it's two pm in moscow i mattress so 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 and the country. explains. even today many generate their own explanations for the full of a global goliath but some putting it down to the rule of just a few i'll give you two reasons gold which of guilt. 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 i mean all the billions and billions and billions the u.s. imported 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 your savings goals so use the collapse of the soviet union is the biggest geopolitical disaster of the twentieth century. and in that assessment or putin is not alone although 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 parts stand

out so rigidly it can feel like those two decades never happened this morning amanda worker who wasn't so took six years some thirty million dollars to restore not even the government would consider taking down what is among the most famous unofficial symbols of the u.s.s.r. . and strong worker and a portly collective farmer where a symbol of prosperity and stability 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 economies were shattered their deficits skyrocketed production plunged and it took them years to get back on their feet in the last years of soviet union there was a possibility before for your you know to continue with an all for terror political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as the chinese.

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 minorities started dragging the blanket to their side but it was at that time that georgia forcefully included self-assertive and apprise year 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 break up clashes between georgia and south of the search here and over one hundred thousand were displaced into g q stan the consequences were the worst sixty thousand killed and over

a million people displaced even mosco itself didn't feel secure after the fall of the berlin wall the world briefed a sigh of relief but it didn't last long when nato set about creating a new wall made of me sells the allies steadily moved 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 that there wouldn't be a nato expansion that. russia itself. join nato will become . a new system of european. collective security the feel of the us 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 what 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 are 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 economy if we give him enough in the way that the

city. of the city of. you can make it a lot of people see it. 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 in syria and it's all just we have. an hour before something syria that is a jetliner long if it's all just we have all we have you know 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 allah we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat itself in syria that the humble libyan man or the portraits of shady bar are now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli be some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary. book with the help of we can all belong to give aren't fighting for peace and freedom around the world. and it seems that che guevara's idea 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 moved from one revolution to another some motivated by personal gain some by conviction all others by the venture if i put out on the 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 involved on you tube while it's still unclear who is pulling the trigger there are terrorists my prayers 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 day hiking but hodge one of the leaders of tripoli militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's a face of the democratic leader who according to our to sources not a group of several hundred libyan rebels to syria just last month. we can do in

here to support the syrian people because we know they are facing the same situation as before and do but if she comes to lead the will and if we could see why the syrian people who they need help to get their freedom i think we should do what the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard done for centuries a save gars against their own populations and it now looks like the history of mercenaries and the middle east has got to it's new and no less bloody chapter and that's the way ours he tripoli. 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 to ease. those in people. security forces of course it's absolute. there is

a lot of people killed. but very few by the security forces most of them have various honor leads to side with and with the same woops they use in libya and know you work. with some different divisions between. six hundred. people coming from the media who are now in syria especially you know what. the military goes on the off three police is now in turkey to organize all the fight and they're due to tripoli big which was the people from my kid no responsible for security in tripoli tonight. they are now all of them inside syria and. spanish reporter was first in libya recognize them here in inside of the top of this so-called free syrian army but not syria.

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 there was a third explosion and then the fourth explosion and the different reactors in in fukushima one morning the happen in very quick succession and suddenly. everyone was very scared. so all the news crews were. just on the packed up and left and the woman 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. 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 abide to last month's deadly drone strike or 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's hoping that this trip will bring that relationship to a new level to an all time high the 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 pockets on 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 so 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 focuses 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 putting more news for you online a click away at our dot com here's what you'll find the right. dollars could be seen deadly suspicious the security advice in the u.s. that says paying with cash could highlight one as a terror suspect was. hope 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. from the. 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 that 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 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 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 bennett 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 the visas so they had to wait and 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 string of or i could set up a satellite phone try 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 latter want on for a boat being perched on a on a on a road just been dumped by the tsunami. and i was quite

a surreal experience definitely. to begin with very strange if you were 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 a sound saying. it was all in jack things but i could understand there was the 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 recede in and they thought another tsunami was coming so and then

in those moments when. we were 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 here. 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 to 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 though 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 their houses have been destroyed and they will all they had been in the relief center was

was a cardboard sheet of cardboard to lie on and i spent one not one night that i was pretty unbearable because it was very cold there's very little food around one there were rations but people would all they had was just a cucumber and a slice of bread so that was that was one the other actually. on top of this was also the fear of radiation because the situation in fukushima was just going from bad to worse and i was always in my mind it was a very real fear you could see it. amongst everyone else also. there wasn't any visible panic scene like it wasn't in japanese culture to panic and such but more there was certainly fear this is a town of our war i around half way between tokyo and fukushima i'm still under 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 also being 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 this is true 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 the happening 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 this is the

start of japan's ravaged east coast norene life by the day every just lie strewn 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 four microsleep it's plain how obviously when i left japan. i felt great relief because covering the story being very stressful and then he eats in london he slips but the story for me 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 team's 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 the 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 and the first 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 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 know about the holiday season this year 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 traders are enjoying boxing day the russian indices of gain in the eyes in full trading session. optimism the u.s. economy will continue to recover helping to boost global output. despite the lingering global financial uncertainty russia is still aiming to attract a further five percent more for. foreign investment in twenty twelve presidential. talk of all 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 for 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 for the years 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 power which will boost by the fans reputation and sales. abroad and . maybe abroad so there is good for that that's why we have all the people in from out west over twenty years. in the range of one thousand or one thousand americans so we bring to a twenty percent market share so in twenty years time. as will the business news for now i'll be back in fifty five minutes joining 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. you'll never forget your experience. a screen that's going to be heavy. into flight see. below the ice on r t.

two thirty pm in moscow these here are t. headlines twenty years since the world's largest country was wiped off the map the breakup of the soviet union ended communism in the region and created a dozen a dozen independent states but its legacy continues to divide those who mourn and celebrate its collapse. former libyan rebels taking their revolution on the road to syria mercenary groups including former terrorists have arrived in the country saying they're ready to pick up arms to help out yes.