cover go to r.t. dot com slash usa or check out our youtube page youtube dot com slash. we will be back here in a half hour thank you for watching i'm christine. years ago in the largest country in. the surveillance of the. one hundred the it began in germany. where did it take to. the east.

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it seems blanched used independence day it's pomp and fanfare that's 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 riga. informal events like torture 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 was 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 months in newspapers he also investigate 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 one yes not this the passport cover bears a unique inscription because of that it was written in latvia and it says your passport of a non-citizen was or was of no particular grows more on the main pier in the english translation it reads alien space our sports cross sometimes we are called just that aliens like we are from another planet or even full of your point of international

law we are treated as such just the present there are something like a four hundred thousand such people in latvia that have soaked through such. mansfield became an independent state in one nine hundred ninety 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 state authority 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 since i don't want to be a second class person allowed to be a citizen of the country where a live in the complete. any known citizen is free to try to naturalize for that 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 applicants then 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 or. for the past five years i spent three of them outside lot here why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful was. my fight for citizenship rights and never again let even stage a sit in in this building i spent a day here and refused to leave it after office hours when the police force me out of. there was a time when victor bergen off a nice to taste and valdez samplers a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now sackless his life he's

president took an oath he's a member of latvia's and the fascist committee. who is also a possibility i can't bear to see the revival naziism in libya i can see it with the naked eye would have such 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 this date legion veterans have been officially committed to hold a parade in central riga. in two thousand and five big to durgan off and several other anti fascist clans and prisons in the wake of

marching legion and. the police dispersed all the empty fascists and let the s.s. veterans but the flowers at the freedom monument. crosses the we we believe live 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 still our actions were in line with the united nations resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s. . officers. some fourteen thousand fetter ins living in latvia today for what's in the soviet army during. to. give kenichi convincing was a paratrooper event. as he walked to the monument commemorating the soviet soldiers

who lost their lives in the war to make sure the nobody sees his medals. passed back in one nine hundred ninety one pounds the public display of soviet symbols. of . 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 stepped over the. wheel. the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eight it was later restored the axe and the masterminded by egos. he was sentenced to a brief term in prison. now easy going free to walk around central riga together with his son and openly discuss the fate of the monuments.

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. in the year when he go to shishkin blew up the monument another event occurred that course the world's attention. former soviet past is unfair silly kononov can be brought before a latvian court to face criminal charges face actions and world war two edit it to lay this is the order of lenin or they gave it to me for blowing up sixteen german trains when i was a partisan issue krishna traditional. in more than 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 they were helping the germans. kononov was acting on a decision taken by parties and tribunals in one nine hundred forty three.

when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change their lackeys started a massive campaign against intel fascists or people who had fought in the entire hitler coalition because they were all to review the old can of the edition in order to whitewash naziism and fascism and as usual pushes a. i've gone to its leader of a political organization called the national front of latvia the front publishes a nice good bye and. edge 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. york your patient the colonise ation and d. russification. for a long time dr goddard taught ethics at the academy of culture some of his former

students are 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. the ethnic lot of ins make up fifty percent of the population of their own country the other fifty percent occupies backs about russia. it's necessary to create uncountable conditions for them we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need a law on decolonisation google we must say to each of them 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 finns. in short a documentary called latvia in hitler's footsteps way draws uncomfortable parallels

between present day latvia and nazi germany. but also. during the second world war and of the second. they must go. there was a diversion but there must be rather than one mockery for. some things they would like to say is nationalistic not be the languages of the slaves or of the truths they had to. speak latvian the things about tents and rights and not if you're not a citizen. of the drops and the culmination of things where you are discriminated against because your impure. duty alex sanz the 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 percent and smeared. 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 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. now more than half of the subjects in russian language schools are supposed to be taught in latvian. for those who've who never russian teaches with a poor command of the levee and languish scored teach such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry were to russian schoolchildren it brings misery to both teachers and students within the within 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. math fin languished experts on the education ministry can be seen in full view but they are only for show. miller shook off is 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 that instance schools were shot solely for economic or rather demographic reasons half of the classrooms in

one third of all schools had no people's. morgan freeman 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 rules 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 more just but in the old days they just closed schools down and that was that your stock but. the fact that the russian was elected mayor of the land in 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 notice of the nationality of a politician as they used to. use the group if in the early one nine hundred ninety s. they had not made the mistake of dividing the people into citizens of unknown citizens

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 we're going to should we would have been able to deal with pressing issues much earlier and much more efficiently or will have to contend with economic issues corruption and many other things. despite its eyes there was schools of major industrial plants and soviet latvia. three of them which employ between ten and fifteen thousand workers age 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 gone into small business. latvia's highly skilled professionals have left the country and search of

a job. culture is the same much as i can with your coffee right on it so here it is u.s. president barack obama still an honorable recipient of the nobel peace prize to be fair he inherited two wars listening offers. wealthy british style. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with my stronger run no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on our feet.

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 an electronic equipment had been set up in latvia they were the soviet union's most advanced enterprises. in soviet times i worked in a similar tree for about fifteen years because. of the soviet union there were close to eight hundred employees in the design bureau where i myself was employed and you know you can see what's left of its former splendor the only one design a working here though. when lanphier achieved independence the republic's government began closing down its industrial giants. the new regime expected modern

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 off cheap and lived off the money real estate and land were also soldiering this time which was a somewhat 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. similar process is were going on in agriculture under the soviet government latvian collective farm supplied the republic with basic food stuffs today half are

imported. he is from spain his mother's a from the netherlands the gays are from spain the cucumbers from the netherlands. be hard to find 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 bet it on individual farms land belonging to collective farms was given back to form a owners all their descendants under restitution plan. but most of them simply didn't bother to go because business or farming and instead prefer to sell off a newly acquired land or mortgage it. just listing your evil have been abandoned in

the farm stands that there have already 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 brought to make commitments that records. the village of qana billy is in let's go. one of the country's poorest regions and 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 the few people who still live here have to heat their homes with firewood. sometimes i said 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 she likes talking about her big family which is now scattered around the world that i would like that this is my daughter to give me over that's. in the field. and here is a good lama and company in nigeria is my granddaughter. on the way 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 raised them on my own. people have no jobs villages are becoming deserted pig sties encounter sheds the collapsing and the

fields overgrown with weeds. this is how the morning began victoria marina's plans until two thousand and eight. flats in a nineteenth century building in the old parts of riga was once considered prestigious but where you young people are spent on the move they paid back what it worth. after latvia declared independence old houses were given back to their former owners on 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. the standard solution was that the new owners simply made sure that the building fall 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 a school and i have to visit my old apartment regularly to see if everything isn't always out because the landlord has a habit of breaking in and replacing the locks on the door. i also take some of my belongings with me. the tenants of the house have seen the landlords only one since they filed a lawsuit against him in two thousand and six so far their attempts to win the case have been unsuccessful the landlord lives in germany he came to latvia for the first time to receive a property certificate. 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. the last bit is poor but they also have what they call the grey economy so that that's not really showing up in this that this that. after lengthy and join the european union in two thousand and four the economist started to warn of a new threat. they maintained that there are public nights loses economic sovereignty . seventy percent of its farmland belongs to foreign investors the country's fiscal system depends on foreign banks. so when you plug in a scandinavian capital controls some seventy or eighty percent of the country's banking capital enough this means it controls just as much of its financial system of what it was a regrettably of a nation has lost its ability to work in manufacture things that use

a lot of it when latvia was on the point of leaving the soviet union it was one of its most advanced territories with zero jet blue and gold today the picture is the opposite is the son of god look at a king. in january two thousand and nine mass protests sway the latvian capital. the world economic crises how the huge. impacts on the country's economy people demanded the resignation of the government when it couldn't stabilize the situation . moreover pensions lookouts as well as salaries and social diminished. his bullshit of the crisis is the result of the country's please include it twenty years ago when he was put on me that's why half of 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 the who work. according to europe against its takes land for 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 launch numbers in search of a better life. last year's population has shrunk on moving fifteen percent since independence according to latvia as foreign policy institute each year some twelve thousand people leave the country for good. the u.k. is their most popular at. 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 left. in life and that is much harder

like a good living partly because nationalism in the mad about nash is among them getting 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 in the. pendants day is most celebrated holiday and the freedom monument its main national icon aliens a half of the country's population. the .

question is that so much time which of course is right on it comes of years as u.s. president obama is still an honorable recipient of the nobel peace prize to be fair he inherited two wars with assuming office. pardon here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture.