more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images. from the streets of canada. for asians to rule the day. without a live from moscow it's now or just five thirty pm just after the halfway mark out . of the casualties a rise in libya they took issue military and shift taking hundreds of the injured from fighting in the west to the rebels' stronghold meantime kind of duffy's are desperately searching for a way out of the crisis joins the list of countries to recognize libya's rebels as the legitimate government. of the russian pilot brought to the u.s.

to face trial on drug charges and drug trafficking claims that he was kidnapped by washington some say there's no way of barring tendency of america's snatching people to try them on its own soil. under three spacemen are set to fly up to the international space station from the baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan to launch it takes place almost exactly fifty years after your garden became the first man to go beyond earth's atmosphere. right now we take a look at how latvia once a part of the soviet union has changed after again independence two decades ago to stay with us. eighteen last tuesday independence day it's pomp and fanfare drew if that's of any

other public holiday in the country on this day the republic's top leaders down to to lay flowers and the freedom monument in latvia scarcer riga. informal events like the torch 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 hold for much fear. 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 vest the gates cases of public interest and publishes reports on them but even though vladimir holds a latvian passport he is taking a plea not a fully fledged citizen of his own country. not because the passport cover bears a unique inscription it's not clear what was written in latvia and it says your passport of a non-citizen was a reserve not the word was more on the mintage in the english translation it reads alien space our install spots are sometimes we are called just that aliens like we are from another planet even full of you point of international law we are considered as such just our present there are something like four hundred thousand such people in latvia course that of circuses. lanphier became an independent state in one thousand nine hundred one officer seeding 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 state or thorazine or work in government departments. this applied to not only those who settle down in the country after nine hundred forty but their descendants take. the truth is i don't want to be a second class person i want to be a citizen of the country where a live from leave. any known citizen is free to try to naturalize van't they need to pass exams on the country's history and show their command of the state language and the national anthem if after submitting over necessary papers applicants then need to wait for about a year before they get a cherished citizens passport. you said many people fail to go through the procedure that a million and a one was not even allowed to see those exams. over the past five years and i spent

three of them outside a lot of fear that's why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful was. my fight for citizenship rights and never again even stage a sit in in this building i spent the day here and refused to leave it after office hours when the police force me out of. there was a time when the victim durgan off an atheist and valdis samplers a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now sackless his laugh is president dugan off is a member of latvia's anti fascist committee. who knows more than a possibility they can barely see the revival of naziism unluckier i can see it with the naked eye in the waters of the world upsets me most of all is that so-called democratic europe closes its eyes to the revival not as i'm aware of was

a. march sixteenth one thousand nine hundred forty three during the second world war the latvian legion was formed. thousands of volunteers in the country signed up to fight for the nazis. off independence every year on this date legion veterans have been officially committees to hold a parade in central region. in two thousand and five big to durgan off and several other anti fascists clad in prison rape stood in the way of marching legionnaires. the police dispersed all the anti-fascists and let the s.s. veterans put the flowers at the freedom mourning meant. for us is the we we 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 one full floor actions were in line with the united nations resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s. . for recess. some fourteen thousand veterans living in latvia today forts in the soviet army during world war two. if kenichi convinced there was a paratrooper event. as he moves to the monument commemorating the soviets. soldiers who lost their lives in the war to make sure that nobody sees these 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 bone about your vehicles 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 mans that we don't need. the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eighty he was later restored the act and he masterminded by eager siskind he was sentenced to a brief time in prison. now he's again a free to walk about 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 polish nothing of it should be simply pulled down symbolizes that we are no longer occupied. in the year when the good shishkin blew up the monument another event occurred that caught

the world's attention. former soviet parses on vasily kononov had been brought before a lack in court to face criminal charges face actions in world war two ended it or delayed this is the order of lenin or they gave it to me for blowing up sixteen german trains when i was a partisan krishna tradition. in most in latvia the ex parties and was declared an enemy and spent almost two years behind bars for taking part in the killing of local volunteers that were helping the germans. kannan of was acting on of the situation taken by a partisan tribe you know in one thousand nine hundred forty three. when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change their lackeys started a massive campaign against info fascists people who had fought in the entire hitler coalition they were all to review the outcome of the war edition in order to

whitewash naziism and fascism as usual for she is a. ivers garder is needed of a political organization called the national front of latvia the front publishes a newspaper founded by him. for two weekends and during public holidays volunteers hand out free copies to anyone willing to read the paper. its name contains three d's they stand for d. or care patient detail in isolation and d. russification. for a long time dr goddard 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 vs the gold ethnic lottery and make up fifty percent of the population of their own country to the

other fifty percent occupies that's about russian. police it's necessary to create uncountable conditions for their goods that we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need a law on the call his asian blue call we must say to each of them we give you a deadline to get out of here so that's. cameron north a british filmmaker decided to make a personal investigation into the into ethnic relations between russians and that fiends. in short a documentary called latvia and hitler's footsteps way draws uncomfortable parallels between present day latvia and nazi germany. during the second of the second world war the then must go door. to. leave out the. i'm on board and i.

think it would like to say it's national. be the languages of the things they were thinking that they had. to speak latvian the things about rights and not feel if you're not a citizen and can't get some of the sex of the jobs and the culmination of things where you are discriminated against because your intro. community alex aims for 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 is a school people. papa tell me what the sentence means it's the show eli is often at the loss when he tries to figure out his math textbook it's written in latvian. the internet translator says it means headline well yes that's

a possibility. a country schools were formed in the middle of the past decade. russian textbooks were hastily replaced with latvian ones. and now more than half of the subjects in russian language schools are supposed to be taught in latvian. the oath grew whenever a russian teaches with a pull command of the levee a language chord takes such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry were to russian school children it brings misery to both teachers and students with even the community knew. in the course of education reform nearly all old textbooks were revised and many russian language schools closed down numerous protests tanks had no effect the decisions of latvia's education ministry were fine. so far inspectors haven't shown up in many russian schools and all subjects are still

taught in russian. math fin language textbooks approved by the education ministry can be seen in full view but they are only for show. miller shook off in the first russian mayor of riga since independence twenty years ago he too had to close schools down including schools for russian speaking students but it didn't lead to any actions of protest in nothing instance schools were shot soley for economic all round the demographic reasons half of the classrooms in one third of all schools had no pupils. morgan finagling mother 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 rules because when we merge schools we make 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 modest but in the old

days they just closed schools down and that was lapse. the fact that the russian was elected mayor of the latvian capital in the summer of two thousand and nine surprise many politicians analysts put it down into the economic crisis. those who had felt it. so via impact we're not taking as much notice of the nationality of a politician as they used to. use to move if in the early one nine hundred ninety s. they had not made the mistake of dividing the people into citizens of unknown citizens who were 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 were much we would have been able to deal with pressing issues much earlier and much more efficiently or we still 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 are 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 in search of a jog. culture is that so much i know which of course right out of the year is u.s. president barack obama still an honorable recipient of the nobel peace prize to be fair he inherited two wars masoom in office. wealthy british style i'm told that's

not the last time. marcus finance scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy in the kinds of reports on r.t. . under the soviets this factory provided jobs for twelve thousand workers it 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 and electronic equipment had been set up in latvia they were the soviet union's most advanced enterprises wilcannia of the korbel in soviet times that i worked in

a similar oratory for about fifteen years but of course only for 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 legacy 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. during the first five years of independence many enterprises were turned into scrap metal levy has sold it off cheap in lived off the money real estate and land were also soldiering this time which was the summer biggest source of funds during another five year period. i don't lines just before the country join the european union and avalanche of capital and low interest credit came in

here when they were not meant to develop production instead they were channeled into land in real estate as a result wind it up in the situation. similar processes were going on in agriculture under the soviets government latvian collective farm supplied the republic with basic foodstuffs today half are imported. the genes of from spain it's a mothers a from the netherlands pieces from spain with the key canvas from the netherlands to. be hard to find domestically produced vegetables here truth in pineapples don't grow. were already being grown in latvia when the netherlands did not exist. after the declaration of

independence the lapin 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 isn't it's a farming and instead referred to sell off the newly acquired land mortgage it. being your little have been abandoned in the farm stands like the little greedy abandoned about sixty percent of them was young people not keen to go back to the countryside want to hear some get an education others find a job and school grant to make commitments of things that i think it's. the village of congolese is in let's go. one of the country's poorest regions local peasants used to regard themselves almost as urban dwellers they lived in flats with almost no minutes he's now one in every two flats is vacant. the local

oil house plant doesn't work the few people who still live here have to heat their homes with firewood. already sometimes i catch firewood once a day in some time i do it twice a day and then i don't do it for three or four days my grandchildren here's me a helping hand when they were little i would bring firewood by cart. and fisa has five children none of them live in latvia now they are trying to make money in western europe. and pieces spends her pension to feed her grandchildren she likes talking about her big family which is now scattered around the world that coupled with that this is my daughter. that's. in the high yield. and here is a good lama and good company in nigeria is my granddaughter set up for you when i

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 for god knows where so i raise them on my own. people have no jobs in towns and villages are becoming deserted pig sties and counted so collapsing on the fields overgrown with weeds. this is how each morning began in victoria marina's one until two thousand and eight. flats in a nineteenth century building in the old parts of riga was once considered prestigious poor young people are spent on the move they paid back of course. after latvia declared independence old houses were given back to their former

owners and their 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. a standard solution was that the new owners simply made sure that the building forced into a state of total disrepair and then its 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 that's why i have to visit my old apartment regularly to see if everything isn't because the landlord has a habit of breaching and replacing the locks on the door. i also take some of my belongings with me. but the tenants of the house have seen the landlords 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. 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 lanphier and builds hotels and supermarkets there. for us now is the best time to invest has been very profitable. for they also have what they call the grey economy so that it's not really throwing up on this that this makes. often men feel joining the european union in two thousand and four the economist stance it's a warning 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 the

country's fiscal system depends on foreign banks. so when you put a gauge skids of a scandinavian capital controls some seventy or eighty percent of the country's banking capital going to last this means it controls just as much of its financial system with its little regrettably the nation has lost its ability to work in manufacturing things that it was a lot of when that failed was on the point of leaving the soviet union it was one of its most advanced territories with zero debt with little in gold today the picture is the oldest expression a brother got a king. in january two thousand and nine a mass protests sway the latvian capital. 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. rosa pensions look cuts as well

as salaries and social donations. please would you this crisis is the result of the country's split into twenty years ago what he was put on leave that's why off as a nation plays no part in the country's law political or otherwise this is one cause of the deep process we're going through because with walking. according to europe against its six lanfear that is the poorest country in the european union today. as local nationalists look to blame russian speaking nonresidents people are leaving the country in large numbers in search of a better life. clashes population has shrunk down more than fifteen percent since independence according to latvia's foreign policy institute each year some twelve

thousand people leave the country for good. the u.k. is their most popular destination. the british filmmaker cameron north described the problem in his documentary. with a lot of things coming to the u.k. . firstly one of the things is the economy enough. and life now is much harder for good living partly because of nationalism in the mad about nash's and love them going economy another reason is that they get very good social rights in the u.k. . it's now been twenty years since latvia jeev sovereignty. but still independence day its most celebrated holiday and the freedom monument its main national icon alien jihan of the country's population.