crawled closer to the meridian believe the joint the hotels church in new delhi who turned. eighty her to three collections among the clothes of the maidens hotel the leader part was a leader religious and shifty was punished for three for cash promised. hello this is r t international for moscow thank you for being with us our top stories tonight russia is holding vast celebrations to mark sixty six years since the victory over nazi germany in world war two moscow's festivities were jammed with a military parade which involved a record number of troops marching through red square. at a western ukraine the holidays been marred nationalists and physically and verbal assaults a veterans paid tribute to the fall called maids who. fears that that sykora for

cations growing in the area and. also for things intensified in the libyan lifeline port of misrata with nato bombing failing to break the siege of the city it comes as the mounting cost of air raids and the other player aims of the campaign trigger protesting. which is a coalition member country. programs continue next door to discuss is the soviet contribution to victory of the nazis from the leading war story. victory day is very special to all russians almost every family in russia has someone who died fighting the nazis to talk about how that war is perceived now more than sixty five years later i'm joined by a professor of history and international relations geoffrey roberts from university college cork a soviet who wrote a number of books devoted to the will and the trials of stalin professor thank you

very much for being here now your views are often challenging the widely accepted perceptions let's start with the second world war twenty seven million people lost their lives in what here in russia is called the great patriotic war how many people worldwide do you actually know how big this figure is i think it's a shock it's a shock to some people outside of russia the former soviet union that the cost of that will. go to the statistics or astronomical you compare twenty million sold it with the british it was something less than four hundred. troops will you not think of soviet frontiers in the world because of all countries in fact that as many as all other countries can draw on i think it's shocking as well as surprising but never suffered for us is that the sort of people

that are of the world are quite well known now that is particularly since the end of the cold war there's been. progress in recognition of the soviet role in the second world war and most people globally if they know about the war talk would agree with except it was primarily the soviet union that. will make the great circle for us as was the greatest victory of the world didn't win the war is going to music won in association. in the united states and other countries but nevertheless the soviet union was the key to victory of the nazis in model but as a historian do you feel there is a tendency to rewrite history where there's always a tendency to rewrite history isn't there particularly black politicians people who are not the story and you know every country has its own perspective on the war and every country sees the war from some perspective and the suddenness is true of russia you know so for example one example of russians will stress you know the

role of winning the war someone who's british i would stress britain's role in the early part of the war in standing alone against it when the soviet union was a little country was in the hands of along with nazi germany so serve your country see from a different perspective places a different emphasis i don't see that as a problem i see that's come natural part of the discussion about all aspects of history that goes on let's take a modern young generation is there a deficit of historical knowledge and you're very definitely yes which is one. of the stations like yours to devote so much time to through history yes i think there is because of deficit in russia and then and you know whatever comes first let's take for example the united states if we're talking about a knowledge deficit i wonder just how many americans think that the united states won the second world war singlehandedly i think probably in the case of the united

states there's probably more ignorance of the general picture of the war than there is in other countries so it's probably less to this probably less recognition of the role of other countries in the war in the united states than elsewhere and not doesn't just apply to russia of course is also. not sufficient recognition of the role that britain played in the war on this particularly conflates in britain as you say the holy war does. a war and presenting it as it was the americans to do wonderful and now having said that of course the united states did play a very important role in the war was the sort of unions my support in support. i was i would people say that they should recognize our country roads as well tickles the russian contribution the soviet contribution to the last year when russia commemorated the sixty fifth anniversary of the three day i russian research center found that most russians believe that the red army the soviet union could

have defeated hitler without western assistance as a historian do you think it's a brace on part of the russians no i don't think it's true that the soviet union could have defeated the nazi germany on it but it would have taken them a lot longer not spread across some of course or the taking the country much longer term couple off to the sec second world war so yes you know the sort of you didn't really need to win a war but to think that it's a launch with particular united states and great britain. helped you to win the war the put it on the ball boys because your book stall is was from world war two the cold war for focuses on stalin obviously in one of your interviews you said he was a key historical figure of the twentieth century but he also said that you had a lot of respect for him why the word respect. i'm not sure you used the word or

maybe i did we used the word suspect but some some people accuse me of being a starving which are not so but having studied him very closely for many years i'm very impressed if you want to call being impressed and respect i'm not sure it's extreme would do what are you sorry i said what are you michael stylings was is that it would start with his name. shit without his contribution it's very possible a minute may be quite probable that the soviet union would have lost the world not to jim not consider him to be that important historical figure if that's true emma coles he's the most important figure of the mid twentieth century and one of the most important thing because of the twentieth century or so even more important than. i think but you know if i may be impressed by stuff like that i'm also very critical you know particularly the many crimes that were committed by.

his regime you know he should be criticised and praised measure price for his role in the great pets for example but criticised for his dictatorial rule. so what in your opinion was his role in winning that i think the most important thing about his role was that he he held his. and. the cohesion of his leadership and of the oath a group of people around him and i think you also in a spot of confidence inspire confidence not just in these. cool and among the soviet elite but among the soviet population in general so he's the kind of is the symbol that holds the whole country together sickly cheer and the critical early not so well known that he's also the mainstay of the soviet war with the whole war

with revolves around him about his abilities as a little denies as of mr right through as a coordinator as a leader so i don't really think you can you can on the wresting might start his role thinking he's he was indispensable and i doubt that anyone could have taken his place or about churchill roosevelt how did they perceive. or they perceived him very positively they were great friends of his. they refer to him as. and has gone very well at the time so much so that. and you'll talk and that's another point about style because you know my kind of positive view of starling as a world leader is not unique to me i mean it's a view to that's widely shared not just in russia but also western historians and of course the climate so will it during the second or will there was widespread recognition of the importance of stars so stalin was not just

a great hero the soviet people which are and second world war he was the great hero of the allied peoples as well i think colluding with regular hero to study in. church and roosevelt what they see. him greatly and appreciate he's his role in the more knuckles that contemporary fuel of style you are posing if you tell gets lost in the second world war in the context of the outbreak of the cold war the failure to break out of the ground the loss between britain and the sort of united states although i would say. stalin and the sort of it's not a stalin. wanted. a cold war the. try to avoid a cold or heat off the cold will approach out. they went to great lengths to actually bring the cold war. to an end so the western side of the cold war as

broken up it was a much more positive engagement with the cold war whereas on the sort of saw it there was a reluctance to become involved in the cold war and continuous efforts to revive you know the ground lost one of the great. post-war soviet foreign policies of the return so look around a lot and there is an initiative in russia the state still officially recognized the crimes of stalin stuff that i thought. regime some going to always putting stalin and hitler on a level. do you believe their historical equals. no i don't think stallions crimes are different from those crimes under stalin was. a genocidal killer. his timing was. this than utopian and he believed it was necessary to use the audience to achieve peace. tools it's called machine

tokyo a lot of people but people it's people who proceed to speed he's in the maze and the enemies of the soviet system. kill people because of their rice style they have people killed because of what he saw has been their politics and ideology and on balance i think that's that's better than being a genocidal killer like a lentils the thing about stalin is you know stalin and hitler had hitler won the war what would have happened would have been and told me in one thousand europe and ethnic cleansing and mass murder genocide on the continental scope for me there's no greater historical criminal. stalin. was guilty. i wouldn't put it on the side no what do you believe that's an opinion right richard outside the circle of historians look at it the idea that stalin and hitler

. were equals as criminals of course is very much in the light that you hope to hold on to the idea that richard and there are many people studying the west in russia and want to continue the cold war in some form and one of the ways they pursued the cold war series by ideological struggle including about war and clothing about stalin and hitler so it's an idea that does have. quite widespread appeal but i think that you know maybe not most people but lots of people would recognize that stalin did a lot of good as as a rule of law as well as a law that stalin you know. played a huge role historically to get what was was of service to humanity as a whole can actually winning or helping to lead the second world war professor roberts thank you for this interview thank you.

we've. seen. wealthy british scientists sign some time to write a book. for the. markets why not scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy because

a report on our. world. bringing you the latest in science stimson knowledge from around the world. we've gone to the future covered. stories from our t.v. russia's been holding fast celebrations to mark sixty six years since the breakthrough of a nazi germany in world war two moscow's festivities began with a military parade which involved a record number of troops marching through the red square. in western ukraine the holidays pre-modern nationalists and physically in berkeley assaulted veterans a tribute in the form of world war two the instance adding to fears that nazi glorification is growing and. in other news fighting has intensified in the libyan lifeline port of misrata with nato bombings failing to break the siege of the city it comes as the mounting cost of air raids and the unclear aims of the campaign

trigger protests in denmark which is a coalition member country. could be why next the latest sports news with you know that speech quite simply a tragic day in cycling events and yet it is year of the tell you one of the biggest cycling races in the world kevin it's beams will be overshadowed today by the death of a young belgian rider we have something more on that story coming up in just a moment. thanks for joining us this is sports today i mean you know these are some of the stories we're covering over the next ten minutes or so. battlefield to sports field best friends from the second world war gather. around the stadium to remember the. stage of mourning belgian cyclist bail on die after being involved in a horrific crash through the ongoing issue that tell you. on between the posts we

take another look at every one of the greats not so great strikes that flew in this past weekend in the russian community. it's victory day here in russia the country marking the defeat of nazi germany in the second world war the spike the horrors of the period russia saw a number of sporting greats emerge as richard on poor feet found out. but came a nine hundred forty s. special undercover forces terrorized hitler's troops and forts and one of the most deadly battles in world history the battle of moscow which started in one thousand forty one it was an arduous time for all involved but what qualities helped these men to survive the war. when i as the commander had to enlist the locals to my brigade i chose those who weren't complaining that it was too hard for them if they complained i told them immediately they were no good for my team therefore insurance was the most crucial quality many sportsmen volunteered for the arms one

division and many would later become champions in discipline such as boxing athletics speed skating and weightlifting sadly only a small number of these veterans will be able to take part in the reunion but every year those who are still with us come to that enormous stadium where the division was formed in one nine hundred forty one and commemorate those who passed away and celebrate victory day. in one nine hundred forty one when we were retreating we had to make a huge trip back we were literally falling asleep while walking most were carrying rifles beyond our backs and hitting your head against a rifle really need to wake up so it was very difficult but we made it the main purpose of arms but on an acronym which translates as be independent special purpose motorized brigade was to serve on the home front usually recruits were intrusted with the most dangerous missions such as helping units under tank and defending important crossings equally crucial was by working reconnaissance as

partisans and radio work in misinforming the enemy. one of the members of arms one. is this former jim nantz sculpey it in you to come gymnastics when he was just fourteen years old and by sixteen he had volunteered for the soviet army and from the beginning spore played a crucial factor in his survival. i recall once we had to go in a survey mission and we had to hide and stay practically motionless for three days our task was to observe and determine which way the enemy's traffic was going those guys who weren't athletic would even black out while we well i would say was nothing to us but we could handle it we could do it we were fit enough that helped

us a lot after the war cal perry and stayed in the army is job was to train the red army recruits in gymnastics to make them fit stern however he had plenty of other interests here he proudly shows a photo with his friend the legendary salvi a great if you are shin and he had a major impact in helping to fight spider become one of the walls greatest ever goalkeepers. when the novel moscow was caused by you crucial and best score of they invited me to give exercise classes to their football team players so when they were in play i gave them classes in our gymnastics quarters of the denial club mainly i train them to do some acrobatics so that they could for instance fall without hurting themselves. and it is eighty four year he still remains passionate about sports especially gymnastics. you see it we want to be graceful it may be some easy routine but we wanted to be performed at a very high level then it's a side through the door while what happens now is you see an athlete do

a triple turn a triple somersault and that's a very hard thing to do but it doesn't really impress a nonprofessional when they see a true day is very important of these veterans who played a pivotal role in the red army during the second world war however it's equally impressive have these men went on to have such exceptional sporting careers and i still remember today over a piece of code for battle i'm sports fields richard dancy moscow their world of cycling is in mourning today after the death of belgian writer voice veil and their twenty six year old involved in a lethal crush during the third stage of the euro the tell year tragedy striking twenty five kilometers from the finish line in the apollo. falling on a descent after his pedal got stuck in a wall the leopard track cyclist was early to the hospital but was pronounced dead on the way they learned one stage three of the same race last year and also secured

a victory during the prestigious delta spaniard in two thousand and eight the russian team to share were among the squads leading the tributes to the kent native . russia have gone into their second straight defeats are the world ice hockey championships the red machine luckily enough though we're already into the quarterfinals which is stored is fighting back from a two goal first period deficit to tie proceedings to to the end of regulation or k.g. over time was unable to alter proceedings to a shoot out the finns doing the necessary one on one three to their final score rush it next in actual whedon's the in the last eight we'll take on either of them pick champions canada or salute. david haye has been wasting no time drumming up publisher before one of the most anticipated parts in clashes of the year a londoner calling his upcoming opponent for the junior klitschko a fraud ahead of their july second unification fight in hamburg w.p.a. i.p.f.

w b o pelts all on the line this summer. tries to pick the guys who suicide are perfectly you know. and i've seen it i've seen it happen time of the time where he works in his garden again. even as a crude way i believe. make it go out and he's more time to prove it to the hello. whatsoever no respect. i believe it's a pretty good lesson for you going to be on july second how to respect something tells me those two don't like each other to the russian premier league we go finally twenty strikes and all through and over the weekend only one of the matches finishing scoreless so just in case you missed any and all your ego it's goals galore.

the so.

long ago a good. go a. good.

and that's all for me at this hour i'll see you soon the weather's coming up and kevin owen is here with all the news headlines up at the top of the hour. for the full song we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on the. cultures that so much knowledge about freedom goes i think i'm going to give a real incredible what does happen to be the war movement there are plenty of wars being fought though with far fewer protesters was the anti-war movement just.

all.