if you're just a very warm welcome this is. go with the twenty four hours a day top stories now the latest news in the week's main stories of russia sees the biggest protests in its recent history as people are happy with the parliamentary election result a revote present dimitri medvedev has now ordered an investigation into claims of during last week's poll. a fresh rift within the e.u. britain vetoes a new treaty tightening fiscal rules for block members in a move that many believe is a first step for the u.k.

towards the exit door of the e.u. members of agreed to hand brussels control of their budgets. desperate for money to live in authorities plea to the un to release billions of the country's assets still frozen months of the military conflict as the country's cash strapped government struggles with paying salaries and providing subsidies. so that's it from me today the news continues in less than half an hour from now with my colleague that in the meantime the last day of the soviet union stay with to hear the story firsthand from those who witnessed the historic decision to dissolve the u.s. that's a special report coming 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 crush choke and stun is

left 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 states on the world map known as the u.s.s.r. had ceased to exist. the dense bill of asia forrest webelos borders poland in soviet times people would come here and 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 the belle of asia accords we were fairly we were left on the military airfield so i approached a k.g.b. officer and said what do we do to prove look we're missing such an important meeting. i said it's ok given i'll take you for.

several minutes later but i didn't get son and 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 will be a rose stone is left just give each 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 it was enough time and opportunity forward so i invited him. the plot of land called viscously is known as the highest place in bel of asia forest in one 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 the guards. closer to his coolly where there was. a european bison is the symbol of the belle 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. said to me. no way to get closer just to be certain. but as we moved. walked away. that 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. work 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 in the evening for supper.

it lasted until eleven pm. afterwards they all retired to their rooms. and drank bitter vodka. i'm not sure the room 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 hour long. 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 of 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 and 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. political reality is ceasing to exist where your socialist. the eleventh of march nine hundred eighty five. clinton remaining elected mikko gorbachev general secretary of the central. bank. was elected head of state

a spirit of change was in the air perestroika was proclaimed in 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. was spent on elements but i'm the kountry failed to keep up with the arms race and the economy collapsed and simplest way to exert pressure was was 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 hundred eighty five. starts 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 ted 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 minds been wiped out it was a devastating event is. 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. . there. was. in

a strange turn of events incumbent party officials quickly joined nationalists in declaring that the u.s.s.r. 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 or actions have been preplanned. we knew in advance how many times we were supposed to say long live the soviet ukraine 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 to 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. or accords were signed early in nine hundred ninety one the soviet union was already coming apart at the sea us.

culture is that so much i was about to feel in those eyes you know from the war given real reverence for almost immediately after the collapse of the soviet union twenty years ago the commonwealth of independent states would stop most of its original intent seen by many. the seventh of december one thousand nine hundred ninety one. the government residence in viscously. boris yeltsin's team was given one night to prepare the legally binding papers that would bring a bill to the u.s.s.r. disintegration. we acted in a true russian style we didn't know exactly what the future would bring that we

could think about later. stayed in guest 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 but his offense in the records for staging a state who could come at any time. yes. 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 or wretched to go off 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 is dicta as with all those previous decades we'll 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 taney asli 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. residents 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 scape 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 a camera. has taken place this empty

constitutional action is based on a tremendous loss. i also thought that not only my family but ordinary people would be hurt over that bloodshed couldn't be avoided and vast country like ours it takes a while to get going. and 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. in the cool guys as were extremely unconvincing journalist. was the first to put a question to a cool leader. of the 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 all 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 down. they convinced him that the only way he could enter the kremlin was by tearing down the soviet union road to block that was the only supposedly 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 reuss two republics that was still part of the us s l. 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 sign 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 off the yes to

the point was obviously to deliberate in europe since of corba charges 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 chordal liberations however were all being held behind closed doors. as we sat 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 on today i do. the so what it's all pretty clear are you proud of it i sure am an impulse 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 that it was later that she figured out what she was involved in realize that to keep her mouth shut. that two pm on december the eighth day 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 that cia 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 and 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 talk to the press the only one from those present at the ceremony who wasn't interviewed was boris 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 each. we reporters got ready to records but korsakoff head of security covered the camera and said no filming here

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. the president's employees stayed there for another twenty four ls to bring everything to warda the warden stepped on mata silk 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. step in must 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. those

were very hard times. are all that happened part is greatly. today most employees of the visit residents who happened to witness those events are retired. 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.