stay with us. it was a time when the eyes of the entire world were on the soviet union the old guard was losing its grip on power under a new regime is taking shape what exactly that would look like nobody could say suddenly the whole world could speak a few words of russian the most important perestroika. because it was a torturous process that people are just learning about now the world's biggest country is in town calling self destructing and being born again soon is that right that there were attempts at the right classist for the first time the echo of those intense events now a case of a century ago can still be held today both in a new russia and around the globe.

the nine hundred eighty s. the height of a soviet period that was later characterized as stagnation by nine hundred eighty two the country had been led to seventeen years by the an impression if it was by now a feeble and sick old man along with his allies known as the kremlin old god brezhnev's leadership strategy was to maintain the status quo. suppose as it is our positions became weakened in the late nine hundred seventy s. growth rates were on the wane when a drop of came to power. we had zero growth actually we had negative growth rates. and dropoff rose to the peak of soviet leadership english and died in november one thousand nine hundred two before the handover to the k.g.b. the most powerful and notorious of soviet institutions. in one of his speeches and drop of said this that he would we need to understand what kind of society with

built those were his own words in the context of those to kinetic times that sounded like a dissident phrase. was also well and in poor health he died after just thirteen months in office his replacement constantine cheney and co was even more fragile the sequence of criminal deaths was referred to by many as the gun carriage race which loosely means the most. in one thousand nine hundred five gorbachev was fifty four many thought he was too young to head the government the decision was made by competing influential alliances within the top brass each with their own motives element is broken or an elected government. as the general secretary of the c.p.a. susanka commit. the criminal going to nothing in a comfortable semi retirement they saw in gorbachev an inexperienced politician

with peasant troops that they could easily manipulate. when gold which of gold nominal power he had not yet won a real authority in the party or the state. by contrast the few advocates of reform hoped that this relatively young and energetic man would be able to transform the nation gorbachev delivered a key report on economic reform just a month after taking the nation's top post in march one thousand nine hundred five . here we have it deeply develop strategy a program of perestroika that has been thought through and suffered. it is true that the. perestroika was meant to fax only the economy of the book but later the world also came to employ other issues the report was based on what had been done under and drop of. the old party leadership viewed the young leaders ideas with suspicion and such an intensely indoctrinated country popular opinion

was about as insignificant as it was difficult to gauge. hearing my first days in power which it suddenly occurred to me and i must go out and listen to what people had to say. it was the first time ever that a soviet leader met with the people in such a spontaneous mannah head of state face to face with the public in a country where politics had long been conducted behind closed doors it was a sensation. at least me closer to the people i missed closest to be. soviet television gave wide coverage to go but numerous trips and encounters with the people turned into a t.v. star with his popularity overshadowing even the country's favorite performers the party's top and regional functionaries grew increasingly uneasy about gorbachev popularity and his determination to push for economic reform. you

know jim it's all i had to put it together from scratch. by nine hundred eighty six half of the party at high level had been replaced with younger people. and among his canonize yeltsin who became head of the moscow party apparatus and a member of the powerful politburo. the people supported that leda a team of reformers were sent to go ahead with the changes but there was a catastrophic shortfall in funding for fully fledged reforms the arms race and cultural commitments accounted for the lion's share of the budget. let's get rid of the threats of the cold. with american president ronald reagan in geneva in november one thousand nine hundred five the one on one meeting lasted around forty minutes. though the bush era when i emerged from the meeting i

was asked about my impressions a veritable dinosaur i said when reagan was asked the same question he said a diehard bolshevik but a couple of days later those two diehards produced a joint statement that the whole world had expected to hear. joe was an american ambassador to russia during the perestroika years he knew just how difficult it was to move from strong enemies to good friends. i think that the victory for gorbachev he was able. to in the. with the cooperation of every gun and the first president bush was able to in the cold war it took both of them to do it their cooperation was what did it you can't say that one was a victor over the other because every agreement we made was in the interests of

both countries on january the first nine hundred eighty six the people of the two nations saw the first movie as greetings by both a u.s. president and the soviet leader i'm very glad to congratulate the american people with the new year believe me this is ronald reagan president of the united states and speaking to you all the peoples of the soviet union on the occasion of the new year. the climate of relations with foreign countries was getting warmer. but domestic issues were still pressing the planned economy had become second nature to bureaucrats at all levels they could distribute things but they couldn't turn a profit new economic programs were not working. as for reasons of yourself and is the closest associates played a big. part they realized lincoln was really the neck of the qualities. they knew they should seek draw. in one thousand nine hundred nine yes it was put in charge

of the state commission for economic reform a rank on a par with government ministers he served in that position up until the collapse of the soviet union today he's the president and founder of the highest school of economics if gainey still hold seminars to train economic experts in modern russia we can further that when somebody at the top suggests that people should no longer be sent to prison the labor camps and should be given a measure of freedom well provided was it but that was their decision spall the stamp of approval by millions of people but at some point things began breaking out of control. and in a coma became a c.n.n. correspondent in russia during the second year of perestroika she watched the radical changes unfold in the mass media very closely topics that had never been raised before started to appear on the pages of soviet newspapers people were no

longer afraid to speak their mind or attend many informal meetings that were taking place across the country member with my phone my western colleagues western reporters we would sit in those meetings and sort of look at each other and kind of pinch ourselves and say i'm sitting at with the founding fathers just like it might have been two hundred years ago in this country at the continental congress it watching people debate what country they're going to have the topics were not only achievements and prospects the endless problems were also on everyone's minds. it's too bad that more people in civil society are people at the grassroots of residence design. we are not really as economically benefited or politically benefited as as i think many people hoped so i think that's a disappointment and i where to put the blame who knows. the kemah of

a region in central siberia is one of russia's major coal producing areas people going down the mines every day have a particularly strong feeling of camaraderie the soviet union's first mass strikes began in the coal mining areas on one occasion half a million workers in various parts of the country went on strike almost simultaneously but. no one was working they said go back so we took a bus and went to the square yes to remember how many people were there. in the demons are told are retired miner remembers the events of those days frequently with his former colleagues his team was the first to go on strike. when you were going to we didn't perform. we didn't try to change the system we did want it was to change the attitude of the party bureaucracy for us the workers is that they know if you're over there decided to launch perestroika ok let's do it

together and the right place to go to show if you start from above i will start from miller been going to. many coal mines were given a measure of independence now the cash available to the miners directly depended on coal sales basically that's what compelled them to strike. that will stand until the final decision is made to. prime minister nicola which call for the himself came from the mining family went to negotiate with the miners the negotiations involve some very hard words. when the risk of came here to face people from all over this town is facial expression abruptly changed the brigade realised that here were the people he was supposed to be working full of because it wasn't just a faceless small. there could still i would have liked to see you facing coal miners and talking to them i can tell you it's not

a pleasant experience but. it would be if you knew you had to say something to them what did you say. well think about it and make a decision. he said. at that moment the black faced mass of people with coal dust all over their overalls breathed out as one would have to agree. that enough is enough. this was all first slogan enough thinking speak up now who will have no other chance. that. the differences seem to defy solution only soviet entrepreneurs could find a common language with the miners. first private companies were called cooperatives and businessmen operators. were against the column it were against the resellers who were there with it but we're not against the cooperatives. the cooperators were ready to take the responsibility upon themselves and pay the salaries of thousands

of miners. would tell them would start selling coal at a high price and will introduce innovations in the coal mines. the wrong cooperatives was the first timid attempt to allow private entrepreneurs ship in the soviet union. was the first soviet millionaire his co-operative made its money supplying computers given that foreign currency exchange was banned in the soviet union some of his first dollars from prostitutes working in hotels for foreigners is a bit for the little more than five hundred dollars for example could get a computer like this one it takes him five days to bring the computer into the country we're officially sold it to an enterprise willing to buy it so a five hundred dollars computer faced us nearly five hundred thousand troops nearly one hundred and seventy thousand dollars. by that time the so-called new russians were lucky co-operative workers quickly and huge sums of money while the vast

majority of their come from and faced growing hardship. every month we give you the future we help you understand how and what to bring the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world. join us for technology update on our g. russia was introduced in the soviet union in one thousand nine hundred nine for the first time since the end of the second world war some items were sold in strictly

limited quantities nobody could buy more than two hundred grams of at a time no more than ten packs of cigarettes long queues and empty shelves with the times a wave of strikes and spontaneous rallies did not occur prices swept the country. that saw these people are dying. a communist country that had been preaching friendship and among its people for nearly seventy years soar its first serious ethnic to step says these massive. amounts that eventually broke the civil mishearing one of the soviet republics was by nationalist demonstrations and the rest. there was a platform put up for the first mass rally in june one thousand.

points for a host of disconnected new political forces in lithuania which united in an association. you know we wanted perestroika to go through to the end but yes we wanted to see changes in the economy more glasnost and more freedom of expression but we also wanted to be free in decision making order. glasnost the russian word for openness proclaimed by gorbachev looked ever more like a genie let out of the bottle for the first time infighting among the soviet elite became a matter of debate in the media boris yeltsin was unhappy about the slow half hearted progress of reforms he publicly demanded that the party's leaders initiate more

vigorous and thorough transformations sensing a potential rival gorbachev booted yeltsin from the politburo and stripped him of his seat at the top of the moscow party organization. that he who claims that he can solve everything for the better when he comes to power is a political crook. in the old days this would have spelled the end of a political korea. and i can forgive myself for being too liberal and didn't send boris yeltsin where i should have that was my mistake. the liberal press now saw yeltsin as a political martyr and man of the papal yeltsin vigorously backed any democratic initiatives such as freedom of speech and market reforms. the vent prime minister nicholai risk of not to rush with the political reforms in the country. and. i used to tell the whole bunch of many times we have to stop all of that we will

lose the country tomorrow i will resign and to morrow you will be left on their own with yeltsin and the same team you won't last for long but he lost it for a year. favorite politician. he was the first russian official to show his. crew through the latest damage boris yeltsin always was a sporting man with a fighting spirit one who kept himself fit that was especially true of tennis its main theories are countered with. by nine hundred ninety two ninety vocalists had become nelson's right hand man both on the court and in government yeltsin appreciated people's fighting spirit many of his associates had to learn to

play tennis. they discuss politics in the locker room. there was no getting away from that yeltsin himself played tennis quite well political tennis was another of his strong points he was good at attacking and counter-attacking his opponents by exploiting their weaknesses he conflicted with the kremlin's position by backing republics when they bid for independence. in one nine hundred ninety fatalities landsberg is was elected chairman of the north ewing in parliament under his leadership the body immediately proclaimed the baltic republics independence. in january nine hundred ninety one we received an ultimatum from gorbachev demanding that lithuania should admit it to soviet constitution was again in force in our country that's to say he recognized the fact that it was already known for here he threaten to use military force in less we rejoin the soviet union with. a

detachment of ahmed vehicles and special forces units and to vilnius lithuania and started building fortifications around the building of the new parliament using concrete blocks and bombs while. later part of the barricades were put on the glass walls and turned into the museum for the republic's independence. and their barbed wire symbolizes the oppression. the prisons the camps and the borders. the kremlin hoped a demonstration of force would be enough to compel the young republic to make concessions. we said we had no right we've not been elected to have the country rejoin the soviet union it was a massacre followed. the television center was attacked in the early hours of january the thirteenth the building was soon counted on the work of independently viewing in television shut down. i know hello mark

i feel we have been attacked. we can hear shots coming from all sides there with wayne in radio station has already been captured we're still. is still an anchor on a state run television channel that was the report which sealed her fame as a young journalist. i knew that they broke the door with their axes this batch has been left here. as a reminder of. the bella. back in the kremlin some of the top brass was still in denial hastily drafted knew he needed treaty was designed to keep the u.s.s.r. together. it was the result of joint work by delegates representing nine out of fifteen republics the treaty was shared tool to be signed on august the twentieth

one thousand nine hundred one but unexpected events that broke out in moscow a day earlier buried all hopes for the preservation of what was left of the soviet union. we really didn't let them sign the soviet union agreements on august the nineteenth that's right but its creators could sign it the next day. after toppling gorbachev from power eight elite party officials designated themselves as the state emergency committee all television programming was replaced with tchaikovsky's ballet swan lake and committee members addressing the nation. their proclaimed political program has faded into memory but the trembling hands of state emergency committee chairman good night d.n.i. if it were the most symbolic sign of the coup. tanks on moscow streets a coup in the world's biggest nucleus state. cnn's

moscow correspondent allan o'connor had taken that day off she spent a whole year gathering the correct paperwork to adopt a russian girl called marina from a moscow orphanage on august nineteenth one thousand nine hundred one the final meeting was shuttled in the meantime of course there were tanks. all over the streets and there was a huge line between me and office so i was literally ran that story had a happy ending marina lived in russia with her new moment till she was nine then the entire o'conner family moved to the u.s. marina remembers well the primary school she attended in russia and dreams of visiting her native country after she graduates from an american university. do you consider russia home. i don't really have or. still like that now like right now i'm living. like we were like oh wow.

moscow almost nine hundred ninety one boris yeltsin was one of the most active opponents of the state emergency committee. the committee itself twenty first. that didn't. go up. no doubt the way to solve its union collapsed was a sad event it was a tragedy but when that happened the soviet treasury was empty there was a dislocated economy and there was a real threat of famine more importantly to its governance had broken down with unpredictable consequences from a bloody civil war to nuclear weapons landing in the hands of uncontrollable forces but we've managed to prevent all that there are. december the eighth one thousand nine hundred one so the last chapter in the history of the soviet union with the

appearance of the better veggie cream and they confirmed the statehood of the former soviet republics and the emergence of a new political entity the commonwealth of independent states the agreements were signed by two top ranking officials representing each of the republics yeltsin misrepresenting russia. and the commune that document there is a masterpiece of twenty first century diplomacy. empire crammed with nuclear weapons and an enormous backlog of deep seated problems that had piled up over more than seventy years broke up almost peacefully. december the eighth one thousand nine hundred one was also the soviet union's official last day but also much of perestroika one country gave way to fifteen each of them subsequently followed its path.

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russia signs up to build venezuela's first nuclear power plant as president hugo chavez talked business in moscow on the sidelines he spoke to our team in an exclusive interview where he shared his thoughts on global issues. will not go so many. lines on one of the reasons for the many conflicts going on in the world today we take a look at the war in iraq thousands of people are women and children and ridiculed that's what it. is based on the lie of the iraqi government and the weapons of mass destruction that's the only reason the yankee empire evaded the country didn't even they didn't know there hadn't been any such weapons so they designed that long to bring the war it's all wrong that's the politics of the yankee empire. moscow might soon be getting

a new mayor as deputy prime minister sergei gets the presidential nod for the capitals top job he could be said to replace your delusion was dismissed by president medvedev last month after almost twenty years in office so be out of his candidacy now must be approved by moscow lawmakers. former prisoners claim they were abused as secret jailed inside america's bob graham air base in afghanistan they are reported by a u.s. foundation catalogs inmate statement saying they were subjected to extreme temperatures sleep deprivation and extended periods of isolation this comes as the u.s. revamps its detention facilities in the country. up next our interview show spotlight coming up former british intelligence officer michael smith reveals some trade secrets to host stay with us for that thing.