that was my mistake. this is the decisive in st boris yeltsin that sets in the kremlin instead of. young. forest soaries a. decade. with the discussion still rages was this a plot or a fait accompli. this is. the latest top stories for. the biggest protests in recent history as people unhappy with a parliamentary election result. president has now ordered an investigation into

all claims of violations during last week's poll. a fresh rift within the e.u. britain vetoes a new treaty tightening fiscal rules for bloc members in a move that many believe is a first step for the u.k. towards the exit door most other e.u. members have agreed to brussels total oversight of their budgets. liberated a but desperate for money libyan authorities plead to the un to release billions of the country's still frozen months after the end of the military conflict that the country's government struggles with paying salaries and providing subsidies. my colleague bill dogs here in half an hour's time but for now the three signatures that brought an end to seventy three years of soviet history a chance to hear the story firsthand from those who witnessed the historic decision to dissolve the u.s.s.r. documentary the last day of the soviet union up next.

december the eighth nine hundred ninety one is an extraordinary day in russian history twenty years ago a secret meeting took place between boris yeltsin leo need crash took and stanislav just gave each day with the heads of the former soviet republics of russia ukraine and belarus in the final moments of the soviet empire the three announced the state on the world map known as the u.s.'s had ceased to exist. the dense bill of asia forest webelos borders poland in soviet times people would come here when excursions from all over the us as. a bell a recent t.v. journalist was the only one lucky enough to shoot the moment of signing the documents that entered history as

a bit of asia accords were fairly we were left on the military airfield so i approached the k.g.b. officer and said what do we do look we're missing such an important meeting. i said it's ok get in i'll take you for. several minutes later the team gets learned he was being driven to a secret place named the school in the central part of the bell of asia forest it was in this place at the head of bellows stone is left shushkevich and decided to invite his counterparts from russia and ukraine under the pretext of addressing joint economic problems. i knew yeltsin was a normal man because to me sheridan on minister said would you have a good relationship with him taking here to believe as your for hunting persuade him there was enough time and opportunity forward so i invited him with you. the plot of land called viscously is known as the highest place in bel of asia forest

in nine hundred fifty seven following an instruction from nikita of a big mansion the hunters was built after which it became a favorite place for soviet leaders on december the seventh one thousand nine hundred ninety one hunting party was organized for the ukrainian leader leonid kravchuk. it was already getting. said he wanted to go hunting so we all got into the car with two guards we went closer to his coolly where there was. a european bison is the symbol of the bill of asia forest the largest population of them in the world can be found here hunting them is prohibited however so leonid kravchuk proposed wild boars instead. of no way to get closer just to be certain. the boar stood there eating. but as we moved. walked away.

it. didn't suit it on that day and killed nuffield. in one thousand nine hundred one step. was the morton of the viscously residence he was asked to accommodate russian and ukrainian officials in the government residence and meet boris yeltsin in person yeltsin was the last to arrive in viscously that day in the evening i met him at the entrance it was clear that yeltsin had just come from a social function. visit was carefully prepared for everyone realized that the outcome of the talks as a whole depended very much on his mood. i was standing at the front door to the residence and i held this part of them. came through i greeted him. and he was led to his. there he rested

until it was supper time. the verdict on the soviet union was pronounced that same night during a joint supper on the ground floor near the main entrance there was a buffet whole. everyone gathered in this hall ate in the evening for supper. it lasted until eleven pm. afterwards they all retired to their rooms. and drank vodka. i'm not sure if everyone was the same everyone drank as much as they could. and then he wanted to went to the song. sternness les just gave each still has a caricature in his home of the buffet meals and events in viscously that followed . this caricature assures the atmosphere of the time this is a very good analogue hunters while having a rest exchange opinions some of them are controversial the artist had

a great sense of humor. most of those who happens to be envious at the time understood that more than just economic reforms would be discussed there what will our economic relations be like very good very good both economic in others sorry we have to go. to the concept of our future relations was found when we managed to formulate the opening sentence which said the u.s.s.r. as a subject of international law. and the political reality is ceasing to exist where your socialist. the love of march one thousand nine hundred five. elected me gorbachev general secretary of the central committee.

was elected head of state a spirit of change was in the air perestroika was proclaimed to the country. became the first soviet leader to meet people and talk to them directly without speeches prepared beforehand. please be closer to the people who can be closer. however after the so-called stagnation era. efforts were in vain in one nine hundred eighty six after the oil prices plummeted us all revenues fell abruptly at the same time the bulk of the budget was being developed by the defense industry. but this did skew forked within days of gets

a statistical fact of callbacks for me true bill eighty eight to be exact was spent on elements that i'm the kountry failed to keep up with the arms race and the economy collapsed in the simplest way to exert pressure was worse their attempt to economically isolate the soviet union that was was carried out in numerous ways there were many items that could not be sold to the soviet union there were restriction less. the seventh of may. studs his message and the whole campaign above all authorities want to stop the consumption of cheap one. as a result ukraine's crimean peninsula has nearly lost all of its vineyards they were destroyed by the heck tez this action stripped the ukrainian pre-publication of one fifth of its annual budget. you know they cut twenty year old grey find said the

very base like here look. it pains me very much to see such great weinstein wiped out it was devastating even the. later the state admitted that the whole campaign was a mistake in ukraine people still cannot forgive gorbachev for this policy the collapse of the soviet union led to widespread poverty and unemployment for many the older generation was not impressed by the new reforms. and i'm not angry about it so i don't like my soul is still wounded over what happened they fooled us i wish i promised us everything but gave us nothing. this is a recent gathering of ukrainian nationalists in the center of kiev the first wave

of such marches rolled through most of the publics in the mid to late one nine hundred eighty s. . in a strange turn of events incumbent party officials quickly joined nationalists in declaring that the u.s.'s was a prison of peoples men who only yesterday cried themselves hoarse defending soviet ideology found themselves among the most active critics of the soviet system. when demonstrations were held had been preplanned. we knew in advance how many times we were supposed to say long live the soviet to crane of the soviet union. all of that was written down everything was absolutely pre-determined the law everybody had to keep within certain boundaries and whenever someone tried to exceed them they were immediately slapped on the wrist. to get rid of the so called

big brother that was always controlling them personally was the dream of the leaders of many soviet republics in the eyes of their people they put it like this i will liberate you from the kremlin oppression but by the time of gorbachev that oppression had long since gone. this archive footage shows typical propaganda of prosperity and friendship the soviet people were promised that soon they would live again under a communist regime. three years after perestroika the u.s.s.r. reintroduced the rationing system on certain goods for the first time since world war two a wave of strikes and spontaneous rallies swept the country people demanded the prices be curbed when the elevator accords were signed early in ninety ninety one the soviet union was already coming apart at the seams.

v. twenty years ago the largest country in the world disintegrated. what had been. began a journey. where did it take the. world for the first science technology innovation all those developments from around russia we've got the future covered. the seventh of december nine hundred ninety one. government residence in just believe. boris yeltsin's team was given one night to prepare the legally binding papers that would bring a bill to us as cells disintegration. we acted in

a true russian style when know exactly what the future would bring that we could think about later. yeltsin's eight stayed in guess tells his and were protected by k.g.b. agents everybody understood that all the information was leaving for moscow and that in order to arrest the participants in the b. elevation records for staging a state who could come at any time. yes. the decisive in strict boris yeltsin had sat in the kremlin instead of gorbachev at that time i don't think we'd have left the forest so easily. the standoff between two political heavyweights mikhail gorbachev and boris yeltsin lasted for several years. and was transferred to work in moscow from the urals and nine hundred eighty five unexpectedly for many boris yeltsin went from being merely a professional communist party couple wretched to go bishops' main opponent.

as a result yeltsin was stripped of his party post however two years later he was elected the people's deputy. the bureaucracy. as with ensuring all those previous decades will never get going again on the contrary. slipping into the bog from which we've just started to emerge. by that time. in the country has dropped to almost zero in stark contrast yeltsin hired a new team and started playing by his own rules with gusto. and was initially very athletic man. and he had a fighting spirit inside him. tennis helped him to keep fit for.

the seventeenth of march nine hundred ninety one. the referendum was held in russia on march the seventeenth nine hundred ninety one the result of which led to brasil tin becoming president the two presidents of russia and the u.s.s.r. officially began dividing pella is became clear to everybody that a conflict between the two sides was looming. and i can forgive myself for being too liberal and didn't send boris yeltsin where i should have that was my mistake. the nineteenth of august nine hundred ninety one. tanks in moscow k.g.b. and party bureaucrats decided to get rid of yeltsin and. and pass the u.s.s.r. back together again. but an attempt to solve the problem by force themselves

through the people's reaction to these violent actions was hostile. everybody was dragging whatever they could lay their hands on a trolley bus stop there the driver got out and lowered the trolleys the trolley bus was left standing across the road the barricade was here that's how we began blocking all approaches to the building. ukraine the crimea. residence in for us became a prison for three days the pluses included high ranking k.g.b. officials who were responsible for go bunch of security. i have no idea what would have happened if those had trying to escape from the residence but i do think he would have faced very unpleasant consequences. for. as a result the president of the us as was isolated from the rest of the world has telephones what if the only thing he could do was record a small speech for camera. has taken place

this anti constitutional action is based on a tremendous lot. of. course i also thought that not only my family but ordinary people would be heard over and that bloodshed couldn't be avoided and vast country like ours it takes a while to get going and when you get steamed up it's hard to stop it. unlike russia's president boris yeltsin was much more resolute and decisive he made his way to moscow's white house and became the dolling of international news broadcasts for three whole days. what declaring legal all the decisions in decreased by the state of emergency committee or. the cool guys as were extremely unconvincing journalist. was the first to put a question for coup leader. as

a news conference concerning the incident. was so nervous that his hands were trembling. just say that they looked hesitant would be an understatement and they looked as if life was dying out of them and there was no way to tell if he left in their faces and she they looked like people who had lost a battle before they had a chance to start it. the coup eventually failed k.g.b. units refused to storm the white house and pulled out of moscow many people felt as though they were personally shaping history. the bright future which the communists had been talking about for seventy years finally became a possibility we could build it with our own hands we were used to the fact that the state was on evidence that it could break and destroy anyone but this time nothing happened people had risen like a wall we said no enough. was a different person when he came back from his crimean captivity his confidence was

broken. people have to know the world has to know about the conspiracy. and what the organizers of the conspiracy want to do with me. and what they wanted from me and what they never got from me. i will tell us one day just a few days later boris yeltsin publicly interrupted his speech in parliament demonstrating that he was now the one in charge. mr yeltsin has just handed me a summary of a cabinet meeting. but i haven't read it yet well go ahead and read it dan. they convinced him that the only way he could enter the kremlin was by tearing down

the soviet union broader but that was the only supposedly the legal way of getting rid of gorbachev and yeltsin craved to be head of state to occupy the very office that have been held first by lenin and then by the general secretary stalin. the seventh of december nine hundred ninety one. boris yeltsin a rives in minsk the purpose of his visit has to negotiate economic ties between russia and bella roosts two republics that was still part of the u.s.'s up. russia and belarus have been friends for ages. of course for decades we had this artificial ideal for one nation being a big brother and other nations being little brothers. but that is over now. it is here that the parties decided to invite the ukrainian leader to join them for

their first ever discussion of their common future without go but you off the yes to the point was obviously to deliberate in europe since of corba charge i would even say we all realized that we would not be able to persuade gorbachev and besides he's worried it could not be relied upon i mean he could tell you anything and do something completely different. late on december the seventh yeltsin was already in viscously the next day the press was admitted to the lobby of the premises and the signatory parties to the agreement would periodically make an appearance the core deliberations however were all being held behind closed doors. down to draw up the documents question immediately arose as to who would do the writing. so i said let me do it i'm used to writing what i used to work for the

party's ideology section. pen and paper and got down to it. by midday the agreement had been composed tables were being arranged in the lobby for the signing ceremony when the meeting participants suddenly realized that there was no typewriter and no typist in the viscously quarters. rector of the national park was present so he was tasked with bringing over his own secretary a typewriter and some paper so the secretary was sitting there and typing out whatever she was given. do you realize what kind of documents you're talking yesterday i do. so what it's all pretty clear are you proud of it and i sure am an importance on what you type with one finger and it took time. she said she realized what it was like down she quite grasp the significance of what was going on it was later that she figured out what she was involved in realize better keep

her mouth shut. but two pm on december the eighth the agreement on dissolving the us s. and creating a commonwealth of independent states was signed by the representatives of russia ukraine and belarus. many cia officers resigned i did i left in one thousand nine hundred two and one of the reasons was that it no longer seemed as important to be doing the kind of work i had been doing because our big adversary was the soviet union and with the soviet union gone everything was different during the signing ceremony itself you know could question emerged would go but self be informed about this it was decided to contact both the kremlin and washington symbol taney asli boris yeltsin rang president bush well sternness left just gave each cold go but you're off your book

i guess so while i was explaining to gorbachev what has happened i could hear that bush was aware of that already so gorbachev asks me can you fancy what the international community will see who would i say the walk in a sense is that here we have a bush welcoming our decision at that moment gorbachev when will and after. you know what i was doing i was defending the soviet union up to the last bullet but i failed. soon after the accord was signed the delegates felt able to. to the press the only one for those present at the ceremony who wasn't interviewed was barres yeltsin although he did try to brief the press. cameras off please. the cameras off too. much so here we have yeltsin was blushing slightly. let me speak officers gave it should you know we reporters got

ready to records but korsakoff head of security covered the camera and said no filming but he said i'm warning you that if one frame compromising boris yeltsin is published you'll have to deal with me we need to know and then he said he pushed. the residents employees stayed there for another twenty four ls to bring everything to warda the warden stepped on must to see who returned home depressed silver for sure as a whole it was very painful. we could already feel that the disintegration of the soviet union was a real blow to us all it was uncertain and frightening. stepan much to see ok and his colleagues watched the end of the story on t.v. screens in less than a months when the soviet union flag was lowered on the kremlin for good. events seen on t.v.

during the decade that followed proved even more dramatic. with those who are very hard times. all that happened part is greatly. today most employees of the viscously residents who happened to witness those events are retired. forest woodlands is no longer reserved for the elite from different countries come here most of them clueless to the fact that it was in this place where twenty years ago the fate of the u.s.s.r. was decided in less than twenty four hours it was there new information was here

we know about it but. in this country. what was the ultimate effect of the events in a forest in december nine hundred ninety one. the start of a whole new game with new rules. in the back of a dying empire. disputes about this. just these twenty years.