coming to life in the russian capital is r t with you twenty four hours a day top stories this. has refuted the genocide charges against him during his appearance at the hague tribunals. the former bosnian serb general claims he was just defending his country some experts suggest the number killed in these troubled it's a massacre it was fabricated. by far has been raging at an ammunition dump in central russia for more than twenty hours triggering a chain of explosions accidents caused dozens of injuries and for thirty thousand

from the hundreds. and accusations of flying is this theory around the new bug that's crippled the european vegetable market gathers pace then fiction has already claimed eighteen lives and for some countries including russia japan imports and vegetables from the. lobby back with the news bulletin in full for us in half an hour from now in the meantime we look at how russia's southern neighbor of armenia has been developing over the twenty turbulent years after the fall of the soviet union a special report next. people living in this land seven thousand years ago were already making wine and shoes this world's oldest shoe was vern right here in this hole in the fourth century armenia adopted christianity as its state religion is fair for us. in the early twentieth century armenians went through the horrors of genocide we thought of the one point five million years we queued groups in the army

a prig free from the soviet union in september one thousand nine hundred ninety one was hans independence brought to this ancient country. in two thousand and eight archeologist police just barely and could have rivaled armenian politicians in terms of popularity news of his discovery had spread far and wide for out the world in caves in the mountains around the village of allegheny the archaeologists have found the settlements dating back to the year five thousand b.c. . it's a myth also billy's vessels were among the first finds a result group when we saw them it was immediately clear to us that they dated from the corporon stone age that means that people were already living in these caves seven thousand years ago the communities maintaining very close contact inhabited

nereus which were in the north caucasus and miserable time here they used to migrate from north to south east and yourself to north god's. excavation work at the site of the ancient settlement has been going on for three years now but archaeologists still unable to say with certainty what kind of people lived in these caves seven thousand years ago. just take a little contingency a very interesting ritual the bodies of babies under one year of age old bear intact but women between the ages of eleven twenty five will simply chopped up a full burials. the most interesting artifact was found in the case in two thousand and eight the world's oldest shoe was dug up from a depth of just half a meter is estimated to be about six thousand years old zeus world's oldest shoe was ground right here in this hole it was

a great deal of effort to get it through the discovery of the settlement is an event of crucial importance to the small transco occasion country armenians are proud of the long history of this land and the find reinforces their pride. in armenia there are a few other handicrafts that can unite generations is not such as the making of hatch cars or tombstones. the art has undergone little change throughout its thousand year history i am a chisel and stone are all that's needed for the job a man and his grandson are working on this much god. is good on this earth i like the job. it is handed down from generation to generation. the one who taught me as my grandfather. over the course of his long life the elderly man has made scores of hatch cards nowadays he mentors his

grandson in the ways of patch car sculpting. there are millions of hijackers here each with a different as they different just as people do all the curbing patterns are different even on some particular term still there's a need to show that the world isn't perfect. each grave or monastery has its own tailor made to stone normally it takes about a month to make one this symmetry in a village of nora those is one of the oldest in armenia the long history of this caucasian country the history packed with. drama can be traced by looking at the tombstones set up until the seventh century carriage look quite simple at that there is nothing but across a dark the first crust of. the

house car is in the cemetery don't feature carvings although the graveyard of the small town of spin is much larger. than before the quake it was a small symmetry but as you can see now it's quite big. which are subject to some forty days to very quickly tombs are stores such as seann comes to the symmetry quite often the always follows the same route in is more full place as he moves from one grave to another on the center of the seventh nine hundred eighty eight lost nearly all of his family. it was ten forty am when the first tremor with a magnitude of seven on the ridge the scale shook spit out thirty seconds later the tiny town was no more just a pile of rubble. more than the one of the main street in the center of the town

was c. and. one quake struck there were people in every apartment out of five story houses to the phyllis's here and both sides of the road the only bit of good you practically all of them fell a bunch of food fish only roos lying on a horse filled could be seen artemy quake of one. there is a church where our tours house once was more than twenty years on there are a few reminders of that there were stating earthquake. but in the cold month of december in one thousand nine hundred eight people around the world came to know the name of this small town in armenia aid began pouring in. from across the soviet union at that time armenia was part of it. the powerful earthquake affected all of armenia's northern areas as well as spectacular. the scale of the disaster only became apparent after several days just a handful of people had survived on of the rubble the earthquake had claimed twenty

five thousand lives. such as the rich did or when the smoke cleared away three or four hours after the earthquake became clear that the town had been razed to the ground war much aid begin arriving towards leaving because there were no rooms for. some of the aid came from numerous diasporas in foreign countries. this footage shows charles aznavour a french singer of armenian origin after a visit to devastated spitz attack he vowed to do his best to help armenia. but the doctors i was really shocked by what i saw and split up. i couldn't imagine their polling scale of that disaster. because so many people were killed here but. the french cinema set up a fund for the earthquake struck country the money was used to restore dozens of

houses in spits hakon gordie's armenia's second largest town it too had been affected by the disaster the town's residents unveiled a monument to as novel as a token of gratitude to him here for a movie on build a monument on the twenty second of september in two thousand our story was not what people from all over our new came here who were also visitors from france. after the breakup of the soviet union in one thousand nine hundred ninety one reconstruction work in armenian town slowed down the new houses built in the three years after the disaster made up only one fifth of those destroyed by. the earthquake. tautological we came here on december second we were given a room on the ground floor and we still live here and most of the tenants here are refugees. go on out of pity and his family also lost their home in december one

thousand nine hundred eighty eight they became refugees the not as a result of the earthquake it was a bloody interethnic conflict the forced them to flee. armenia is a republic situated in the trans caucuses enjoin the soviet union in one thousand nine hundred twenty two when the republic won independence in september one thousand nine hundred ninety one this was the most troubled region in the post soviet space the country was at war with neighboring azerbaijan over nagorno-karabakh. bleach up the world for the winter.

is issuing and this is our home. user my grandchildren doing their homework. is our stove it and we made it ourselves because there is no other source of leading in here result of your news of the issue of. his house in azerbaijan's capital of baquba was larger and more comfortable they had to leave their native city in a hurry already there was gunfire in the garden a kind of black as and by johnny's fleeing that area meanwhile the situation for armenians living. in azerbaijan was becoming increasingly dangerous. when for quite a good deal for instance my husband had an aunt with a dark complexion it was easy to see that she was a median she was attacked several times under natural. the conflicts root cause stems from the one nine hundred twenty s.

when azerbaijan and armenia joined the soviet union the golden age care about a territory where armenians had been a predominant population from time immemorial was placed under azerbaijan's control they didn't matter much who controlled nagorno-karabakh back then the soviet republics were part of an integrated country by the time bomb eventually went off and violence erupted between the two in the late one nine hundred eighty s. . the soviet government showed signs of weakness but the start of perestroika when people were told they could speak up without running the risk of being imprisoned or a security of the people across the servant union for again talking about their concerns and i mean seeing the goalie cover buck started asking questions they wanted to know why a little part of azerbaijan even though armenia was next door to a country populated by people of the same nationality and culture when you put your would of the of the border. who flatly rejected the advance demands the

nagorno-karabakh be handed over to armenians control. meanwhile the first major interethnic conflict was gathering pace in the soviet union south it had been fuelled by events in the small town of some guy the azerbaijan's capital introducing god massacre was the point of no return people were murdered mind you people were killed not in the going to care about itself but in soon going to a town situated far from not going to care about to go to there is no war now but there is no peace either they knew there was no peace treaty to control the. a lot of our time certainly an astrologer can understand here is nearly dare you i was in the army them was memories are those days come for contrast and this is

vocal. there is a map of the soviet union in go nine a petty ends workshop as a tailor he needs something colorful to rest his eyes on but the map also gives food for thought he recalls the days when everybody lived in the same country a country that later burst at the seams. this is their own home which was founded in november again two thousand and one day for the said to found the bell or call it in barrow and go up and it will descend between an idea and i am. nobody at this distillery can say with any certainty when cognac from this barrel will be bottled but it has every chance of becoming a vintage brand adding to the distilleries rich collection. at stella's sent to a church of three hundred a person branded me which here and there trying to call the ground. the british

prime minister was not alone in appreciating this brandy in soviet times a minion cognac was the main symbol of the republic. many agreed that the strong beverage produced in a trans caucuses could easily compete with french cognac manufacturers and. trying to assume they're going to flavor is intense you can sense a whole bouquet of flavors vs corporate it's unique beverages and from stories here i can detect the flavor of our brands the sunshine of our own valley and the beauty of our landscapes and in. the production. process in armenia and france is totally identical the spirits of distilled in the same way and the oak barrels looks very much alike the armenians are just proud of their product as the french are of theirs but now i think that calling up is one of the most important and most

recognizable brands produced you know arnie it wasn't but they go where you can see their lead so while wormy use symbols then this soon will of ottoman and. mountain or ants can be seen from several spots over the entire history of the armenian people is links to it but it's off limits to armenians they can't reconcile themselves with the loss. they've been born salon's the sun. i hear in isolation travelling a million miles a day. the men from mars are heading to earth. mars five hundred closer to the edge of possibility on our team.

in. the mountains height is five thousand one hundred thirty seven meters above sea level according to the bible mounts are rats was the first landmark the no assault after escaping the great flood. or at all the bible tells to fight and it was connected with no ark so after the adults who are stopped on the pick of move on and now. ever alamance is the main source of pain and suffering for armenians under the nine hundred twenty one agreements signed by soviet and turkish leaders the symbolic mountain was left on the other side of the border the mountain to be in the territory of turkey but still continues to be i mean seen by all who

and i mean people they are asked about their national identities they start with the amount that the fact that out of that is no longer in their territory also serves as a reminder of the greatest tragedy of the country's people the armenian genocide genocide is the word used in armenian to describe the policies pursued by the ottoman empire towards ethnic armenians from the late nineteenth century through to the nineteenth twenties in total in ninety eighty ninety four one hundred twenty two within thirty years nearly thirty years below one point five million armenians killed brutally at the same time turkey was the first country to officially recognize armenians independence in one nine hundred ninety one today turkish society is divided over the events that led to the deaths of one and a half million armenians in the early twentieth century uncle refuses to officially acknowledge the fact the what happened

a century ago was genocide is one of the hardest. problems between two nations the fundamental problem the fundamental problem here is that turkey in order is sort of facing its own history to try and keep trying to deny the very part of take issue shameful page of its own history i mean and genocide rewriting history is one of the dangerous processes in every society uncurse supported as otherwise shann at the height of the ethnic conflict over nagorno-karabakh it closed its borders to armenians the border between armenia and as. their version is likewise locked up. yet of an airport is the main gateway to armenia travelers have little choice considering your vans difficult relations with neighboring countries these east way of getting to get a van is by air with. you have to go by here if you want to we were

near with the only way because this country has been blockaded throughout the post soviet period. for syria's land borders with georgian around but there is little cross border traffic there and therefore going by air is still the death star. nearly every plane is filled to capacity it's clearly demonstrated by flights going to russia which is now armenia's biggest economic partner one of the largest armenian diasporas is found in moscow on health that made these aviation is be only a means of transport for amenia it's obvious that there is no other way out. that's why our planes are always full passengers.

armenia was the world's first country to send christianity into a state religion that was way back in the early fourth century a.d. for more than fifteen centuries armenians have regarded face and church as a substitute for the state. i honor to work on saving human souls and preserving the nation i look to mission and persevered by the armenian church today as it has been doing throughout its existence arjen we're doing our best to remedy the harm done by the genocide over i mean young turned eighty years of godlessness under lease soviet regime. fortunately the soviet campaign to stamp out the church had little impact in armenia it didn't affect the scores of ancient monasteries many of them are over a thousand years old. it's now possible to reach the top of ministry

one of armenians oldest by cable way. is the world's longest reversible wrote a fifteen minute journey offers a magnificent view of a deep picturesque. just numbers we're in the cabin of the total cable way the world's longest it links the village of avid sword to the toto of a monastery. but there's love it is five thousand seven hundred fifty metres long and its highest point above ground is three hundred twenty meters and. when the cableway was opened in october twenty ten the hope was that it would attract foreign tourists. its design is unique in many ways for instance the nearly six kilometer long cable way has only three supports european specialists help to build it. this is our main electric generator

that produces five hundred thirty three kilowatts here you can see be emergency diesel generators if the electricity fails we will turn these on and of back to river passengers we have a great safety system in place and most of the cable car passengers are people living in nearby villages who gets. free transport the influx of foreign tourists is small for the time being but the businessmen who have invested in the ambitious project believe that in a couple of years armenia will become a popular tourist destination. hotels and campsites are already being built around the monastery and the cable way. we need water of differing temperatures to treat gastrointestinal diseases destroyed is in particular if the patient is suffering from high acidity of destroyed it is the temperature of the mineral water we give him is between fifty and fifty three degrees celsius in the low as it is the case is it's from thirty to thirty five degrees

a bit of. the town of jenin maclise in the mountains during the soviet years people here already knew how to attract tourists a spa similar to the celebrated karlovy valley resorts has been in operation in general but decades that it must survive the composition of our ward are doing better than that of the water as carl of a bar in the czech republic says just our water contains more arms here our hands and minerals not all that said the. local mineral water is yet another armenian brand it is true though that it's not as famous as cognac or ancient monasteries but residents of gender merc hope that the water and spa resorts will be another incentive for people to visit armenia. they'd share more communal water springs from the ground in those words. between forty five and sixty degrees or what not sold certain months results from our mineral water of the. the time being only

tourists from russia visit the gentleman explains. this huge bucket contains molten alimony and it will take several hours and a production process involving a dozen phases for the island medium to be turned into super fine for oil this plant is one of amin is leading industrial enterprises like many others it was inherited from the soviet era like most other industrial plants is to idle during the first years of independence that was a very difficult period for this nation plan survival began in two thousand when it became part of a row. been holding them up this is not the front was reopened after modernizations despite the crisis it has grown stronger with each passing year it is their actions and armenians worked here together the assets are russian the. other turn step on

young represents what might be called the local element in him in a city his father used to work at this plant my old and my mother and father used to work here now it's time for my brother and me i'm not a unique case and everybody here has taken the job over from their old folks. the plant is one of the most successful in the country and should come as no surprise they have russian investments and the whole of the coax is as their markets. would through example the color of the more taro you see a little bit we get dies from herbs of god and the mixture of many dyes meets the road loop door for it looks like terry if there were fewer dollars the root matter produces a very beautiful red dye no chemicals around it nothing but natural components making rugs is a family business to the subtleties of this very old all means handicraft handed down from generation to generation. because the wood should all square means and

not just a weave roll after oh but you every color is here it is. like the elemental implants this factory has a soviet past behind it then automatically looms are brought in to make rugs quickly and in large quantities none the less ancient technologies have become popular in armenia since independence. takes a month for the weaver to complete one square meter is also a very difficult job with taking a lot of effort for that reason their prices are higher than those all machine me robes of gold we're going to have. researcher a good home is seen as a sign of the world's. there is some ten million ethnic armenians around the world just there were three million of them live in armenia the armenians at home believe the worst of their country's history is a thing of the past in year of and they like to say the nights are their darkest

just before dawn people across armenia believe that dawn has already broken over their country. i'm.