case of a century ago can still be heard today both in russia and around the globe. the early one nine hundred eighty s. marked 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 leonid brezhnev who was by now a feeble and sick old man along with his allies known as the kremlin old guard 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 way. and drop of came to power. we had zero growth actually we had negative growth rates. and drop over rose to the peak of soviet leadership english now died in november one thousand nine hundred

two before the handover to head of the k.g.b. the most powerful and notorious of soviet institutions. in one of his speeches and drop of said this that we need to understand what kind of society with built those were his own words in the context of those dick medic times that sounded like a dissident phrase. was also elderly 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 usually means the race to the great. in one thousand nine hundred five 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. is that all general like a. good karma they all go much as the general secretary of the c.p.s.u.

something commit. the criminals go to a comfortable semi retirement they saw in gold much of an inexperienced politician with peasant roots that they could easily manipulate. when gold was full of gold nominal power he had not yet one real authority in the party or the state. by contrast the few advocates of reform hope that this relatively young and energetic man would be able to transform the nation. deliver to keep report on economic reform just a month after taking the nation's top post in which ninety five. year we have a deeply developed strategy. a program of perestroika that has been thought through and suffered. it is through the. perestroika was

meant to flex only the economy but will 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. to get a hearing my first days in power much of 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 sensational. free sneak listen to the people i miss 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 echelon and regional functionaries grew increasingly uneasy about popularity and his determination to push for economic reform. it was an avenue to mature. i had to put it together from scratch. final nine hundred eighty six half of the party at high level had been replaced with younger people off counted among his canonize yeltsin to 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 a 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.

met with american president ronald reagan in geneva in november one hundred eighty five the one on one meeting lasted around forty minutes. so there when should you know and i emerged from the reading i was asked about my impressions a veritable dinosaur i said when reagan was asked the same question he said a die hard bolshevik but a couple of days later those two diehards produced a joint statement that the whole world had expected to hear. was an american ambassador to russia during the perestroika years he knew just how difficult it wants 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 over a gun and the first president bush was able to in the cold war it took both of them

to do it their cooperation or what did it you can't say that one was a victory 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 a soviet leader i'm very glad to congratulate the american people with a new year. this is ronald reagan president of the united states i'm speaking to you with 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.

closest associates played a big. they realized. of the qualities. they need. 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 it would infer that when somebody at the top suggested people should no longer be sent to prison the labor camps and should be given a measure of freedom that was it but that was their decision spall the stamp of approval by millions of people but some point things began breaking out of control of.

eleanor o'connor 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 a member with my form 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 more people at the grassroots of russian society 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 camera. 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. no one was working they said go back so we took a bus and went to the square yes some gusts to remember how many people were there . and the genius out of a 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 to go

we didn't perform. we didn't try to change the system we did want was to change the attitude of the party bureaucracy for us the workers is at the now if you're over there decided to launch perestroika ok story together in the right place to go to show you stuff from above. from miller been. 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. prime minister nick clegg which caused the himself came from a mining family went to negotiate with the miners the negotiations involved some very hard words good risk of came here to face people from all over this town his facial expression abruptly changed we both did realise that here were the people he

was supposed to be working for it wasn't just a faceless mob. yeah 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. if you get in you have to say something to them. one of the same. well think about it and make a decision. he said. at that moment the black faced masses of people with coal dust all over their overalls breathed out as one would agree. that enough is enough. this was all first slogan enough thinking speak up now who or you'll 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 colony were against the resellers who

were there with it but we're not against the corporate sort of. the cooperators were ready to take the responsibility upon themselves and pay the salaries of family of miners. would tell them would start selling coal at a high price and will introduce innovations in the coal mines in the long 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 more than five hundred dollars for example could get you a computer like this one it took some 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 dolla computer faced us nearly five hundred thousand troops nearly

one hundred and seventy thousand dollars. by the time the so-called new russians were lucky co-operative workers quickly and huge sums of money while the vast majority of their countrymen faced growing home ship. the close up team has been to the saucily in regions where the biggest russian salmon gabbie are processing factories located mounts argy goes to northern paradise where many still live off the land. new ways are being found to fight economic turmoil. and russia's first free elections railroad a thousand years ago. welcome to the road region in russia close up.

forty two thousand americans die each year from car accidents only a thousand. seven hundred thousand people. and thirty two thousand will kill themselves cancer in all its forms kills five hundred sixty thousand of us a year part disease is even more devastating to chills over eight hundred seventy thousand americans every year. russia was introduced in the something entirely and 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 bus or at a time no more than ten packs of cigarettes long queues and empty shelves with a whole lot of the times a wave of strikes and spontaneous rallies do not cut prices swept the country. some of its people are undone in. a communist country to be preaching friendship

and among its people for nearly seventy years swords firsts. serious ethnic just says these two massive. intervention. this killing one of the soviet republics by nationalist demonstrations rest. there was a platform put up for the first mass rally in june one thousand nine hundred eighty speakers talked about freedom and then everybody started singing the lithuanian national anthem but many people couldn't sing because they were crying but then. they knew something was changing there was more openness there was a glimpse of freedom people could now talk freely without fear. intent as landsburg a says a composer and professor at the vilnius conservatory he always pictured himself at the head of an orchestra not the head of a nation he became the rallying point for

a host of disconnected new political forces in lithuania which united in an association. with you we wanted very striking 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 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 a political and man of the people vigorously backed any democratic initiatives such as freedom of speech and market reforms. the vent prime minister. 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 with yeltsin and the same team you won't last for long but he lost it for a year. in december one nine hundred ninety by that time go.

plummeted by contrast boris yeltsin became the people's favorite politician. he was the first time profile russian official to show his hobbies in public. nobody boris yeltsin always was a sporting man with a fighting spirit one who kept himself fit that was especially true of tennis it may freeze or it counteracts with his party colleagues. 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 four tout as landsburg is was elected chairman of the if you any and 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 that the 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 must 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 bob 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 shutdown. i know hello. i feel we have been attacked. we can hear shots coming from all sides in this when in radio station has already been captured we're still. a battle 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 i hastily drafted a new human treaty it 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 shadowed 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 get now d.n.i. if with the most symbolic sign of the coup. tanks on moscow's streets a coup in the world's biggest nuclear 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 the 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 the 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 well like. moscow almost nine hundred ninety one boris yeltsin one of the most active opponents of the state emergency committee. the committee itself has to pass the twenty first. that didn't. go up.

no doubt the way to solve it the 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. 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 communes 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 sufficient last day but also much of perestroika one country gave way to fifteen each of them subsequently followed its own path. every month we give you the future we help you understand how to get there and i want to bring the best in science and technology from across russia and around the

world to join us for technology update on our g.

fifteen polar explorers face a fierce winter drift on ice floes as they begin a mission to collect evidence for russia's claims over the arctic sea hidden treasure. russian leaders a year long floating on trying to find answers as to why the all to do is melting what presence of mind and who rules the ice in the future. you can see the job full on. the number of americans living in poverty is the highest for fifteen years with life on the streets the only way out for a record number of people. and russia is a center of trade and craft suffers in the twenty first century economic climate we're in the city. with i want to.

live from the heart of moscow but this is a very warm welcome to. a team of fifteen men starting an epic expedition to prove that part of the arctics on top wealth belongs to russia they'll spend a year adrift in ice floes carrying out dozens of experiments in the freezing temperatures of a fierce winter when the members of the mission got a warm goodbye before being left to fend for themselves. it was there to see them off. there are only fifteen of them and the majority are in their twenty's russia's budding ocean knowledge is oceanographer scent and genius will spend a year on floating eyes in the arctic they'll be.