meridia believe that joint shares in new delhi which are the most they be the to carry the load of clothes and. made. part of the leader medicine shift it was from the paper trust fund. you're watching r.t. live from moscow here's a look at the top stories colonel gadhafi regime grows diplomatic means that and the conflict in libya where fighting continues around rebel strongholds the casualties on the rise at tripoli envoy has held close talks and brings over a possible solution and will continue negotiations in turkey and may. be battled insurgents need for the coalition to arm them to compensate for their lack of discipline training and manpower rebel fighters are said to be outnumbered tanta

one by saddam's loyalists. a russian pilot is said to stand trial in a new record for alleged drug trafficking a boss kill me tains the man was simply kidnapped by the u.s. customs it was snatched and sting operation by american agents in liberia last year . and it's only a matter of hours before three space orbits to mark the fiftieth anniversary since you were good aren't birds fly. out once part of the soviet union lot mia became independent twenty years ago and our special report will take a look at how the country has changed since gaining autonomy. it seems blanched used independence day its pomp and fanfare good chance of any

other public holiday in the country on this day the republic's top leaders gathered to lay flowers and the freedom monument in latvia's capsule rigor. in formal events like tours for sessions held in the evening of the same day people who see themselves as the country's true patriots marched through streets closed to traffic for the occasion the perceptions old and eyes by the radical nationalist party known as old from latvia. however many people don't identify themselves with the festivities they are russian speaking residents who make up nearly forty percent of the country's population half of them have not yet received citizenship rights.

let me lindemann as a columnist for several latvian newspapers you'll soon vesta gates cases of public interest and publishes reports on them but even though vladimir holds a laugh in passports he's technically not a fully fledged citizen of his own country and i know us not because the passport cover bears a unique inscription the stuff that it would be written in latvia and it says your passport of a non-citizen goes or was of more than a large role it's more on the main pitch in the english translation it reads really and spends hours since most problem times we are called just that aliens like we are from another planet or even full of you pointed international law we are treated as such just the present there are something like four hundred thousand such people in latvia courts that have soaked through such. mansfield became an independent state in one thousand nine hundred one after seceding from the soviet union. barely one month later the country's parliament passed

a resolution officially dividing the republic's population into citizens and so-called non-citizens. the latter were denied voting rights they could not be elected to bodies of states or thorson or work in government departments. this applied to not only those who settled down in the country after nine hundred forty but their descendants to. any truth is i don't want to be a second class person i want to be a citizen of the country who are living in this country. any non-citizen is free to try to naturalize the vent they need to pass exams on the country's history and show they command of the state language and the national anthem. after submitting over necessary papers africans then need to wait for about a year before they get a cherished citizens passport. do many people fail to go through the procedure that the milliner meant for one was not even allowed to see those exams. for the past

five years and i spent three of them outside lot of the rebels why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful. my fight for citizenship rights were never as they even stage a sit in in this building i spent a day here and refused to leave it after office hours then the police force me out . there was a time when victor dugan off a nice to taste and valdez samplers a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now sackless his majesty's president's children off as a member of latvia's anti fascist committee. who was also a possibility i can't bear to see the revival of naziism in libya i can see it with the naked eye would upset me most of all is that so-called democratic europe closes

its eyes to the revival not as a group of the crew it was. on march sixteenth nineteen forty three during the second world war the left in legion was formed. thousands of volunteers in the country signed up to fight for the nazis. off independence every year on the state's legion veterans have been officially committees to hold a parade in central reader. in two thousand and five beats a dog and often several other anti fascist clans and prison rape stood in the way of marching legion and. the police dispersed all the anti fascists and let the s.s. veterans put the flowers at the freedom mourning meant. precious to. believe in a free country fascists and their followers have no right to bring flowers to

a symbol of the state if the state doesn't see itself as a nationalist was. cool floor actions were in line with the united nations resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s. . with. some fourteen thousand veterans living in latvia today for what's in the soviet army during. well to. give kenichi convinced there was a paratrooper event. as he moves to the monument commemorating the soviet soldiers who lost their lives in the war to make sure the nobody sees his medals. a law passed back in one nine hundred ninety one bans the public display of soviet symbols. and the attitude to us is just a bowman about. there was even a case where a uniformed veteran riding on

a bus on victory day had to leave because the driver stopped the bus and said he wouldn't budge unless the man says that i go to. the really. the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eighty it was later restored the act and he masterminded why he goes. he was sentenced to a brief term in prison. now he's again free to walk around central riga together with his son and openly discuss the fate of the monument. it's a myth that some people this is a monument to me it's a disgrace to the latvian nation. the following is nothing that should be simply pulled down symbolizing that we are no longer occupied with the stone yet the local bus and. in the year will be good shishkin blew up the monument another event occurred that caught the world's attention. former soviet past as unfair silly

kononov had been brought before a lack in court to face criminal charges face actions in world war two and did it over the years this is the order of lenin or they gave it to me for blowing up sixteen german trains when i was a partisan issue krisna traditional. in more than latvia the x. parties and was declared an enemy and spent almost two years behind bars. for taking part in the killing of local volunteers they were helping the germans. kononov was acting on a decision taken by parties and tribunals and nine hundred forty three. that when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change their lackeys started a massive campaign against anti-fascists people who had fought in the entire hitler coalition against bush because they were able to review the elkan of the war

edition in order to whitewash naziism and fascism and as usual pressures of. ivors god is leader of a political organization called the national front of latvia the front publishes a newspaper founded by him. that's weekends and during public holidays volunteers hand out free copies to anyone willing to read the paper. its name contains three deeds they stand for d. occupation the call in isolation and d. russification. for a long time talk to god are taught ethics at the academy of culture some of his former students a regular contributors to the newspaper. now under their chief editors guidance they spend no effort in a bid to oppose what they call russian dominance in latvia. ethnic lot of ins make up fifty percent of the population of their own country and the other fifty percent

are occupiers backed by russian. police it's necessary to create uncountable conventions for that we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need a law on to call his asian we must say to each of them this group we give you a deadline to get out of here so it's. cameron north a british filmmaker decided to make a personal investigation into. the into ethnic relations between russians and land fiends. in short a documentary called latvia in hitler's footsteps way draws uncomfortable parallels between present day latvia and nazi germany. but also. the words of your during the second world war and of the second world war the there must go. that was it was a must be rather than one on board and i. think that it would

like to say it's nationalistic not be the languages of the same as they were thinking that they had to speak speak latvian things about rights and that if you're not a citizen you can't get some of the six of the jobs and the combination of things where you are discriminated against because your impure. your reality saves mother is latvian but his father is russian he has a perfect command of both languages he received an excellent education both as an engineer and as a journalist his son me as a school people. papa tell me what percent means. is often at the loss when he tries to figure out his math textbook it's written in latvia and. the internet translator says it needs headlines well yes that's

a possibility of. a country schools were formed in the middle of the past decade with russian textbooks were hastily replaced with latvian ones. now more than half of the subjects in russian language schools are supposed to be taught in latvian. for those who were never russians aitches with the full command of the levee and language scored teach such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry to russian schoolchildren it brings misery which are both teachers and students which you can with which in your tenure. in the course of education reform nearly all old textbooks were revised and many russian language schools closed down numerous protest acts had no effect the decisions of latvia's education ministry were final . so far inspectors haven't shown up in many russian schools and all subjects are

still taught in russian. mafia language textbooks approved by the education ministry can be seen in full view but they are only for show. new lucia cough is the first russian mayor of riga since independence twenty years ago he too had to close schools down and clearing schools for russian speaking students but it didn't lead to any actions of protest in that instance schools were shot solely for economic all rather demographic reasons half of the classrooms in one third of all schools had no pupils. were given it up in what was so many of the decisions taken by the previous mayor were largely politically motivated that was the basis for decisions about whether schools should be closed down because when we merge schools we made a great deal of effort to accommodate all the children in the new building since we also do all we can to retain jobs for the teachers it was most but in the old days

they just closed schools down and that was last year was that really from. the fact that the russian was elected mayor of the latvian capital in the summer of two thousand and nine surprised many politicians analysts put it down to the economic crisis. those who had felt it. severe impact we're not taking as much notes of the nationality of a politician as they used to. use the group if in the early one nine hundred ninety s. they have not made the mistake of dividing the people into citizens of unknown citizens with what the politicians would have been compelled to talk about the economy social issues and structural reforms instead of harping on the theme of latvians and russians every two or four years we're going to should we would have been able to deal with pressing issues much earlier and much more efficiently or personal have to contend with economic issues corruption and many other things and we're

going to. despite its small size there was schools of major industrial plants and soviet latvia. three of them which employ between ten and fifteen thousand workers each specialized in electronics. another one made minivans which were used as ambulances throughout the soviet union. today their production line stand idle. factory workers an engine is going to small business. plants vs highly skilled professionals have left the country and search of a job. culture is that so much as i wish to call the right part of the answer here is u.s. president barack obama still an honorable recipient of the nobel peace prize free fair he inherited two wars from assuming office. wealthy british style. that's not

that. markets finance scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy in the cause a report on our key. under the soviets this factory provided jobs for twelve thousand workers they made radio sets radio cassette players and tape recorders to cater to the needs of people across the soviet union. by the late one nine hundred eighty s. several plans making radio an elec tronic equipment being set up in latvia they were the soviet union's most advanced enterprises one of the goober in soviet times

i worked in a similar oratory for about fifteen years before the break up of the soviet union there were close to eight hundred employees in the design bureau where i myself was employed where you have no you can see what's left of its former splendor the only one designer working here though. when lanphier achieved independence the republic's government began closing down its industrial giants the new regime expected more than compact and mobile enterprises to replace the old sluggish and largely outdated soviet factories but they were never built in adequate numbers. you know we've got during the first five years of independence many enterprises were turned into scrap metal levy is sold off cheap in lived off the money real estate and land are also soldiering this time which was the summer biggest source of funds during another five year period he will probably have to rely on lines just before the country join the european union and avalanche of capital and low

interest credit came here they were not meant to develop production instead they were channeled into land in real estate as a result wind up in this situation a. similar process is going on in agriculture under the soviet government latvian collective farm supplied the republic with basic foodstuffs today half are imported. he is the visions of from spain has emerged from the middle and. these are from spain with the cucumbers from the netherlands to. be hard to find to mystically produced vegetables here true danger in pineapples don't grow the police were already being grown in latvia when the netherlands did not yet exist.

after the declaration of independence the latvian government downsized agriculture and betting on individual farms land belonging to collective farms was given back to former owners all their descendants under restitution plan. but most of them simply didn't bother to get into the difficult business of farming and instead prefer to sell off the newly acquired land or mortgage it. just listing your evil have been abandoned in the farm stands at the leveled ready abandoned about sixty percent of them as young people are not keen to go back to the countryside here some get an education others find a job and school grant to make commitments that whether it's. the village of qana billy is in let's go here one of the country's poorest regions local peasants used to regard themselves almost as urban dwellers they lived in flats with all modern amenities and now one in every two flats is vacant. but the local boiler

houseplants doesn't work a few people who still live here have to heat their homes with firewood. sometimes i search firewood once a day sometimes i do it twice a day and then i don't do it for three or four days my grandchildren give me a helping hand when they were little i would bring firewood by cart. and lisa has five children none of them live in latvia now they are trying to make money in the west and europe. and faeces spends her pension to feed her grandchildren and she likes talking about her big family which is now scattered around the world that i worked with this is my daughter to give me a love that's. in the high yield. and here is a good lama and your company in the ideas that is my granddaughter. went to china

went to london to work there she left these little things in my care this boy was one year old and that one was in the third grade. their dad's god knows where so i raise them on my own. people have no jobs towns and villages are becoming deserted pig sties and count sheds collapsing and the fields overgrown with weeds. this is how each morning began in victoria more and plans until two thousand and eight. flats in a nineteenth century building in the old parts of riga was once considered prestigious but when you're young people years spent on the move they paid back of course. after latvia declared independence old houses were given back to their former owners under restitution plan. they were

quick to realize that managing an apartment house was difficult. selling a building itself was easy but dealing with tenants was the main hurdle. the standard solution was that the new owners simply made sure that the building fall into a state of total disrepair and then it's tenants were evicted under a court ruling. today three years later there isn't any electricity in the house where victoria used to live she gave up and rented a small flat in a new building a school and i have to visit my old apartment regularly to see if everything isn't that because the landlord has a habit of brazenly and replacing the locks on the door. i also take some of my doom goods with me. but the tenants of the house have seen the landlord only once since they filed a lawsuit against him in two thousand and six so far their attempts to win their

case have been unsuccessful the landlord lives in germany he came to latvia for the first time to receive a properties are difficult. thanks. the land in central riga is the most expensive in the country. this huge trading center is the private property of a norwegian building company. it buys the most profitable pieces of land in latvia and builds hotels and supermarkets there. for us now is the best time to invest has been very profitable. for but they also have what they call the grey economy so that that's not really showing up on this that this takes. off the land fee and join the european union in two thousand and four the economist started to warn of a new threat. they maintained that they were public might lose its economic sovereignty. about seventy percent of its farmland belongs to foreign investors

they countries face school system depends on foreign banks. so when you've got a huge skid a scandinavian capital controls some seventy or eighty percent of the country's banking capital this means it controls just as much of its financial system if it's the regrettably of a nation has lost its ability to work in manufacture things when latvia was on the point of leaving the soviet union it was one of its most advanced territories with zero jets the blue and gold stage a picture is the opposite impression about what got a king. in january two thousand and nine mass protests when the latvian capital. of the world economic crises had a huge impact on the country's economy people demanded the resignation of the government when it could stabilize the situation. moreover pensions look cuts as

well as salaries and social technicians. these bullshit of the crisis is the result of the country's split into twenty years ago people used to only that's why after the nation plays no part in the country's life political or otherwise this is one cause of the deep crisis we're going through what they're going to work. according to your again it's six lanfear that is the poorest country in the european union today. as local nationalist looks and claim russian speaking nonresidents people are leaving the country in large numbers in search of a better life. clashes population has shrunk more than fifteen percent since independence according to latvia's foreign policy institute e.c.s. some twelve thousand people leave the country for goods. the

u.k. is their most popular destination. the british filmmaker cameron north described the problem in his documentary. and with a lot of things coming to the u.k. . firstly one of these is the economy left. in life and that is much harder for the good living party because nationalism the i'm mad about nash's i'm one of them quoting economy now the reason is that they've got a very good social rights in the u.k. . it's now been twenty years since latvia geve sovereignty. but still independence day its most celebrated holiday and the freedom monument its main national icon aliant the heart of the country's population.

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