first time the echo of those intense events now all of a century ago can still be held today both in a new russia under around the globe. the nine hundred eighty s. mock 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 god brezhnev's leadership strategy was to maintain the status quo. so as it is our positions became weakened in the late nine hundred seventy s. growth rates were on the wane. when and drop of came to power. we had zero growth actually we had negative growth rates. and drop off rose to the

peak of soviet leadership english 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 these 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 diplomatic 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 crimean deaths was referred to by many as the gun carriage race which loosely means the most to radio. 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 mikhail gorbachev as the general secretary of the c.p.s.u. central committee. the criminal going to move in a comfortable semi retirement they saw in gorbachev 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 hoped that this relatively young and energetic man would be able to transform the nation. delivered a key report on economic reform just a month after taking the nation's top post in march of ninety five. here we have a deeply developed strategy a program of perestroika that has been thought through and suffered. through.

it is through the. perestroika was meant to affect only the economy of the book but later the world also came to employ other issue is 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. it a shift of good 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 numerous trips and encounters with the

people he turned into a t.v. star with his popularity overshadowing even the country's favor. the party's top echelon and regional functionaries grew increasingly uneasy about gorbachev. 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. and being replaced with younger people. to the monkeys 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 a fully fledged reforms the arms race and cultural commitments accounted for the mind 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 thousand nine hundred five the one on one meeting lasted around forty minutes. though the one cheerio 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 diehard bolshevik but a couple of days later those two diehards produced a joint statement that the whole world that expected to hear. joe matlock 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. 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 we need this is the president of the united states and 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. but there was

a story. of yourself and is a close associate played a big. part they realized lincoln was really the neck of the qualities. they knew they should draw. in one thousand nine hundred nine. and 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 . when somebody at the top suggests that people should no longer be sent to prison the labor camps will and should be given a measure of freedom that was it but that was the decision spall the stamp of approval by millions of people but some point things began breaking out of control of.

ellen and 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 for 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 a presence inside. they are not really as economically benefited or politically

benefited as as i think many people are 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 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. and the demons are told 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 going to

we didn't before. 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 that they know if you're over there i decided to launch perestroika ok let's do it together a rapist a good show for you start from above and we'll start from miller 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 nick clegg which calls to himself came from the mining family went to negotiate with the miners the negotiations involve some very hard words. in the risk of came here to face people from all over this town his facial expression abruptly changed he brigade realise

that hey we're the people he was supposed to be working full of it wasn't just a faceless small. there could fill 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 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 with a degree. 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 so if you don't for prisoners 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 over there wouldn't 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 famines of miners you would tell them would start selling coal at a high price and will introduce innovations in the coal mines. in the long run 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 you a computer like this one it took some five days to bring the computer into the country with official isolde to an enterprise willing to buy it so

a five hundred dollar 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. fifty. five.

rationing 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 butter at a time no more than ten packs of cigarettes long queues and empty shelves were the whole of the times a wave of strikes and spontaneous malaise prizes swept the country. that

some of its people earned during. a communist country that had been preaching friendship and tea among its people for nearly seventy years sorts first serious ethnic disturbances these two massive something that eventually broke the massive mishearing one of the soviet republics swamped by nationalist demonstrations and unrest. there was a platform put up for the first mass rally in june one thousand eight speakers talked about freedom and then everybody started singing the lithuanian national anthem but many people couldn't sing because they were crying but the more 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 of 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 paris troika to go through to the end 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 gold which often 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 yeltsin as a political matter and man of the papal yeltsin vigorously backed any democratic initiatives such as freedom of speech and market reforms. the vent prime minister nicholai rich gulf not to rush with the political reforms in the country. i used to tell which 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 in the same team you won't last for long but he lost it for a year. december one thousand ninety.

plummeted by contrast boris yeltsin became the people's favorite politician. he was the first russian official to show his hobbies in public. what is boris yeltsin always was a sporting man with a fighting spirit one who kept himself fit that was especially true of tennis it may trees 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 his lens bogus was elected chairman of the if you hang 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 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 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 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 shut down. i know hello mark i feel we have been attacked. we can hear shots coming from all sides when 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 here 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 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'connor family moved to the us 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 a home. i don't really have or. it's 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. landed in. the uk. no doubt the way to solve it the union collapsed was a sad event and 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 bella veggie cream and they confirmed the statehood of the former soviet republics on 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 publics.

misrepresenting russia. at 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 official last day but also not to perestroika one country gave way to fifteen each of them subsequently followed its own path.

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curable. in the. polar research center deep in the arctic circle. russian lawyers. trying to find. out. what size it hides and who. stay with me because it is a great show for. new york's. record breaking the rise of homelessness in the big government is doing just that. fresh talent on display young designers get a chance to showcase their talents alongside. fashion week.

six. good to be with you here on r t our top story this hour one of the coldest and most desolate spots on the planet the north pole is turning into a hotspot now for scientists it's all because of the vast untapped natural resources hidden beneath its waters a group of russian researchers are already feeling at home on the ice in a brand new science station there. was out the house warming party. there are only fifteen of them and the majority are in their twenty's russia's budding ocean knowledge is oceanographers and antony is will spend a year on floating eyes in the arctic they'll be trying to shed law.