State visit to study right here. Our broadcasting law director our studios in moscow this is our chief international and from thomas. And syrian state media is reporting that Government Forces have begun moving into the north of the country where turkey is carrying out an offensive against the kurds and these are images from the Northern Syrian city of. Syrian media says that locals are celebrating an agreement there between damascus and local kurdish authorities our middle east correspondent possibly has. We just received reports that the Kurdish Administration and the Syrian Government have signed an agreement that will see the syrian Army Deployed along the border with turkey nasr in state media is reporting that the Syrian Army Forces are making their way to the north of the country in an effort to stage off what they call an offensive by. On syrian territory at the same time were hearing from libyan is Television News reporting that some of the Syrian Forces have a really interesting and more than story in town of money bish and that they were able to do so because kurdish fighters simply let them pass through their checkpoints Lebanese Television also reporting that damascus and the code respect Syrian Democratic forces have signed an agreement that will see the Syrian Forces into another key town called bani within the coming hours and that right now the syrian armys soldiers are really just preparing for that now on sunday there was concern expressed by the u. S. Defense secretary mark that the kurds and the syrians had struck a deal to Work Together at the same time the United States has announced that its born some 1000 troops from Northern Syria out of concern that they could get caught in the crossfire between the kurds the turks and the syrians and all of this coming as american President Donald Trump tweets and warning to turkey that he will impose powerful sanctions against ankara puff we heard any more information any reaction to those reports of multiple prison breakout spy on his militants well hundreds of Islamic State fighters have been fleeing from numerous detention camps that were previously controlled by the kurds in Northern Syria the kurds have been retreating from their positions since and ways day when turkey launched what have cool with an Anti Terrorist operation now a number of European Countries particularly germany and france have expressed concern that this offensive will result in a disastrous humanitarian situation and theyve also said that they are extremely concerned about Islamic State finances escaping on mass now theyve already said that theyve halted on sales to turkey and iraq questions of whether or not theyre going to impose sanctions at the same time the turkish president added one has said that all these reports about islamic. State finances breaking out of prisons are fabricated and that they are all aimed at creating fear in the face of the turkish offensive which he continues to justify Joshua Landis director at the u. S. Center for middle east studies told us the areas rich resources are crucial for damascus. Well i think were going to were seeing a scramble for the northeast of syria in the same way that there was a scramble during the collapse of isis state and. The resources of the area are going to be the 1st to be taken as we saw with the oil fields around areas or and i think what were going to see is the Syrian Government is going to try to go across get the oil fields the gas fields that are so crucial for a serious economic well being also this is prime Agricultural Land the Euphrates River flows down here the dam that the dam it which is so important to the flow of the euphrates which america and the kurds have held the Syrian Governments going to want to take that back as well so what were going to see is a scramble for resources in the area and and turkey is going to be come under intense pressure well see what air to one and assad can negotiate in a way to deescalate so that there isnt war between turkey and syria. To go shake hands in ecuador between the government and indigenous protest leaders has ended without an agreement the meeting aimed to defuse it nearly 2 weeks of protests that have paralyzed the countrys economy ecuadorians angry with cuts to Oil Subsidies continue to show their discontent on the streets of the countrys capital quito the death toll has reached 7 people according to the local ombudsmans office. Earlier some of the protesters attacked government buildings and a t. V. Channels office demonstrators have been seen picking their way through burnt tires and debris cluttering the roads more than a week has passed since people 1st came out to oppose government cuts on fuel subsidies are 2 spanish question and Nicholas Sanchez odonovan reports now from quito. Ive heard from. The fact. That this is what theyre doing look these are real goods real bullets against people the companies who protect themselves from carbon sticks who dropped explosives on out and didnt is people who are sleeping cost conscious they were asleep thats what the current dogs have. Of her. Recent dates and that right now are in an absolute chaos there is thousands and thousands of birds i says lets try and get closer to the problem line just the just a few things and why its the president ial palace its heaven they call good part military and Police Forces these protests to florence again. Theres 10 minutes ago while i was there in the large shop in our spanish version we dont hit by. The very bright from friday night and thats what we think so you know right the protestors are using the local court sales stones bricks just like the. And Police Firing back with tear gas with sound bombs its a situation of extreme tension in the streets. Just to give you an idea of. A place suspended any activity in the city center they say its not safe for doctors and for ambulances instead weve got crews are volunteers that are just taking the dozens and dozens of going to people to. Stop them treating them there its actually pretty shocking and here fluency measures that were implemented by the government included scrapping the subsidies for diesel. Gasoline and that has triggered these protests the monday we had the students then on tuesday we had been degenerates communities today they will move together they join together in the same tens of thousands of people who are taking over the streets of quito president lenin moreno is going to see and what is going to hit is a message. Certainly riposte his government his ministers and say the measures that deal with the i. M. F. 4200000000. 00. That struggling with that not the people who say that the government is going to save the banks and big business instead of the people and thats why with these people here protesting this is a National Strike and its heavy takeouts which smoke its practically on bearable a tragic day in x. Were told history. When fuel subsidies were cut it prices reportedly rose by 120 percent leading to knock on inflation on other products the decision came as part of a deal made by the president with the International Monetary fund in march in exchange for another loan for the country marino has so far refused to scrap the cuts but on saturday said he would have a 2nd look at them before that moreno blamed the unrest on former president Rafael Correa and Venezuelas Nicolas Maduro told r. T. Has no one else to blame but himself. Its a difficult time for my home and this shows the politics of merino in his government hes already been in power for 2 and a half years and he still blames korea for everything economic crisis for security for his political faults and to say that these mass protests of my fault is just crazy. Knowing there is no money marino is not interested in democracy for him the most important thing is to control power control the ecuadorian public so he create projects that can damage the majority would be beneficial for his goals. Ahead of a state visit to to saudi Arabia Vladimir Putin gave an interview to several Arab Networks including our sister channel r. T. Arabic here it is in full on our international. Viewers welcome to this unique interview with russian president Vladimir Putin which were recording in sochi. With me here today our mr 130 reporter news arabia. A reporter r. T. Arabic thank you very much for this unique opportunity considering your upcoming visit to saudi arabia. A lot of. But you know so i mean. It is my pleasure i think its a good tradition to meet with the countrys media before visiting it as for the visit to saudi arabia we attach great importance to it it is in a sense a return visit after the visit by king of saudi arabia custodian of the 2 holy mosques to russia it was the 1st historic visit we consider it historic and it really is there is one more thing that i believe is important to note in soviet times relations between saudi arabia and the soviet union were rather low level in recent years the quality of our relations has changed dramatically we consider saudi arabia a friendly nation i have very good relations with both the king and the crown prince we have been making good headway practically in all failed i will start with the economy there is still a lot to be done but we have set a good pace last year it was up 15 percent in the 1st 6 months of 29000 growth was as high as 38 percent were considering some good joint projects on direct Investment Fund and the public Investment Fund of saudi arabia have joined established a 10000000000. 00 platform 2000000000. 00 have already been invested work is underway on other projects and some promising and interesting projects have already been implemented to let me go as i consider it possible to operate on the territory of saudi arabia one of our Companies Exploring the possibility of building a petro chemical facility with investments of more than 1000000000. 00 it is Cebu Holdings russias Largest Company in this sector we have full string a partnership in the trust based sensitive area of military and defense cooperation we have been negotiating for a long time equally important are our joint efforts to resolve the regional crises in this regard i would like to emphasize the positive role saudi arabia has played and resolving the Syrian Crisis we are working especially closely with turkey and iran as you well know but i believe that without saudi arabias contribution towards the syrian. Settlement it would have been impossible to achieve a positive trend therefore i would like to express our gratitude to both the king and the crown prince for this constructive approach im confident that my visit will help to build up the momentum both in developing bilateral relations and in hunston cooperation in International Organization of. So that. Mr president thank you very much once again for giving us the opportunity to record this interview your visit to the middle east will possibly have an impact on the United Arab Emirates as well or do you think about strategic cooperation between russia and the use and how would this corporation evolve can this corporation play a certain role in strengthening collective security considering the Russian Initiative to establish a collective Security Architecture in the gulf region especially in the area of the strait of hormuz. And. Youve just mentioned the strategic nature of our cooperation if indeed we signed a Strategic Partnership memorandum last year and we see the United Arab Emirates as one of our very close and promising partners the signing of this document was not a coincidence it demonstrated the quality and nature of relations between the United Arab Emirates and the Russian Federation and i have to say that as is the case with saudi arabia our partnership is vigorously developing in all areas of all the gulf countries we have the highest level of trade 1700000000. 00 but of course this is not enough we are well aware of that so currently we are working with the u. A. E. Sovereign fund a joint platform is worth approximately 7000000000 dollars 2000000000 dollars have already been invested work is underway on other projects and of course it is safe to say that the United Arab Emirates greatly contribute to resolving regional crises and play is stabilizing role in the region it is no great secret that we maintain regular contacts with the leadership of the United Arab Emirates there is even an established tradition and practice to compare notes regarding different topics in my opinion we are doing it for the benefit of both parties and the region as a whole will lead to. Mr president and the more than 10 years of your presidency some harsh dramatic developments have taken play. In the middle east and the statehood of several countries has been undermined namely iraq and libya we see that this could be the fate of other states as well when we see what happened in the Syrian Arab Republic what catastrophic events took place there now many members of the arab public think that russia can really bolster its role in the region you surely know that are never a guarantee arabic covers russias Foreign Policy as well many our viewers have been asking straightforwardly as russia taken such a harsh stance in the case of syria but the position regarding libyan rug was perhaps not as hard to replace it is that we can look. First of all during the crises in iraq and libya i was not in office but this is not the main reason the thing is that sound as is commonly known in the case of iraq the United States circumvented the United NationsSecurity Council the u. S. Has no mandate to use force against iraq actually i was present at that moment anyway russia did not support the invasion russia france and germany did not support u. S. Plans regarding iraq what is more we warned about the potential adverse implications and thats exactly what happened the initial euphoria of military victory soon gave way to despondency and pessimism about the consequences of the victory because all Iraqi Government institutions were destroyed but no new institutions were established at least in the beginning when you put on the country the radical forces got a boost and terrorist groups became stronger many former offices of saddam husseins army and Security Service agents resurface and join the ranks of what later evolved into weisss so those who lead is supported this campaign had not considered the ramifications we do expect will continue to move forward although there are still a lot of problems to deal with were perfectly aware of that as for libya the chaos wrought by the military operation still prevails but in this case our western partners played a trick on us russia voted for the corresponding Security Council resolution after all what does this resolution say if you read it carefully the resolution prohibited get afy to use aviation against the red. But there was nothing about allowing any air strikes on libyan territory so that was actually what happened so basically what happened there was done circumventing the un Security Council and we are all aware of what happened next will there still chaos and confusion a flow of migrants went through libya to europe get off it always warned about that he said that he stopped african migrants from going to europe as soon as this wall was gone they started pouring into europe and now they have what they warned about but that is probably not even the main issue most importantly it is destabilizing the entire middle east region as for syria we came to syria to support the legitimate government and i would like to emphasize the word legitimate it does not mean that they do not have internal problems im ready to talk about it in detail later it does not mean that the current leadership is not responsible for what is going on then they are but it does not mean that we were to allow terrorist organizations to capture syria and to establish a terrorist suit a state there that we could not allow militants to move to former soviet republics we do not have hard borders or a visa regime with them we could not allow militants to infiltrate russia from there we already had such an experience and we know what this might lead to we still remember what happened in russias north caucasus region not that long ago this is why we made a decision to support a legitimate gove