the relatives. and friends on the stop wait a minute there i'll check in with a minute of silence. and. hand.

and beach near clad may the memory of the victims of the great patriotic war live on forever each in this scene the memory of the heroes who died for the freedom and independence of our motherland live on forever.

it was the minute silence in tribute to the fall and the second world war continue with our extensive coverage of the victory day commemorations all events are being held across russia as the country marks sixty six years the defeat of nazi germany better in the sharing both painful and joyful memories of their struggle to repel the invasion ansa q the eventual liberation of europe well earlier i spoke to our correspondent that he's now a piece on of a he's been following commemorations in the sky. well right now people here are most certainly enjoying this beautiful weather that we're having partly thanks to of course the clouds being dispersed for probably the biggest commemoration i think it's fair to say in all the russia that of course takes place in the capital right here on red square this morning the annual victory day parade

a show of the country's military might it started with jets then there's a piece of military hardware display and the fly by this year was a little bit less it only included some helicopters nothing compared to what we saw last year for the sixty fifth anniversary but still the emotions that we saw here on red square incredible and of course among the people watching who are better and those who took part in this battle against nazi germany some sixty six years ago is when they understood that they had made it we spoke to them about some of their most intense and fondest really memories of what happened. when i was in the infantry so i walked my way through the entire war from starting ground to prague going foot i was eighteen at the start and twenty two when it finished and i met a beautiful girl world war and we got married when the war was over.

i like the range of course i participated in the picture at the range of the nine hundred forty five and most people and girls in streets we just cheat for us the case to us and express the happiness. we were completely happy especially as we marched into the range. i joined the war ninety forty two installing it was the most severe but still always wounded it's and stands over full months in a hospital in the urals area i've been in the army all my life jay i worked at a veterans i'm happy with today celebration is the parade was drawn the weather was sunny and all our people cheer for the victory day people greet just on the streets in metro and everywhere thank you very much. therefore will go through some twenty seven billion soviet lives were lost that's compared to a combined casualty toll of nine hundred thousand of the u.k. and the u.s. put together so it gives you an idea of why this important this holiday is so important here in russia even though some sixty six years have passed since victory

that's closer to peace and now i can you tell me a little bit about the commemorations where you are now. well i'm just a little bit outside of the direct center of moscow in victory park now here we seeing huge crowds tens of thousands of people coming here to celebrate and pay tribute to the sacrifices that were made during the second world war now we see many families who also see many many veterans as well what has been a very nice touch is people going out to those people thanking them having their pictures taken with the because a lot of these veterans very old right now it's a very very hot day here in the russian capital some of those being taking shelter some shade under trees wherever they can there we've seen crowds gathering around them asking them questions tell him story at the asking for stories about what went on during the second world war of course he will be remembering those that lost their lives as well so many millions of people dying for the freedoms that we take

for granted at times these days no it's not just the soldiers that are being remembered here knows that for a cause the second world war one of the first times that civilians were really directly involved in a major conflict and as my colleague sarah first now reports from the kaluga region she spoke to some of those people who lived through nazi occupation and survived on the home front wellness. it was hell i felt like an end of the world everything was on fire burning exploding all around trees were on fire. house was burning and crushing noise was terrible people running around here in their q. and their burning as down it's so hard for me to look back at the time. just eleven years old when the germans invaded the miller witnessed first hand nazi tallit against civilians. i remember the regional homes for every last bit of the confined family he had someone who are the judge comes to reship. the

barber also jurisdiction decree nazi soldiers were exempted from prosecution if they committed a crime against the savior people and were encouraged in the murders of the jewish and slavic civilians it is war of annihilation and his instructions based on racial ideologies carried out with devastating severity monks the archives here. are thousands of documents detailing some of the atrocities carried out by german occupiers against the citizens we've heard some hiring accounts from children whose parents have been killed we also found an advertisement that went up in the city the german soldiers said that they think the telephone lines were cut by one of the citizens and for that twenty people are going to be killed now they wouldn't have known he was guilty but it says at the bottom here anything similar is tried again but the punishment would be even worse. during the occupation thousands of children

were rounded up like cattle and west to work in the german labor camps. we were never called by names just by our numbers for each barrack was surrounded with barbed wire with bright yellow sand around it and they would throw toys in the sand the children would reach out for those nice looking toys and be electrocuted they were also taking blood from the children to use for the treatment of german officers nazi propaganda films praised the friendship me them and showing locals and germans working hand in hand those who were that who witnessed the reality respond incredulously. together women and children from nearby villages they were pushed into basements and then set on fire a lot of people died that way not secret tallahassee will eventually prefer self-defeating creating an attitude of hatred and stubborn resistance among the

conquered people a young girl trapped behind german lines writes to her father in the red army there but in monsters you can't even call them human kill them papa kill the enemy sarah fair r.t. kleagle region. all events continue into the evening but the parade which began the may the light celebrations this morning remains the highlights. of this parade will be remembered for the record number of troops marching through red square almost twice as many as last year and you can watch the book spectacular in full on all web scientology dot com also there you can hear first hand accounts of the will from veterans who make this holiday so.

no more of the events have turned sour in western ukraine nationalists have been violently disrupting a remembrance this pay tribute to those who perished in the war and it's all going in the clashes in this is you have the ball for us. it looks more like a hotbed of ultra nationalists and even sometimes turning into neo nazis and in fact several hundred i would say maybe even more than a thousand supporters of the radical nationalist parties are both together in the streets of wolf in particular here and front of the so-called hill of glory that's where the great pressure the corrections usually come to lay their flowers and commemorate those who died they gather here to block the entrance of the veterans to the facility to the cemetery where the red army soldiers were buried now there

have been has been lots of verbal abuse saying death to the most rights death to the communists and other things like that and even some physical abuse now wearing st george's ribbons which is something of a traditional sign of this holiday everywhere across the coast a form of over the former soviet space this has been very risky here now people literally attacked the veterans and will staring them in the wearing goggles ribbons and written off their chances. of pushing and shoving and screaming all the way through since early morning now the crowd has more or less calmed down but shortly a short while ago we've seen some violent scenes with this crowd turning their rage against the police they were throwing rocks at buses carrying offices to the site additional forces to the sides and also throwing smoke grenades and challenging some very aggressive slogans clearly what is happening today in the city wolf is not something completely unexpected it is a part of a trend which has been going on for several years already and it's only part of

a wider picture definitely same scenes can be seen in the baltic states where the history sometimes also being rewritten and seen from the other perspective. now the legacy all the soviet union's warsaw needed still has the power to ignite the poor says sound critics coming to you next hour and meeting would restore an s.s. and stalin's contribution to seeming victory. start with his leadership his contribution it's very possible very probable that the soviet union would have lost the world not just him is the symbol. that holds the whole country together to create a critically hoaxes world but now that he's also had money stashed over the soviet era the fact that behavior or if it revolves around the about around his abilities as a little noisy mr eighty didn't say he's the most detailed figure located in the twentieth

century one of the most important speeches of the twentieth century or so but you know i'm also very critical of stuff particularly the many crimes that were committed by the mcbride for example or should be criticized for a dictatorial rule of the sort and. i were covering the victory day celebrations across russia throughout the day on the way later this hour we visit the size of one of the bloodiest of the second world war torn off kabul to what was then selling grass a city he's history is still being on that could be tricky is there is a very it's passed down from about ten minutes time. now and a libyan boats carrying up to six hundred people trying to flee the violence toward

country has reportedly sunk off the coast of north africa and follow the rarely europe or thinks the one migrants from libya are dying from that and hunger on another vessel which has been drifting mediterranean what is over two weeks when this is a nato unites deliberately your unit deliberately ignore posts mayday calls while belgian m.p. . been outspoken on the tree says it shows willful negligence. of events are sound ali surprising to me you talking about the most sophisticated technological in the world and they would not be capable of finding some boats at sea while they are have operations but. on the costa somalia where they can spot one simple tank in a city and they could not do that i highly doubt it so without getting into details of the specific in france this holiday surprised me but it's only logical

humanitarian concerns are not on the agenda of later as i can tell that these people flee the regimes that we have kept in place in the first place is only a human reaction to a desperate situation and by bombing this country is not going to help on the contrary what we could do is help tunisia and healthy egypt democratic and that would send a clear signal to the group also in other countries that is precisely not what we do is really very fast with our armies but when it comes to rescue people to be so slow does this not is not some sort of nature this is willing politics that puts this our priorities and not the people that are strictly on votes in the military and. well fifth fighting continues in the libyan city of with raster the rebel stronghold that's been under siege for weeks well over ten thousand eighteen coalition air strikes launched in the beginning of the allied intervention have

stayed far failed to topple cannell khatami. in the proper lane how one of those involved in the campaign i find it hard to justify the cost. for those who joined the fight in libya the cost of conflict is quickly taking off denmark's one of just six nato members conducting air strikes to enforce the no fly zone it's six f. sixteen fighter planes racking up a hefty bill of thirteen and a half million dollars a month we were anticipating a number that was considered go up and that we aren't bad many nations that is using words. let's take us for example they're using. they had had a ton of result but i don't have any other point. then mark dropped one hundred twenty six precision bombs in the first fortnight of the campaign each one costs on average fifty thousand dollars on top of that there's one point six million

a month the station ejects in sicily along with one hundred thirty personnel at this rate denmark's annual cost will be one hundred seventeen million dollars four percent of its defense budget the danish air force refuses to comment on money saying it's too political a topic that parliament says it can afford it these people have come to the american embassy to show their opposition to the war it's not just the conflict they're protesting against though it's also denmark's willingness to follow the us into battle. they do this because. i don't know all some people say they have an inferiority complex and they follow big daddy the. united states and france what's this war against gadhafi so they go all their junior partner the danish parliament was unanimous in backing a bombing campaign in libya the first time ever on a military action but since then cracks have appeared with the far left red green

alliance withdrawing its support it says nato has gone beyond its mandate by taking sides in a civil war now the party is then not could follow suit again with a ground offensive looming i think it's likely because the prime minister wants to be a strong man is precedes there's an upcoming election. and also that this is the policy of the current government to be as close with the us as possible at the moment the government's against sending ground forces six f. sixteen s are already costing the same as denmark's troop deployment in afghanistan and they've been there for ten years but as afghanistan kosovo and iraq all showed when push comes to shove a country is more than willing to join america whatever the cost are bennett artsy copenhagen. or while estimates are being made on how long it his intervention in

libya will last another us that mission might not be able to impact its banks as expected and there are hispanics he troops in iraq be on the deadline is set for later this year and as our report nice claims there's more to it than a drive for democracy. she has the country closed in stars and stripes accessorized with a nobel peace prize winning president pioneering the big d. around the world let us be clear the united states of america stands with the people of tunisia and supports the democratic aspirations of all people from tunisia. to egypt to libya. washington has said the will look at people must determine the fate of their country. but in iraq where america claims to be transplanting democracy a renewed sense of nationalism has united thousands against the us we're not supporting the democratic aspirations of people in iraq we haven't been for it for

eight years now the racket people have wanted us out and we stayed there for their own good that's not democracy. anger over us occupation gates that the president george w. bush upon his exodus in two thousand and eight washington drafted in agreement promising all american troops would withdraw from iraq by the end of this here in today's more peaceful iraq critics say the pentagon is stepping up pressure to overstate its welcome and cement its footprint the pentagon is pushing for a military presence after the summer of two thousand and eleven around twenty two thousand troops while the white house is talking about ten thousand troops so actually there is an agreement there is a tacit agreement that the u.s. will stay in iraq forty seven thousand u.s. troops still remain in iraq where america's embassy looms large and control over iraq's oil sector is perceived to be the ultimate trophy prize in this eight year

war at the very least in order to deny china or any of their perceived intentional rivals control of valuable resources the idea. grained in the thinking of all of these new york's strength. washington d.c. we're still very much in. the middle east. experts say the u.s. wants to remain in the region to keep an eye on syria and contain iraq as the develop in syria go to the extent that there is a fall of the regime we don't know what kind of regime or maybe this will be. us three maybe it will be something even worse you cannot withdraw at this juncture you cannot leave the vacuum iran will just take advantage of it but from the perception of american interest meanwhile the perception of america's democracy remains somewhat distorted has it been used as

a tool to achieve the geo political gains in financial interests who are all washington in the end listening to the voice of the people growing up at night r.t. new york. although to this hour crosstalk examines of people power is fighting a losing battle when it comes to stopping their countries from starting foreign wars join us for more here on r.t. about ten minutes time and let's consider small world these in brief this hour now heavy gunfire has been heard in the syrian capital and security forces across the country continue to try and break up the protest it comes amid reports of nationwide house to house raids with hundreds allegedly detained as all four of the sewn in on protest leaders since the outbreak of violence over eight hundred people are going to have died with around eight thousand is believed to be imprisoned or missing. forces from inside japan's badly damaged fukushima

nuclear plant has been released workers can be seen setting up a new cooling system following the installation of air purifiers that significantly reduced radiation levels up the city it's the first time staff have been able to reach the reactor three. the earthquake and tsunami in march calls the worst nuclear crisis since to not which part is also shutting down its nuclear plant which is two hundred kilometers west of take it because of severe size big risks. and indonesian prosecutors have dropped tara charges against a radical cleric linked to several deadly attacks over because she is accused of being a key figure in the militant group that carried out the folly bombing which killed two hundred sixty people mostly western tourists for lack of evidence means he'll only face charges of funding terrorism which could still see the service tearing into licensure. now we continue our coverage of the victory celebrations and

head to the bridges renowned for its many monuments which evoke is time passed and the sacrifices made by soviet soldiers. million people lost their lives during a bloody six month battle against the nazis are its own barking schools decision that will never forget what it means to fight for freedom. today the city is called volgograd but sixty eight years ago it was called starling grad and it was the scene of one of the largest battles in military history and even today its left its mark spoke physical and spiritual on the city here and its population and it's that famous i've been examining in my report. dragged back from the past this old soviet like tankers lay under the mud for sixty eight years it proved to me to stop the nazi invaders reaching the city of starving grad. dry it

was called a mass grave its arm of a soften it could be pierced by machine gun bullets it was part of the soviet armies which by all to nine hundred forty two were desperately trying to protect stalin since the volga from a vast access offensive the author was an eighteen year old cadet as the germans closed in he was read stalin's in from of order not to retreat one step back whatever the cost. in our first combat we were bombs in our offices and commissar were killed that was our baptism of fire. over the next six months the bomb and determination of soviet soldiers saved the city and trapped the invading germans an encirclement which destroyed hitler's biggest army since that great big tree much has changed style and grabbed its name to volgograd the soviet union itself collapsed and those who remember the battle and now old. but when it comes to

monuments volgograd made sure the heroism of the moment was set in stone summary of us made me a we're going up you have to be careful here this is the most dangerous part of us we could be inside a military bunker the metal and concrete certainly make it look like one issue but we emerged from a panoramic view of the city of volgograd far beneath we've just popped out of the head of the city's iconic mother russia statue. in some ways this statue is a metaphor for the war itself a rough and ready construction as practical as the soviet soldiers who fought here a strength as defiant as the soviet army clung to the banks of all. sizes as the battle that raged around here but many more in mind as abound less stylized and a lot more poignant these soldiers weren't buried in solemn ceremony they lie where they fell unseen till now these teams of volunteers have been researching in

excavating the battle site for years but also. to close relatives of soldiers are getting very old themselves the documents we find will decompose we don't dig them up the quicker we do it out for both the historians and the soldiers relatives. they want to try and recall the human stories of the stolen ground battle which claimed as many as two million lives many generals say the war isn't over until the body is buried that's the moto of every church group survey reckons there are enough bullets and bones left for even his grandchildren to find the terror and tragedy of these ultimate sacrifice has yet to be revealed this miracle is one of the more concrete reminders of what happened here sixty eight years ago but what they really digging up isn't just metal and gunpowder it's memories tom martin r.c. bugs region. and that all special report late as they all sink schools the largest

military operational the second world war involving millions of people the battle of bad then he said we'll sort of recap menu's us in just a few minutes halsey. culture is that so much i was about to fade into i was in a moment to give

a real commitment for what is happening to be a war movement there are plenty of wars being fought though with far fewer protesters was the anti-war movement just. the price of freedom from the most elite fascism in history. those who fought to win the stand crown. against a child of history be rewritten. sixty six years of victory on our cheap. mission free couldn't take three months for charges free. range month free risk free. judged free. the old free blog just plug in video for your media projects a free meal.