if. russia would be soon which bryson a few miles down from constant pressure. starts on t.v. dot com. top stories from r.t. moscow france tells syria's president his time is up for his chance to bring in reforms that are seeking more pressure on the violence torn country. diverse because signal concessions to the arab league's demands by agreeing in principle to accept the presence of international observers. russia belarus and causing star move towards creating a new trade block to prevent europe's debt rot from spreading their way present a better stress to ration economic union won't repeat the mistakes which e.u. countries made when integrating. under a new size of rupture within the e.u.

itself as britain clashes with germany have a ways out of the debt turmoil chancellor merkel wants countries to surrender full control of their own financial and political decisions which the u.k. fears will be a blow to state sovereignty. next on r t twenty years after the collapse of the soviet union we continue our look at the past since former states have taken this time we see our lives changed in latvia which these days is a member of the european union. band aid since last tuesday independence day it's pomp and fanfare drew a scratch of any other public holiday in the country on this day the republic's top leaders down there to lay flowers and the freedom monument in latvia scarcer riga.

informal events like the torch for 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 of the perceptions old announced by the radical nationalist party known as me or for 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 is a columnist for several and few newspapers you also investigate cases of public

interest and publishes reports on them but even though vladimir holds a laffin passport he's technically not a fully fledged citizen of his own country. because the passport cover bears a unique inscription of that order written in latvia and it says your passport of a non citizen was a reserve not anymore grows more on the minute here in the english translation it reads aliens just hours. sometimes we are called just clamps illions like we are from another planet or even full of you point of international law we are considered as such just a present there are something like four hundred thousand such people in latvia or state of so it's a. man feel became an independent state in one thousand nine hundred 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 or thorazine or work in government departments. they supplied to not only those who settled down in the country after nine hundred forty but their descendants take. then you can see i don't want to be a second class person i want to be a citizen of the country where i live. any known citizen is free to try to naturalize the event they need to pass exams on the country's history and show the command of the state language and the national anthem. after submitting all the necessary papers applicants then need to wait for about a year before they get a cherished citizens passport. you said many people fail to go through the procedure that dimia lindemann the one was not even allowed to see those exams. for the past five years and i spent three of them outside lot of fear why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful. my fight for

citizenship rights were never. there even stage a sit in in this building i spent the day here and refused to leave it after office hours then the police force me out of. there was a time when victims they're going off and methodist and valdis samplers a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now that loses latvia's president duggan off is a member of latvia's anti fascist committee. who is most of us are going to get the book i can't bear to see the revival naziism unluckier says 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 not as a group as ago it was a. march sixteenth one thousand nine hundred forty three during the second

world war the latvian legion was formed. thousands of volunteers in the country signed up to fight for the nazis. off to independence every year on the state legion veterans have been officially committees to hold a parade in central riga. in two thousand and five big to durgan off and several other anti fascists clad in prison right stood in the way of marching legionaries. the police dispersed all the anti-fascists and let the s.s. veterans put the flowers at the freedom monument. for the. 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 but. all floor actions were in line with the united nations

resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s. couple reprogrammed your offer with. some fourteen thousand veterans living in latvia today forts in the soviet army during world war two. give kenichi convinced there was a paratrooper event. as he moves to the monument commemorating the soviet soldiers who lost their lives in the war he make sure the nobody sees his medals. a law passed back in one thousand. she won bans the public display of soviet symbols. the attitude to us is just a moment ago. 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 says that we don't need.

the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eighty he was later restored the act lost the minded by eager siskind he was sentenced to a brief term in prison. now he's again free to walk about sinful rega together with his son and openly discuss the fate of the monument. it's a myth that some people this is a monument to me it's a disgrace to the latvian nation. the boy is nothing that should be simply pulled down to symbolize that we are no longer occupied. in the year when the good shishkin blew up the monument another event occurred that caught the world's attention. former soviet parts is unfair silly kononov had been brought before a latvian court to face criminal charges face actions and world war two ended it or

delayed 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 modern 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. kannan of was acting on of the situation taken by parties and tribunals in one thousand nine hundred forty three. when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change and their lackeys started a massive campaign against intel fascists who had fought in the anti hitler coalition they were all to review the outcome of the war edition in order to whitewash naziism and fascism as usual for she is a. ivers guard that is needed of

a political organization called the national front of latvia the front publishes a newspaper founded by him. for two 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. your care 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 editor's guidance they spend no effort in a bid to oppose what they call russian dominance in latvia b.s. and brown ethnic lothian's make up fifty percent of the population of their own country the other fifty percent are occupiers backed by russian. political you with its necessary to create uncomfortable conditions for their group thus the we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need

a law on the call his asian burkle 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 that fans. 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. that was a diversion but they must be rather. bored and i. think they would like to say it's nothing that the the language is of the things worth it

in they have. the things about it and some rights in latvia if you're not a citizen and can't get thirty six of the jobs in the coordination of things for you are discriminated against because your impure. duty alex aims for mother is latvian that 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 this sentence means it's showing real is often 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 and 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 ball commander the levy language scored teach such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry were to russian schoolchildren if it brings misery which are both teachers and students with you committed within you. in the course of education reform nearly all old textbooks were revised and many russian language schools closed down. protest acts had no effect the decisions of letters 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 language textbooks approved by the education ministry can be seen in full view but they are only for show.

militia cough 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 soley for economic all round the demographic reasons half of the classrooms in one third of all schools had no pupils. we're going to. 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 was because when we merge schools we make a great deal of effort to accommodate all the children in the new building and see that we also do all we can to retain jobs for the teachers it was modest but in the old days they just closed schools down and that was lapse there was to remove. the fact that the russian was elected mayor of the latvian capital in the summer of two

thousand and nine surprise 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 the politician as they used to. use the move if in the early one nine hundred ninety s. they have not made the mistake of dividing the people into citizens of the non-citizens who are 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 were much we would have been able to deal with pressing issues much earlier and much more efficiently or were still have to contend with economic issues corruption and many other things and we're going to . despite its small size there 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. cashers that so much as i can recall right out of the year and a g.o.p. race for the white house in foreign policy front runners for the republican presidential nomination have made it clear that they're almost all foreign policy hot.

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 and electronic equipment had been set up in latvia they were the soviet union's most advanced enterprises wilcannia of the korbel in soviet times the a word in a similar oratory for about fifteen years or years go through before the break up of the soviet union in europe there were close to eight hundred employees in the design bureau where i myself was employed where you have no you can see what's left of its former splendor the only one designer 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. yes during the first five years of independence many enterprises were turned into scrap metal levy has sold it off cheap and lived off the money real estate and land were also a soldier in his time which was a somewhat biggest source of funds during another five year period. on lines just before the country joined the european union an avalanche of capital and low interest credit came in here they were not meant to develop production instead they were channeled into land in real estate as a result wind up in the situation. similar

processes were going on in agriculture under the soviet government latvian collective farm supplied the republic with basic foodstuffs today half are imported. the jeans of from spain it's a mother's a from the netherlands. or from spain with the canvas from the netherlands to. be hard put to find domestically produced vegetables here truth in pineapples don't grow. onions were already being grown in latvia when the netherlands did not yet exist. after the declaration of independence the land in government downsized agriculture and dated on individual farms the land belonging to collective farms was given back to form a 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 preferred to sell off the newly acquired land mortgage it. being illegal have been abandoned the farm stands looked a little gritty 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 and things like that it's. the village of congolese is in let's go. 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. the local boiler house plants doesn't work the few people who still live here have to heat their homes with my words. sometimes i fetch firewood once

a day they did sometimes i do it twice a day and then i don't do it for three or four days my grandchildren you have me a helping hand when they were little i would bring firewood by cart. and fisa has five children none of them live in latvia now they are trying to make money in western europe. and fisa spends her pension to feed her grandchildren she likes talking about her big family which is now scattered around the world that i would read that this is my daughter to give me over that's. in the high yield. and here is a good lama and good company in nigeria is my granddaughter set up by one city and 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 god knows where so i raise them on my own. people have no

jobs towns and villages are becoming deserted pig sties and counted so collapsing on the fields overgrown with weeds. this is how each morning began in victoria marina's one until two thousand and eight. flats in a nineteenth century building in the old parts of riga was once considered prestigious the whole way you young people years went on the move they paid back of course. after latvia declared independence whole towns were given back to their former owners and 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 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 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 their case have been unsuccessful the landlord lives in germany he came to latvia for the first time to receive a property certificate. thanks to. 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 but they also have what they call the gray economy so that that's not the relief over and up and that's what this that. often men feel joining the european union in two thousand and four the economists don't seem to warn of a new threat. they maintain that there are public might lose its economic sovereignty. about seventy percent of its farmland belongs to foreign investors the country's fiscal system depends on foreign banks. when you have a scandinavian capital control some seventy or eighty percent of the country's

banking capital in damascus means it controls just as much of its financial system with regrettably the nation has lost its ability to work again manufacture things that used a lot when that field was on the point of leaving the soviet union it was one of its most advanced territories with zero debt when gold today the picture is the oldest city. in january two thousand and nine mass protests sway 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 couldn't stabilize the situation. moreover pensions were cuts as well as salaries and social donations. these groups use the crisis is the result of the country's split into twenty years

ago people used to tell me that's why after the nation plays no part in the country's laws political or otherwise this is one cause of the day prices we're going through these with a group who work here. according to europe against its six lanfear 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. last year's 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 for 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 u.k. . firstly one of these is the economy not. a lot of that is much harder but good living partly because nationalism in the mad about national them of them growing economy now the 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 independence day it's the most celebrated holiday and the freedom monument its main national icon aliens are hoffer of the country's population.