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we are coming to you live from the russian capital this is all a t.v. headlines now illegal immunity outrages spog over claims that influential figures in russia are using their connections to evade justice it follows the retrial of the daughter of a powerful siberian official who nearly escape punishment for a car crash that left one woman dead and another paralyzed. preparing for the worst with i watering cuts in the u.k. public services to be revealed some economists predict the country could plunge deeper into recession finance ias war has learned nothing from the crisis and is about to repeat its mistakes. the big apple is split into an even slices a survey just released shows the gap between the rich and the poor in new york is now wider than in india the statistics also show the number of homelessness in the city is now at the highest since the time of the great depression. well how did i

become a part of america now stories ahead for you right here on r.t. . once it was a part of russian territory there are still reminders to this day children wearing russian national costumes people having russian names and many orthodox churches are standing here but more than one hundred forty years ago it became the u.s. territory though some americans still don't know about it. just over the last i have no idea about. like nothing i don't know anything about that alaska is cold. it was cold a box of ice a polar bear garden and one russia but in the language of the indigenous peoples the word alaska means the great land.

sven haakanson is steering his boat out of the narrow bay of kodiak island his ancestors have lived here since time immemorial. over the thousands of years they to solve this seascape each time they put out to sea to hunt. but they use narrow canoes with a couple of paddles instead of comfortable motor boats with powerful engines in the past yes it was very very difficult to hunt as an individual you need to group in order to. actually capture for example you look at the sea lines over here in order for you to hunt one of those in the several people. on a summer day and seven hundred forty one scores of you need it's of the land set out on a hunting expedition in canaries they spotted odd looking ships on the horizon.

those big sail boats belonged to an expedition led by russian explorers bearing and . that was how kodiak island made its appearance on russian maps the first colonists were. forty years later. the city of kodiak was the capital. for fifteen. street service a reminder of. the names of russian travelers and merchants. there. who are all founded to. tell you where we first russian permanent settlement in alaska and then there's. son in law were sawn off named after nikolai. who are was representing the

government of russia and also the russian american company. the russian american company was founded in seventy. primarily with the hunting and. which. was used as a warehouse from here to russia and to china this sea otter pill has the sickest for any animal the most furs per square inch this is the animal itself. this animal was what caused the fur gold rush to alaska. he organized an expedition to retrace the steps of his fellow countryman.

was the first ever european to reach. unexplored. contact with the aboriginal people. look at peace. well welcome to warmly just as their ancestors welcome these agustin two hundred fifty years ago their homes may have changed a lot but their attitude to russians remains the same. shit over clearly will welcome the east into places that it once as bases as a ghost can expose. russians many of the local people said they had russian and. when the russians came to the lives of the indigenous people changed. many of them began to work for the russian american company jobs involved hunting for sea otters fishing and taking part in the building of new settlements russian priests and

monks visited alaska and baptized of the locals into the orthodox faith russian men married local girls. russian men married local women and their children were called creole. creoles who were well educated. in the russian capital to ship as well as in the colonial administration . committed. to. sven how concerned lives a life entirely different from his ancestors to him putting out to sea is more like fun than work. sven is proud of his traditional bathhouse he sees it as a symbol of successive generations and imbedded russian traditions. when the russians came. the thing that is similar are the rocks and the he in the steam in the washing inside the vanya and that's something that we've been doing for centuries and that's a tradition where now we have a wooden house which is

a russian vanya which just adapted to it i mean i grew up taking minus four baths. svend cs telling the history of. as a mission. which is one of the principal tourist attractions of. when few tourists visit. local people come here to. actually took over our claimed alaska. friends together with his family is listening to his story although his name is of russian origin he doesn't know a single word of the language spoken on the other side of the bering strait nor does he know much about where his last name comes from. what my mom told me. morning for sure they were taken people after drawn through their hundred thousand your honor and they couldn't say our last name so of

a russian. spy you don't seem you enough doesn't need to speak russian services in the orthodox church in kodiak city are held in english. father in a candy was born in new england a place that is far away from here he has no russian roots nevertheless he decided to serve as an orthodox priest in alaska but it was a long story. it's a story of growing up in a christian church a protestant church but always running a seeking for a face for experience of the faith and trying to do that in the doxy as a young man and eventually answering the call into the priesthoods.

the church where father in the county sears stands with the first church in the new world used to be alaska is still predominantly orthodox us state. russians and the priest said then came didn't force us to not speak our language they didn't force us to not follow our traditional ways of living we did you know stop practicing our older religious practices but pretty much everything else did the same thing language but then and during the american period. when the. american archaeologist david mcmahon is exploring the remains of russian legacy. these are. they would have been used. for this is one of the most important finds of his career some of the objects were

found at the site of the first russian others on the ocean floor so. this is. this together with. david raised a many remains of the russian ship from the depths of the ocean. to the russian american company. in eight hundred sixty. eight was very lucrative because the california needed for their drinks so even if. the ship was leaving. everyone got off the ship. board the ship stayed afloat for several days before sank. twenty five meters deep to explore the remains of the ship the kodiak was one of a dozen ships keeping the lines of communication with. similar ships. of

the north pacific. as a symbol the russian american company was in dire straits. at the beginning of the eight hundred sixty s. the company reached the edge of bankruptcy that caused a debate on whether alaska could be sold the vast territory was inhabited by eight hundred. those factors led to a serious discussion about a potential sale they were held in an atmosphere of secrecy laws only a handful of officials knew about them the league. america was not particularly keen on buying the faraway territory a russian envoy to washington eduardo steckel was told to do his best to convince the u.s.

government that it would gain norma's benefits by acquiring alaska. steckel had the support of u.s. state secretary william seward who was in favor of a u.s. territorial expansion. finally in one thousand nine hundred eighty seven after lengthy negotiations alaska was sold to the united states for the price of seven point two million dollars. on october the eighteenth eight hundred sixty seven the russian flag was lowered in the former alaskan capitol of sitka. in its stead america's colors were raised. today happy alaska day is one of the major holidays of the forty ninth state. during the bright showed the residents of citgo reenact the procedure of handing over the flag from russians to americans. in eight hundred sixty seven the ceremony for placing the russian colony under u.s.

control was much more modest. the american government was weary of accusations that they had wasted a lot of money headlines was splashed across the newspapers scoffed at the purchase describing it as nothing more than a box of ice. rumor even had is that of the seven point two million dollars paid some two hundred thousand was given to senators in the form of kickbacks. but opinion. i deliberately steps were taken out of. swaying some sentences. after alaska came under u.s. control the russian american company lost its influence and the russians were offered a choice either return to russia or live in the reservation. check. what became of the money. was shrouded in mystery. the official version.

was spent on the construction of railways. however the ship carrying the received for the sale of alaska had sunk in the pacific. like. most people in the lower forty eight.

when they're here. i've actually had people. lived. here. few english words gary however doesn't speak russian my grandfather passed away a couple of decades ago and my grandmother. passed away soon after that just some distance from here my father and most of my relatives and one day. too. right after the peninsula was sold to the americans the village was built on the sea shore all of the employees of the russian american company who refused to move

to russia had been banished here by the u.s. government one of the older buildings is right down below us doesn't have a window in it and built in the old log dovetail design with the dovetail corners there are several other buildings that are throughout here including sheds that were used for fishing the older ones were built as as old as the late eighteenth hundreds all the residents of new chick are related to each other one way or another they are the houses irene she died in one thousand nine hundred five one of the most successful people born in india is laurent lehman who is a distant relative of gary a school called four years ago he was the lieutenant governor of alaska. he's only passing through today and has decided to stay with his uncle and aunt their ancestors were russians and they still use russian words in their everyday lexicon . was married were. a

few hours later he will visit his father at a nursing home in the town of sold. your interview to i told him i tell my father that everything. oh you do that if it. doesn't see that russian heritage simply as a distant episode in the history of his native state he remembers well that when he was a child far more people spoke russian than english. with my brother's russian heritage and we often joked about it when we get within about ten miles. we're doing what we call speaking then we start talking like my father telling some of the stories it is still a very. part of my heritage. more nov arrives at around lunchtime he visits his father at the local nursing home he says a few phrases in russian. the go i. was there come to.

nick lehman can't remember names and faces clearly last year he had a stroke. with. us here yes but. that's my son nick lehman's condition sometimes makes him imagine he's not a nursing home but in the old settlement of. where everyone has a boat where christmas is celebrated in early january rather than in december and where people in nearly every home speak russian. version of why they want to know there's. going to be. a group of. nick lehman is one of the few people here who still remember the russian air of the land its former legacy is gradually being forgotten much in the same way as old people's memories fade away i'd like to teach my children about their heritage and

we've shared it. especially with our oldest child our son and i think the best way we can do it is to talk about it shares some of the stories maybe even some of the language i want them to understand are very rich cultural heritage is it makes me think of the. phrase and here is one of the most popular teachers at seoul don't know high school. he used to teach english to russian children in the russian town of. course today he teaches russian in alaska none of the children in his class has a slavic name all of them are americans who have decided to learn the language that was once dominant in this part of the world. you won't during prion why all. the oil. this july. this thing that.

i'm not. here. the gory season self as a representative of the new wave of russian settlers of alaska who fears he makes himself at home the russian legacy is everywhere. because today there are at least about seven hundred. russian for example. then the presence of the churches here so you know the words. let's put it like this here in . the past. after. trying to stick to

a lifestyle of siberia. you thought people came here in one thousand six to eight years this is the first house they have built yet if we take why they feel you're not young enough how do you choose them in mind for some reason try to guess why there's no escape for you dressed to kill. is famous. and. particularly fond of her because she is the only always ready to talk to journalists. live in the settlement and they always prefer. the founders of. the soviet union to america to escape persecution. in alaska. trying to distance themselves from civilization much like they would. if initially it was

a private. that the signs had been removed and now people can visit us they can talk and meet. today it is even something of a tourist attraction the cafe run by. the most lucrative business in the. big. for three decades it never occurred to the old believers that someday americans might be among their neighbors they tried to escape visiting other towns but now the american house stay near the russian ones i can't leave no nephew has five children he moved. seven years ago after buying one third of the local land his american dream is slowly becoming a reality the land was. pretty good price the russians. russians

the people that are here the orthodox. have a nice set of values. friendly relations with matt but as the years ago by she becomes ever more apprehensive of the prospect of. losing its status as a russian enclave and turning into just another quiet settlement in alaska. children in the still russian national dress but english is now their mother tongue . for growing up in a russian village but we. learn english not as much russian i think or the time. i. played which. the new wave of settlers who moved to alaska during the last decade came from siberia.

twentieth century russian destinations changed in comparison with the eighteenth century the majority preferred. city anchorage rather than. out of the cities three hundred thousand strong population five thousand are migrants from russia. situated in the. everybody. has perfect english. he was born. children of the russians who came here in nine hundred eighty nine nine hundred ninety s. are about twenty years old now just some of this russian generation has grown up in alaska they speak very good english and understand spoken russian. music. there's

a place where everybody's going. to be. different places. but the new will have taken the him like close to the. russians don't see themselves as. they see themselves as. the travelers among them. once again. will have to go through a strenuous course of training before. they intend to use the same gear that the early russian explorers.

discover. we want to know the actual truth and that's why we didn't have a choice of transport. head of the community of indigenous people. takes a dim view of the desire to make more difficult. to see. as motorboats. friend thinks giving up the perks of civilization is a foolish thing to do. yet despite embracing the modern era inwardly he still remains committed to the simple principles preached by his ancestors. we were here for thousands of years. but you know we didn't have this system of paper saying that we can claim this land because in our philosophy in our worldview. you can own land the land owns you you know how can you say you own that when you're only here

for a little bit and then you got it's a whole different philosophy of owning it versus living with it.