the end of an era twenty years after its fall there is still an equal measure of love and eight days back in the u.s.s.r. . libyan soldiers of fortune including former terrorists said to syria to take their revolution to president assad doorstep. and pakistan looks to beijing for support after last month's deadly drone attack leaves ties with the u.s. in tatters. its two pm in moscow i matras are good to have you with us here on r t our top story on this day two decades ago the world's largest country ceased to be the fall

of the soviet union meant the end of the cold war and the birth of a dozen new states but twenty years later the collapse of the u.s.s.r. still raises unanswered questions in the country. explains. even today many generate their own explanations for the fall of a global goliath but some putting it down to the role of just a few. ok to reach. the nineteen ninety one august coup was a turning point in the country's history with images of yeltsin standing on a tank creating a new hero yet for most here even that wasn't seen as causing a fatal crack in the soviet union it was all very sudden and shocking i mean there were people here even months before who were shoring us that this was going to go on forever so all the billions and billions and billions that the us and put into intelligence and forecasting or proved to be completely useless the

collapse of the soviet union was not so much a revolution rather it was a peaceful divorce of former republics longing for independence but the breakup led to long lasting and painful consequences pushing it's a vehicle so use the collapse of the soviet union is the biggest geopolitical disaster of the twentieth century. and in that assessment led him or putin is not alone older many russians began enjoying freedoms never imagined in the u.s.s.r. sixty percent still believe the collapse did more harm than good twenty years on russians still seem undecided over how to treat of the legacy of the u.s.s.r. in moscow most soviet names have long been a race from the streets and people's memories but some symbols of the past stand out so rigidly it can feel like those two decades never happened this morning a man to work or and go who wasn't so took six years some thirty million dollars to

restore but even the government would consider taking down what is among the most famous unofficial symbols of the u.s.s.r. . and strong were. her and a portly collective farmer were a symbol of crisp air a chance to billeted in a country with a planned economy everyone knew they would be provided with their metaphorical hammer and sickle and knew exactly how much to produce with them nineteen ninety one changed all that the post soviet economy is were shattered their deficits skyrocketed production plunged and it took them years to get back on their feet in the last years or so you can there was a possibility before for your to continue with a no for terror and political regime but to their beloved the economy and the market in the same way as the target. but among the political elite many didn't want to support the drive to modernize and in turn save the union instead they

wanted to destroy it and during that descent many republics were plunged into ethnic violence after gaining independence or before when it was clear the union was falling apart it seems for you the national minority started dragging the blanket to their side but it was at that time that georgia forcefully included self-assertive and apprise here into its territories similar ethnic clashes between armenia and azerbaijan claimed the lives of over thirty thousand people one thousand people were killed in the transnistria conflict russia remains on a peacekeeping mission there at least a thousand people were killed in a post breakup clashes between georgia and sell the search here and over one hundred thousand were displaced into g q stan the consequences were the worst sixty eight thousand killed and over a million people displaced even mosco itself didn't feel secure after the fall of the burden wall the world briefed

a sigh of relief but it didn't last long when nato said about creating a new wall made of missiles the allies steadily move towards russia incorporating former soviet republics but leaving most out. of europe's new security framework the west broke a number of promises to russia often russia could have expected to there wouldn't be nato expansion that. russia itself would perhaps even join nato or become. a new system of european cook collective security the feel of the u.s. says sorry put an end to the cold war era forever a fundamental shift in global geopolitics with just a few now calling the shots and without a powerful counterweight today's world remains far from secure exceedingly great childre r t. v dot com where i see no way you think the collapse of the

u.s.s.r. meant to the world so far forty two percent say it would only have been worthwhile if nato collapsed along with it just over a fifth believe communism actually offered hope for a better future the same number says that having no soviet union let the us go unchecked and fourteen percent think the world would be better off without the so-called evil empire add your voice r t dot com is the home page. former libyan rebels now chanting for syrians to follow their revolutionary path hundreds of mercenaries some of whom are said to be former terrorists ready to pick up arms again to help overthrow the assad regime or these acts on a boy who reports from tripoli. a butcher our dad made the owner of this kebab shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most fitting term for syria's bashar al assad. jealous of his economics if we can get him enough in the world that syria. other syria. you can make it

a lot of people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want syria and its soldiers we have. and our people such as syria these are just life long if this soldier we have we have enough but i think yeah we want to leave. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the young man who looked on adrenaline and willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. i don't know what we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of all our we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat

itself in syria a libyan man over the portraits of shaky borrow now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli is some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary . with the help of allah we can all belong to give aren't fighting for peace and freedom around the world. and it seems that che guevara is a dealer of exporting revolutions have gotten a second birth in the middle east the arab spring has created a buoyant marketplace for soldiers of fortune they move from one revolution to another motivated by personal being stung by conviction others by venture if i put out a vision of freedom and for now at least is the freedom to live by the gun. as a romantic and spontaneous as it may appear aiding the syrian uprising with mercenaries may not be such a genuine move video women and children in syria gunned down by snipers are inbound

on you tube while it's still unclear who is pulling the trigger there are terrorists who are shooting at civilians men women and children blind terrorism random killing simply for the purpose of destabilizing the country or from libya or from afghanistan or pakistan foreign fighters have been brought in here by the cia and the other western services. one man's terrorist could easily be in our man's freedom fighter but for the united states it's now one of the high combat hige one of the leaders of triple a militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's the face of the democratically bear who according to artist or says that a group of several hundred gly been rebels to syria just last month. we can't do any to support the syrian people because we know they are facing this situation

before. it comes to be would. be would have to give. the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard then for centuries a save gars against their own populations and it now looks like the history of mercenary. the middle east has gotten its new and no less bloody chapter on the boycott r t chip only. as the arab league observers mission arrives in syria the opposition insists that the number killed by government forces in the arrest has surged well past five thousand french peace campaigner terry mason says the atrocities are far from one sided. they say there is five thousand people killed. security forces of course it's absolute. there is a lot of people killed but very few by the security forces most of them there's

only leads people to side with and with the same woops they use in libya you know you work. with some different between. six and good. people coming from libya well now in syria especially you know what. the military goes on the off the people who is no in turkey to organize hold the fight and they're due to tripoli which was the people from my kid no responsible for security in tripoli tonight. they are you know they're inside syria and the. spanish reporter who was first in libya recognized them here inside of the top of beasts the so-called free. syrian army but. surely we continue our look at the year's most significant events today focusing on japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami as seen through the eyes of our

correspondent on the scene. suddenly the tempo changed when those the third explosion and then the fourth explosion and the different react has in in fukushima one morning the happen in very quick succession and suddenly. everyone was very scates. said all the news crews were. suddenly packed up and left and all made that really difficult for me was i was on my own and i didn't have anyone else to consoles. and i just realized at that point ok i'm going to get out. with this is. history in the making. of testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . pakistan has its eyes on the east for a future partnerships with the president now firming up the country's friendship with china this after our rocky year with the united states where ties were all but severed from the raid to kill osama bin laden without informing islam

a bad to last month's deadly drone strike. has more. the top ranking diplomat from the hu jintao administration has said that this visit is very important to mark sixty years of diplomatic ties between china and pakistan and he is hoping that this trip will bring that relationship to a new level to an all time high leaders from both the countries talk about security regions in the area and obviously all of this comes just one month after the nato military strike on a pocket stone afghan checkpoint that actually killed twenty four pakistani soldiers all relations between pakistan and the united states as a result of that incident or i don't know all time low still many analysts are saying that this meeting could be a sign that pakistan is actually shifting towards depending more on china as opposed to the united states beijing express their solidarity with pakistan after that incident one of their major focus is on their mutual neighbor india another

major focus is trying to work together to counterbalance the united states influence in this region just last month pakistan and china actually participated in military exercises together so this visit is just yet another signal that the two countries are moving closer together and you know time will tell what that means as far as the united states influence in this region plenty more news for you online a click away at our viewers where you'll find the right. dollars could make them seem deadly suspicious the security advice in the u.s. that says paying with cash could highlight one as a terror suspect was. holding floats so korea sending humanitarian aid on its way to their struggling neighbors to the north pole the details i don't you doug.

the official. video. feeds. turning out to some other stories making headlines across the globe a suicide car bomb has exploded outside the iraqi interior ministry in baghdad

leaving seven dead injuring dozens the attacker detonated an explosive laden vehicle at a checkpoint leading up to the ministry during morning rush a wave of bombings has struck iraq since all u.s. troops pulled out earlier this month. south to south korea and delegations been allowed into north korea to mourn the death of the late leader kim jong il former south korean first lady and the head of carmaker hyundai crossed into the heavily fortified border to pay their respects the north korean leader died from a heart attack nine days ago both countries still technically at war so all visits require government approval. there's been a global condemnation of the christmas day bombings in nigeria that killed nearly forty people the deadliest was in a suburb of the capital that struck a packed congregation as they left church a second attack khalid shortly after outside a church north east of the capital abuja there were other explosions reported elsewhere radical islamist sect boko who are says it was behind the attacks.

tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in yet. capitol voicing their anger at the deaths of anti-government protesters security forces opened fire on peaceful protesters saturday killing thirteen that led to demonstrations swelling calling for the vice president to quit for the rest the killers the weekend violence prompted president saleh to value to leave the country he's already signed a deal to end his decades long rule in february. he is looking back at the ten key events of twenty eleven today we'd turn to japan's massive earthquake and tsunami that killed more than ten thousand people also led to a series of explosions at the fukushima nuclear plant that put the world on watch fearing an atomic disaster or he's ever been it was in japan in the hours after the tragedy struck.

covering the earthquake and tsunami in japan was very difficult because i was actually on my own the camera man and producing even visas so they had to wait so i went with a flip camera a laptop when i was there and got a satellite phone and so on the road i was trying to do long lines whenever i could set up a satellite phone trying to get a link. and only when i actually got there that was when i fully understood the full force of the tsunami i didn't i didn't appreciate that until i actually saw the sea of every left. and i remember actually at one point setting up the laptop want on for a boat being perched on a on a on a road and just been dumped by the tsunami. and i was quite a surreal experience definitely. to begin with a very strange if you are in

a building suddenly you. could feel yourself shaking slightly and it was difficult to walk in a straight line for about thirty seconds and gradually these three days i actually got used to the tremors the strange as that sounds suddenly there was there was panic i was outside of the car about to film a stand up. and the police and the emergency workers saw me just like the sound saying. it was all in jack things but i could understand there was the you can see the fear and panic and also they were shouting and tsunami literally yelling in my face to get back into the car there's no news crew there the shouting and then to get back into the car and go inland as fast as possible because there was this. as the threat of another another tsunami there'd been a tremor the tide proceed in and they thought another tsunami was coming so and then in those moments when. racing inland as fast as we could weaving our way in between all the day every. member looking around and thinking hang on

a minute there's no shelter the. what it was he was destroyed in the previous tsunami and there's no high ground and the only way we're going to be safe is to actually. beat the water. i had to take a taxi to sendai from tokyo it took about ten hours because all the transport links were down and arrived in the middle of the nights no hotels were open the only place to stay was actually a relief center and this was inside the local government offices and the people there who just lost everything all they had were the clothes on their bank whatever positions they had with them at the time the earthquake struck and clearly the houses have been destroyed and they will all they had been in the relief since it was was a cardboard sheet of cardboard to lie on and i spend one not one night that i was pretty unbearable because it was very cold there's very little food around there

were rations but all they had was just a cucumber and a slice of bread so that was that was one meal actually. on top of this was also the fear of radiation because the situation to be seen was just going from bad to worse and i was always in my mind it was a very real fear you could see. amongst everyone else also. there wasn't any visible panic scene like it was in japanese culture to panic and such but more there was certainly fear this is a town of oh all right around half way between tokyo and fukushima i'm still one hundred fifty kilometers south all of the nuclear power plant but already the radiation levels here over double that of those in tokyo are going to make meeting one young fan. one young couple with a newborn baby actually just. i think

a week old will say just been born a couple of days before the before the earthquake and. the mother wasn't particularly well some of the she was very weak and obviously she wanted to stay put there from sendai that they had left they just didn't trust what the government was saying that the sister situation in fukushima was under control and they just wanted to get out they were heading heading to a kid by whatever means possible. but then suddenly the tempo changed when there was a third explosion and then the fourth explosion and the different reactors in in fukushima one morning to happen in very quick succession and suddenly. everyone was very scared. so all the news crews were. just suddenly packed up and left and that really difficult for me was i was on my own i didn't have anyone else to consoles. and i just realized at that point ok i'm going to get out because the thoughts of japan's ravaged east coast snow rain life by the day every just last

through you know all over the place here the walls collapsed over here is a fallen down such as the force of the tsunami this is also the point where we're going to turn back because the dog account is reading the highest it has done all day one point zero. microsleep it's plain how obviously when i left japan. i feel great relief because covering the story being very stressful and then he eats in up a nice legs but the story for mean wasn't over though until when i was back in moscow. the next day i had to get to the hospital rooms checked for radiation and thankfully i was clear. and we've got more on the years ten key global events as witnessed by our teams correspondents you can also watch their accounts of what they saw by clicking on our t.v. dot com still ahead former russian prime minister of guinea primakov who watched history unfold from inside the corridors of power in moscow shares his views on the

dissolution of u.s. us are but first katie's up with all the business news. welcome to business with me christmas is over in most parts of the world but iraq the festive season has only just begun despite debt concerns in europe and the us shop a still slowing down and as marrying a culture of found out russian men are at the forefront of the seasonal spending extravaganza. year's eve as when the russians give gifts and this year they're going all out at least eighty one billion dollars will be spend this the somber and the fifth of that will go towards presents consumer spending is expected to increase by twenty eight percent and muscovites will withdraw twenty percent more cash than any of the month of the year that's about five hundred sixty dollars each if you are

a russian woman then you can look forward to a particularly lavish gift as mandible spent twice as much i sir partners so what kind of gifts are we're looking at what's well the most popular items are expected to be alcohol then we have a choice and finally household appliances so not all that romantic on the christmas tree and the russians are not the only ones refusing to tighten their belts many experts had predicted americans and europeans would trim their spending but it's turned out to be a different story most surveys now suggest we will see an increase actually the average american is expected to spend up to twenty two percent more while in the u.k. some shops already seen an increase in sales more than last year but this may be because it's been such a tough year for ordinary working people now about the holiday season is here so

feel that they have an excuse to finally spend some money on themselves and their loved ones. let's have a look at the markets now while european trade is are enjoying boxing day the russian indices the game in the eyes in full trading session optimism the u.s. economy will continue to recover. to level out. despite the lingering global financial uncertainty russia is still aiming to attract a further five percent more for. foreign investment in twenty twelve presidential aides will provoke took off of it so he expects investors to start bringing their cash in the second quarter of next year investment into russia grew around twelve percent but most of the money was short term credit which doesn't provide fun fundamental support for the economy. russia's caucus is a step closer to welcoming more guests as russia and france register

a joint venture to develop tourism in the region it plans to build five world class ski resorts and create over three hundred thousand jobs that by twenty twenty first so the money is needed back is hoped to bring in between fifteen and twenty billion euros to make the project a reality. by not to be stricken cyprus will get the first tranche of a credit package from russia before the use drove the country agreed at the weekend to take a two and a half billion euros from moscow to support its economy. pricewaterhouse coopers can close that around fifteen percent of cyprus is g.d.p. is from foreign companies using the island as an offshore finance center the majority of the firms are affiliated with. russia's new super jet aircraft is said to take up to twenty percent market share in some developing countries including those in asia and south america is makers believe their plane

is a global payout which will boost both the fans reputation and sales. growth. for the region. and maybe a. bit that's why we have all the people in from. over twenty years. in the range of one thousand or one thousand america so we bring gas to a twenty percent market share so in twenty years time. as always is nice but i'll be back in fifty five minutes trying them.

whether you dive from high or to the depths. catch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents. being well prepared is a must and if you're lucky enough. you'll never forget your experience we only need them a screen that's going to be heaven. in the flight see a full and below the ice on our t.v. .