this is the r t news channel it's now midnight thirty moscow time if it is chilling to us things are our top stories from moscow tonight i would winning writer who shed light on corruption in norway's immigration system is facing deportation meanwhile those on the un tell is still being given asylum in the scandinavian country these are top stories. fresh files from wiki leaks show how russia's opposition turns to the u.s. for help but frequently gets the cold shoulder from washington. and this chinese american leaders agree the two superpowers still differ on sensitive issues

beijing's growing influence in the u.s. is making people there look east. of programs continue next we take a tour of a mysterious an exclusive address from the soviet era it's the only apartment building within a mere three hundred meters from the kremlin and we hear on usual tales from its tenants. building that sprang up in one thousand nine hundred thirty two in the heart of moscow just across from the. imposing. it is. three hundred meters of the. town. every. time.

it was meant for soviet russia ruling elite revolutionary communist functionaries government ministers and members of parliament. a coveted key to the country's best . by nine hundred forty one one third of its tenants had been repressed. the special house for special people was popularly known as the house of pretrial incarceration. buildings in secrets is now known as. alexander. has spent a lifetime house across. the postcard like. the big gray house itself.

for me. to say just don't you think it's something quite out of the ordinary. i'm sick and tired of it but it's my home. alexander was named after his grandfather alexander. in the one thousand. he held the post of food minister in a country that had gone through the upheavals of revolution and civil war a person responsible for food supplies was almost as important as all the law makers put together. instantly complied with special paramilitary groups made the rounds of villages to. serve. as a result many of them to starvation. very extensive. executions with. did what they had to by

providing the nation with an adequate supply of. alexander to save the country's scientific and industrial potential by preventing the urban population from starving around about the same time stalin came up with a costly project. to build a big apartment house with all modern conveniences for the country's ruling elite the job was given to the architect. a graduate of the italian academy of fine arts . that was the first ad a project of its kind a city within a city down to only western as well as domestic architects built on that idea later in the twentieth century. construction got underway on an aisle in the moscow river facing the kremlin nine hundred twenty eight. was to be one of the first tenants but he didn't live long enough to see the end of construction. died

of a heart attack that same year. however his family was allowed to move into the house . family moved out of the kremlin and into a five room apartment just like this one with a good girl in one thousand nine hundred forty i was brought there from the maternity of my three uncles and a sister and grandmother was very happy to see me that. one hundred twenty square metres was a huge amount of floor space in those days even so for a large and growing family compared to the tiny flat the family had lived in before the apartment was like a palace stove. and hot water on tap were seen as marvels of engineering. the architects had introduced a host of technical novelties to make the tenants and lives as comfortable as possible. there was

a service left here before the building was revamps and there was a dust bin just outside the door a man whose job it was to collect dust bins used to live to pick them up from every floor the. tenants and didn't the building if they didn't want to. do their daily needs work clothes and hand shops an outpatient clinic a club with a cinema close to outsiders a tennis court a canteen and even hobby clubs for children. yes you would be hard put to find anything missing what there was a crash and there was a kindergarten kindergarten was in that cabin on the rooftop. there was a large veranda on the other side from and children from the creche and kindergarten slept on the verandah in the daytime and. in those days it was not as noisy as it is now. life in the house was very comfortable and. moved me and yes the wool believed in three minutes into the jail it's not clear if it was

demanded to be that way but the more if architect. had sensed the trend of the times in any case that's the way that world was constructed of finding a closed courtyards and a system in general anyone entering or leaving the building was taken every movement was known and taught there was a total control of everybody and everything. that never even occurred to the tenants of the modern house they were living in a large golden cage there were small fountains in the middle of the courtyard with a staff of gardeners looking after flower beds around them there was not a single tree obstructing the guards field of vision no one could cross the courtyard unnoticed concierges guarded all entrances they were officers of the country's special security units and they had keys to all of the buildings apartments. special service agents always stood guard inside this

gate we knew they were because they were wearing a stricken cola's they let no outsiders into the house. and sometimes took advantage of the situation by seeking safe haven in the house from all sorts of unpleasant situations with. parents had no worries about their children they knew their kids were under constant observation but. under total. that made the job of the special security units easier the repression machine was gaining momentum in the soviet union in the late one nine hundred thirty s. at that time five hundred five families occupied five hundred five apartments in the complex three hundred eight of them were repressed in one nine hundred thirty seven. such cars were commonly known as black ravens believed to have been used to take people to present. the detainee was

bundled into a car where he sent between two men in the special security force said you miss me a detainee was guarded by two special services officers and the driver of the car had no room for. the raven in russia was considered to be a burden who brought unhappiness that's why people called the car a black raven the model on which this car was based was presented to soviet russia by henry ford. was shown in the car in the kremlin in one thousand thirty three. plated time well before he touched the grill and wondered why they were so much chroma if. it was told that in that way soviet engineers had wanted to outdo forward to work alan said too much chrome was not a good idea as for does he order to perform. this

was the only mass produced car in the country at the time it was used both as a taxi and as a limousine for big special service officers also made use of the ominous vehicle. marguerita father raised her almost as he would a boy he taught her to swim run and stick up for herself. was a communist worthy of the title he was proud of his party membership but when indiscriminate arrests swept the country in the late one nine hundred thirty s. he realized that storm clouds were gathering over him. in january one nine hundred thirty seven margaret his parents spent a long time in her father's study talking in whispers margaret was just eight years old at the time. that our mother entered the room children your father is leaving

us yeah i said to my father communists don't behave like that. try to embrace me but i did my best to break loose from his grip and what. i would understand and forgive him when i grew up he made an attempt to protect our family. filed a divorce suit and moved into a hotel in less than a month he was arrested on the street his formal divorce didn't help a few days after his arrest his apartment in the house on the embankment was searched his family was still there. thought in my nightmare a very long time after the search. was their custom they had come in the evening when i was already in bed and the first thing that they did one of them took my dog. i didn't really play with dolls but this one my

father brought from england on the way it was a rag doll but it had a head made of porcelain one of them took and smashed the doll against the wall. my father taught me to strike back so i bit him but. the families of the repressed and stayed in the basement pending a decision on what was to be done with there was a multitude of workshops catering to the tenants needs in the endless labyrinth underneath the house on the embankment there were also air raid shelters there many people used them during world war two the families of the enemies of the people lived in the bomb shelters accompanied by the noise of the woodworking machines. who were stuck to a staff of some thirty carpenters catered to the house's top notch inhabitants

anything that the turnaround wanted us to meet news blogs floors. but they always expected us to show up as soon as they ordered us to come from. the basements of the house have undergone no change since the one nine hundred thirty s. even the doors of the now nonexistent service lives that were used to move dust bins are still there were two sounds ten years ago there was a big hole here some of the ground had been flushed away when they were building a sewage pipe a few other young man and i went down to a depth of twelve metres we saw there was a sunken underground been sucking in water and soil to be awarded later but it was blocked with concrete. is a professional digger he makes maps and charts of the capitals underground service lines archaeologists and rescue workers turned to him for help. while house on the embankment was still under construction your political prisoners

built up bunker and the secret tunnels were linking the house to the kremlin. to one theory if they died there were traveled under the mosque at a depth of seventeen thousand meters. but we saw several human skulls with holes at the back a large holes in the forehead. people had been shot and killed their bodies. were found two underground passages one dates back to the sixteenth century as for the other he believes it was made when the building was under construction he couldn't examine the second passage because it was filled with concrete to prevent pavements and sidewalks above from further sinking into the aisle swampy soil but this is not the only mystery still surrounding the house on the embankment.

wealthy british stock. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy. cars are. global financial headlines cars a report. into the arms trade to the land developed by cossacks in ancient times. now to the center of russian defense production. with christianity and shamanism existed side by side for centuries. people in remote villages cut off from the

basics we take for granted welcome to the republic russia close up. happiness and fear of side by side in this grain summer house built for the soviet elite in the heart of moscow just across from the kremlin eminent tenants walked to the kremlin to report for work carefree children played in the backyards but even they didn't fail to notice that their playmates were disappearing one by one arrests of house tenants became a matter of routine in the late one nine hundred thirty s. there were more sealed uninhabited apartments than occupied ones the exodus of veteran tenants was faster than the influx of new residents. they were tenants only in two or three apartments in

a block of flats. the others had been sealed up though if the place was incredibly quiet the pets and ready to go they always had some basic necessities close at hand and whenever they had the entrance door slam during the night they thought it was that to be arrested that's how it was with us and some people couldn't stand the stress and committed suicide. one of the two rooms of the small museum of the house on the embankment is devoted to the repressed attendants a tour of the museum lasted for one and a half hours museum guides spend a lot of valid time telling the stories of the families of the so-called enemies of the people most of the immediate relatives of the repressed tenants were sent to prison camps and their children to children's homes the youngest of them usually had their names changed. and it's really been a children's home soon after his talons death a sixteen year old boy wrote a letter to the radio in it he describes his childhood i grew up in the grey house

on the bank of hurry for my father's name was nikolai work you were my mother's name was alexandra each morning i was taken to the kindergarten that was in the same block of flats alexandria the boy's mother survived the christian camp and returned she found her son using the description contained in his letter although his name had been changed. reality and fiction all of that is intertwined in the house on the embankment even in conspicuous engineering concepts or mistakes in construction are often held up as examples of malicious tricks of special operations services. but the. ceiling in this corridor it is much lower than inside the roots of the earth means that any one would have had no difficulty at all so in getting into the air ducts used to be right here above me. there he could have seen and heard everything that

was going on inside this room. was about this. there was to win in those days it was not necessary to collect incriminating evidence to arrest someone the procedure was much simpler and much more menacing that if they wanted to take someone away they just came and whisk them away then they said they were spying for china or something. curator of the museum of the house on the embankment knows all of the legends surrounding the house and the real events in its history. in one way or another happy and a joyous event concerning its stem from the grim past of this place. the bright side of it is their return of people from prison camps one of them was the mother of your interest and of my late husband god rest his soul at the gate has given this house its name by writing a great book about it that his mother came back alive is a miracle and

a great joy. the status of the houses tenants underwent a gradual change towards the end of the one nine hundred forty s. now communist and other top most officials were not the only inhabitants of the house world war two heroes and prominent scientists created a new atmosphere there. for the war they were found. but when the war was over they were in a state of decay. because of public pressure the fountains were replaced. there was a volleyball net about five meters. and there were also two professional volleyball players living in the house at the time a minister not together a cute team. as a result people from all over moscow came here to play foley where sometimes they played until. soviet citizens were not allowed to

purchase private property in those days only the state provided housing. an official paper authorizing the right to move into the house on the embankment was a very prestigious sign the kind of apartment you got was also important and the end of the war alexander family was moved into a smaller apartment in a different block his father a red army officer had disappeared without a trace during the war. missing soldiers were seen as enemies of the people my mother was a daughter of an enemy of the people so she was denied official employment. life was hard and she had to work by night as a dressmaker. so private enterprise was banned it literally was hush hush business . today only the walls of the house and the museum serve as a reminder of times gone by the consumer goods shop the outpatients clinic and the laundry are all gone the rooftop kindergarden is no longer there.

time was when there were some nice looking cup a troll is here or. there was a concierge and a telephone but the with a still later the cuppa trauma's only reached the fifth floor when all of them were removed and the telephone disappeared and the concierge went away everything was then as it is now if. the club were only house tenants were made it is now a popular variety theatre the theatres bar is a pale semblance of a vast canteen that fed thousands of residents at a time there are no children's hobby clubs anymore only the stage and tennis court have survived. visible well here was a tool that sorry for the details. and there was a canteen for personnel. but the rest was the saying of those the most important

tosk was to turn this building into a theater. well but unfortunately we can't climb up right now tennis court above us weighs down on the theatre below it was actually built in the early ninety's. when the house was under construction. when it. became the theatres artistic director in the late one nine hundred ninety s. he saw to it that the style of decorations in the auditorium and on stage was preserved as much as possible in line with the original design. but ridiculous give well here you see this here is the coat of arms of the soviet union was pretty mild and actually those music sheets in the over there there are the notes or the saw the at national anthem those things have survived actually to this day i see them

as the most vivid maint of a great and tragic period in the life of russia just look at the columns the architecture and the imperial power demonstrated by this construction but there he kicked order. of government only to move out of the house a long time ago. however having an apartment in the house is still regarded as a symbol of prestige. though many are deterred by its ill fame. actually i first played with the idea of moving into this building in the mid seventy's but my wife she told me she would never answer it because she said the walls in the shed she has here. others however would like to live here precisely because a large stratum of russia's history is associated with this house. as a historian i have always wanted to touch history with my own hands to experiment and

explore different options or to cry me. a prominent political analyst in the one nine hundred ninety s. is a relatively new resident of the house on the embankment he bought an apartment and moved here in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine since then he's been enjoying life here. when i first answered disappointment i was surprised by the fact that there was very little light in it. that the leo left almost no light there but that's how it was with the. there was. to small rooms on both sides of it. perhaps the architect thought that was enough for living. so i knocked on all the old walls you know all that's left

now are the windows and the bookshelves. bourse your fun designed the building in such a way as to offer a good view of the kremlin for most of the apartments some of them boasted enormous recessed balcony. as a student of the italian school of architecture wanted to get as much from the rare sunlight here as possible. to that and he designed a vast verandas like this one a groom leave it out it's very large indeed a groom there for there are even larger of around as elsewhere boards legend has it that in winter time water was poured over them so that people could skate there was a couple many modern day businessmen by apartments here but they don't live in them instead they regard them as a profitable investment in real estate others move into the building for the sheer prestige but the descendants of the victimized tenants make it

a point of not walking anywhere near it if an apartment has new plastic windows this is a sign that it was only a short time ago the few descendants of eminent ancestors prefer old frames made of wood but their numbers are on the decline. some very old people living in this house might keep in touch some hall but as a rule there are no close relationship the atmosphere is guns that's for sure. this house doesn't feel the same anymore. if. russia would be so much brighter if you knew all about

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