search construction. all to hear the famous. for the first human blasting off into space. and returning as they hear a. question more. hello this is our team from moscow with a roundup of the day's top stories the main news for a week and headlining tonight's poland and russia hold remembrance of edson owner of the late president lech kaczynski and ninety five others killed in a plane crash in western russia a tragedy which actually a year ago claimed the lives of many high ranking polish officials. later faces questions of effectiveness of its u.n. back no fly zone in libya are forced to rebel helicopters were shot down by gadhafi

forces meanwhile this week rebel support for the alliances interventions suffered following deadly friendly fire. and. also finished priest his charge of inciting racial hatred of going into the game to r.t. in it he spoke out against russia's most wanted terrorist who's behind the deadly metro bombings in moscow and he slammed his internet propaganda mouthpiece. next in a series of special reports we explore the fate of former soviet states start with latvia. it seems blanched used independence day its pomp and fanfare of any other public holiday in the country on this day the republic's top leaders gathered still a few hours 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 and eyes by the radical nationalist party known as all the 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 months in newspapers he also investigate cases of public

interest and publishes reports on them but even though vladimir holds a latvian passport he is technically not a fully fledged citizen of his own country runyan yes not this the passport cover bear is unique in ascription because of that it would be written in latvia and it says your passport of a known citizen was or was or most anywhere grows more on the minute here in the english translation it reads alien space our. sometimes we are called just aliens like we are from another planet or even full of your point of international law we are treated as such just as the president there are something like four hundred thousand such people in latvia course that are so there's. mansfield became an independent state in one thousand 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 eight but their descendants to. the truth is i don't want to be a second class person i want to be a citizen of the can you are live in the company. any known citizen is free to try to naturalize the event 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. 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

a lot of fear that's why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful. my fight for citizenship rights were never as i 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 . there was a time when victor durgan off a nice the taste and valdis samplers a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now sockless his life is president of the north is a member of latvia's anti fascist committee. was the possibility i can't bear to see the revival of naziism in libya since i can see it with the naked eye. upsets me most of all is that so-called democratic europe closes its eyes to the revival of not his own group as a good word was. on march sixteenth nineteen forty three

during the second world war the laugh-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 region. in two thousand and five big to durgan off and 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 monument. 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 want to floor actions were in line with the united nations resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s. . your offer with. some fourteen thousand veterans living in latvia today for what's in the soviet army during. world war two . if kenny she convinces was a paratrooper then. 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 your battles 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's that i don't agree. with. the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eighty it was later restored the axe and the masterminded by eager siskind he was sentenced to a brief term in prison. now he is again free to walk about central riga together with his son and openly discuss the fate of the monuments. it's a myth for 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 to symbolize that we are no longer occupied. in the year when go to fishkin blew up the monument another event occurred that course the world's attention. former soviet past has done for us silly kononov had been

brought before a lack in court to face criminal charges face actions in world war two edit it or delete this is the order of lenin only gave it to me for blowing up sixteen german trains when i was a partisan issue krishna traditional. 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 they were helping the germans. kononov was acting on of the situation taken by parties and tribunals and nine hundred forty three. when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change and their lackeys started a massive campaign against info fascists who had fought in the entire hitler coalition it was a good they were all to review the outcome of the war in order to whitewash naziism and fascism and as usual pressures of. ivors gone

to is lead 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 d.'s they stand for de occupation the colonized station 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 editor's guidance they spend no effort in a bid to oppose what they call russian dominance in latvia feel ethnic latvians make up fifty percent of the population of their own contract to the arctic to percent of occupies backs by russian. police who are it's necessary to create

uncountable conventions for their birth but we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need a law on the calling station we must say to each of them we give you a deadline to get out of your old. 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. during the second of the second. they must go. there was a diversion for them of the leave rather than the bottom of. things

they would like as i as nationals to. be the languages of the things they had. the things about hands and rights and that if you're not a citizen. of six of the jobs and the combination of things where you are discriminated against because your impure. your reality seems 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 misha eli is a school people. papa tell me what the sentence means. is often at a 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. 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 poor command of the levee in language teach such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry were to russian school children it brings misery to buzz 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 have no effect the decisions of life is education ministry final. 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 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 all round the demographic reasons half of the classrooms in one third of all schools had no pupils. were given a good 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 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 most but in the old days they just closed schools down and that was lapse your stop removes. 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. via 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 have 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 were much if we would have been able to deal with pressing issues much earlier and much more efficiently or still have to contend with economic issues corruption and many other things. despite its small size it 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. plans for years highly skilled professionals have left the country in search of a job. wealthy british style. that's not on the. market weina can. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with max culture for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on r t. world. bringing you the latest in science and technology from around russia. we've got the future covered. under the soviets this factory provided jobs for twelve thousand workers it made radio sense 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. but know of the goober in soviet

times i worked in a similar oratory for about fifteen years before the break up of the soviet union in europe but there were close to eight hundred employees in the design bureau where i myself was employed but you have no you 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 more than compact and mobile enterprises to replace the old sluggish and largely outdated soviet factories and they were never built in aliquid numbers. during the first five years of independence many enterprises would turn to despair measure over the levy is sold off cheap and lived off the money real estate and land are 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 in here when 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 were 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 this emerged from the middle and spooky from spain with the key canvas from the netherlands to. be hard put to find the mystically produced vegetables here true danger in. the least onions were already being grown in latvia when the netherlands did not yet exist. after the

declaration of independence the latvian government downsized agriculture and baited on individual farms the land belonging to collective farms was given back to former owners all their descendants under a 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 new quad land mortgage it. just listing your evil has been abandoned the farm stands like the one had already abandoned about sixty percent of them was young people 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 congolese is in let's go lia 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 house plant doesn't work the few people who still live here have to heat their homes with firewood. sometimes i fetch 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 fisa has five children and none of them live in latvia now they are trying to make money in western europe. and faeces spends a pension to feed her grandchildren she likes talking about her big family which is now scattered around the world and the world with this is my daughter to give me a that's. in the high yield. and here is

a good lama and thirteen i guess is my granddaughter but 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 raised them on my own. people have no jobs towns and villages are becoming deserted pig sties encounter sheds that collapsing on 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 young people are spent on the move they paid back of course.

after latvia declared independence old houses were given back to their former onus on their restitution plan. they were quick to realize that managing an apartment house was difficult. selling a building itself was easy or dealing with tenants was the main hurdle. the standard solution was that the new owners simply made sure that the building falls 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 flaten a new building a school and i have to visit my old apartment regularly to see if everything isn't because the landlord has a habit of breaking in and replacing the locks on the door. i also take some of my doom deeds with me. 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 they came to latvia for the first time to receive a property certificate. 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 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's not really showing up on the statistics. off the land field 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 the second or make

so frantic. about seventy percent of its farmland belongs to foreign investors they countries face school system depends on foreign banks. each skidded 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 what the pleasure regrettably of the 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 debts the blue and gold today the picture is the old with such passion about it got a king. in january two thousand and nine mass protests way 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. moreover pensions look costs as well as salaries and social donations. he says would you give the crisis is the result of the country split into twenty years ago people used to come here that's why after the nation plays no part in the country's laws political or otherwise this is one cause of the deep crisis we're going through for clues one with the google working. according to year against it's six land that is the poorest country in the european union today high as local nationalists look to blame russian speaking nonresidents people are leaving the country in large numbers in search of a better life. matthews population has shrunk on more than fifteen percent since

independence according to latvia's foreign policy institute each year some twelve thousand people leave the country a 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. firstly one of the things is the economy. and life that is much harder played good living partly because of nationalism the i'm mad about nash's i'm of the building economy now the reason is that they get very good social rights in the u.k. . it's now been twenty years since latvia energy sovereignty. but still independence day its most celebrated holiday and the freedom on image its main

national icon alien to hoffa of the country's population.