pharisees blinded virus a phobia we laughed at this announcement the last you know authorities got into a simple mess but seriously speaking the reason for the ban they have stated does not have any legal basis therefore latvia should immediately return the broadcast of r. T. And apologize to our colleagues to be honest it isnt hurting our feelings that they should be worried about you can censor things not in the modern world people will always find a way to find what theyre looking for what they should be worried about is undermining the very foundations of the European Union no country can join the e. U. Without guaranteed freedom of expression as a basic human right fine if latvia which seems to have a thing for trying to silence media have been able to come up with a good excuse to ban see a solid reason to violate a founding principle of the European Union but they didnt they came up with a laughable excuse and even then managed to get it wrong then look stupid in front of their own allies the burning of our to channels and violence freedom of the press the wants of citizens to media pluralism and is a clear censorship remember councils decision to be lifted immediately at the end of the day if Latvian Special services and authorities are of this incompetent capable of confusing 2 different media organizations and everyone who leads them and in the process undermine the entire European Union well theres really nothing to be afraid of little latvia flexing its muscles trying to lead the European Union on our merry dance of censorship and media repression has dropped the store and on it. On feet they may have been counting on the fact that nobody would notice this rather gigantic elephant in the corner of the room but they have named the wrong guy saw i think it will now be a laughingstock the European Union claims to be the. Norm for Free Speech Free expression and democracy and all of that. Just goes to show butts all lipstick when the d when the lipsticks rubbed off its a rather plain our face underneath what a mass pity there is no way back in love via soon anyway lets way things looking from russia so far this wednesday the 1st of july the big story from here today just to recap is that were into the final hours of a week of voting in this country on how its people see it developing over the coming years and a big vote a potential constitutional change will no more tomorrow morning or course