this is r t moscow and our top stories for you dozens of new civilian deaths are reported in syria as the arab league gears up to monitor the implementation of a peace plan but hundreds of mercenaries from abroad are allegedly fighting for regime change there the u.n. estimates more than five thousand civilians have been killed in syria since march while the regime claims its fighting an armed insurgency from the. shifting to the east pakistan with an eye on the future for just fresh ties now with china as its u.s. relationship lurching from one crisis to the next but the strains heightened by the covert american raid that killed osama bin laden as well as last month's drone

attack that left twenty four pakistani soldiers dead. and also in the program we continue our look back at the big stories that shape the year focusing now today on japan ravaged by natural disasters that wiped out thousands of lives in the millions fearing a global nuclear catastrophe. suddenly the tempo changed when there was a third explosion in the fourth explosion in this reactors in in fukushima one morning to happen in very quick succession and suddenly. everyone was very scared. one of our chief international correspondents there sharing his memories on the destruction he witnessed the horror he faced to remove him a bit later. and exactly twenty years ago to the day the u.s.s.r. the world's largest country at the time ceased to exist the collapse of the soviet union brought with it an end to the cold war and gave birth to a dozen new countries but also hardship and ethnic tension former republics gained independence but for many many years of economic instability and ethnic unrest to

this day there are splits opinions about whether the fall of the union brought more harm than good the august one hundred ninety one coup is seen as the to give. the eventual collapse thousands of people we're seeing history rewritten right in front of their eyes next we talked to a man with inside knowledge he witnessed the unraveling of the socket union first. do you perhaps recall saying once that you do not understand what stop the president of the us to start mikhail gorbachev from using military force in order to prevent the signing of the treaty enforcing the dissolution of the u.s.s.r. in one thousand nine hundred one do you think that the u.s.s.r.

should have been preserved at any cost. you see i don't even think there was any need for military force what could have been done that's my opinion while others may have theirs but i think that the better russian military district could have been given an order to encircle the three leaders passing their time in bolivia sky a pusher drunk and groggy on their legs just about to sign of these documents that they were jotting down on the spot and simply take them to their homes instead of arresting them and just take away these papers but this was not the key thing the key thing was and it was brought to gorbachev attention and i did tell him about it too in the presence of others that one should have started with an economic treaty if we had signed a treaty establishing a single economic space i think it would have been a step towards preserving an upgraded modernized soviet union which could have freed itself from the darker parts of its legacy gorbachev gave a public response the next day after we had made the suggestions to him he said he

didn't think an economic treaty should be signed first because he was sure it would jeopardize the signing of the political treaty which he thought had been created. greed one thing that wasn't considered properly was that once a single economic space is in place relevant supranational political structures will develop that's inevitable that's why we should have started with an economic treaty and many in fact were ready to go along with that even the baltic states were ready to go along with the idea of preserving a single economic space. back at history any large employer a disorder sooner or later do you think that having a single economics piece would have been enough to avert dissolution. of course it wouldn't have been enough to put it would have been a huge contribution to averting dissolution and you see we can't really compare that situation with today for instance as they are completely different and that's because back then in the soviet union everything was centralized and existed as

a single system and no one going to anything through dissolution no one did perhaps russia benefit a little more than others because it's larger and stronger and has a more developed economy put on a large scale no one gained anything beyond question by now the republic of evolved into sovereign states which have come a long way and developed a connections into relations with other states in the west and with china and so long. it's a completely different picture even today creating a single economic space if it's done properly full scale and we currently have agreements with the recent kazakhstan pertaining to that and it's also possible that kyrgyzstan will join in if it all goes well it will be one of the pillars of securing integrity and preventing any dissolution was going to. do you think it's possible to restore something similar to the soviet union through your asian economic community which comprises several soviet republics. no i

don't think of it as anything similar to the soviet union there's nothing today that can be similar to. the soviet union in any way but integration is one of the driving forces of globalization and it's taking effect everywhere we go along with these forces and today we can say that the child's nationalisation tendency in business as well as integration process is at stake level shows are the driving forces of today's reality so if we succeed in going along with them so that we take over these forums and promote our agenda through them and this agenda will not differ much from that of the west if it will additionally focus more on the national interests of each state i think it will be a great advantage and. as you pointed out it is a well known fact that economic problems were the primary contributing factor to the us the stars the solution today it will look at the us and the e.u. shaken by our full economic crisis can we expect our poor america to discourse at

some point too similar to the way the u.s.s.r. did. you know no i don't think so because of course some serious impact is inevitable in the case of europeans so much i recall a talk i had with a person i deeply respect or former chancellor schmidt of west germany or he is now ninety two or ninety three he still is totally bright a person that i had an insightful conversation with him last year you know he said the events in the eurozone would have an impartial jury and he believes it could on the one hand lead to a deeper integration of a number of states within the e.u. in terms of foreign policy defense under the issues on the other hand the old timers of the union were to have complied with the requirements or you would have a different attitude to those who joined the union just recently. here's a hypothetical questions just several years after the collapse of the soviet union nato want you both right here if the u.s.s.r. had not collapsed do you think nato would have gone ahead with operations in yugoslavia afghanistan iraq libya. it. would be

talking of nato involvement in yugoslavia i think it could have taken place even when the u.s.s.r. was. still alive because the alliance acted without permission of the un security council but there is much more to it in a few years after the dissolution of the u.s.s.r. i mean in the first half of the one nine hundred ninety s. our foreign policy was to show support for the us position sure to follow in its footsteps was the position of the foreign ministry voiced by its head was as follows we desperately need to become part of the civilized world by any means the rest is jibberish so the west must have seen that such sentiment was present in post soviet russia and may even have been prevalent in some circles that is why they felt an ever growing desire to act independently without taking notice of the soviet union or russia. or us quicker work. what price to trash have to pay for

such a spineless policy when as you said it followed in the footsteps of the us. mint . the price was tremendous economically last more than joining the second world war when such was the price the scale of the losses would become clear if all people had a chance to watch the hearings in a london court solution between what he spent his all ski and roman number move each going to listen to the horrendous stories or what have you businesses were given protection by crime in officials or the way privatisation was carried out with that in mind it would be insane to say that the country benefited from the one nine hundred ninety s. nothing of the stasi and here's the final question the us asserted promoted a certain ideology any strong state needs to have an ideology do you think russia has come up with some of its own. to go regional so not only wants they called a national idea has not been articulated yet we all work to make people's lives better and safer the demographic situation needs improving the economic model needs

an overhaul because the one that was in place before the two thousand and eight crisis will not work in the future with these two. knowledge is our evidence book and taken together your mortgage if they represent russia's national idea that question thank you you're welcome the book. culture is that so much a lot of people at your email will balance it all the worse to tell you the first twenty years ago an old historic event town from the soviet union came to an end and with it the conclusion of a cold war what is the soviet union's. on . her. birth mother.

to lose. the book. to. the book. the least explore various. issues and touched by much. surrounded by steep long. case paintings on display for thousands of years.

he stood silent beyond the tiger. on t.v. . 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 will only miss them a scream that's going to be heaven. in the flight see up close and below the ice

on our team. me is eve. if you. believe.

in.

headlines dozens of new civilian deaths reported in syria as the arab league gears up to monitor the implementation of a peace plan but under the most read from a broader range of the fighting for regime change there the u.n. estimates now more than five thousand civilians have been killed in syria since march while the regime claims its fighting an armed insurgency funded from abroad. shifting to the east pakistan with an eye on the future of forges fresh ties with china has its u.s. relationship staggers from one crisis to the next but the strain is heightened by the covert american raid that killed osama bin laden and last month's drone attack that left twenty four pakistani soldiers dead. and some celebrate a few commiserate it's the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the soviet union

and opinion still split about whether breaking up the country was the best choice for its people it ended the cold war and paved the way for democracy but sparked a series of bloody regional conflicts and economic. issues are now monday night sport. oh and of all compass for an artsy come and see you from the russian capital with me for i'm on call for about first as usual the headlines. dress for success russia small borders recede brand new uniforms out of their new season and soul she wins on the big twenty four it's a. good five seconds to go two point zero from derrick rose gives the bulls a narrow victory over the los angeles lakers in the n.b.a. season. party on the mats our correspondent explores the

sophisticated world of the japanese martial arts by. all that's coming elbow will start with ice hockey where there were eight games on offer in the continental hockey league on sunday often will be the second seeded in there in nine consecutive match after losing to go on home ice already involved with the score all for the suit defending a gory cup champion sell out your life want to hold match against the world with the same four to score line tracks or it should have been scored through second period goals against visit saints or better needs mean all good which were enough to win the match two time good cup winners are the bars defeated visiting side c.b.d. by three parks one while cape shells bad boys it has lost two or tribals of a guard in the moscow region by the narrowest of margins so one needs to keep me beaten it's a little bit because now it's. the match between several style and you grok and it's scoreless in regulation and the overtimes by the home side go the upper hand

in the penalty shootout while spartak moscow lost to the visiting nets a work that was so one. so missile are going to divorce have now moved up to fourth in the eastern conference of the continental hockey league following that narrow two one victory over sparta. right here in the russian capital now the visitors opened the scoring five minutes into the second period. on the scoreboard for. charges the moscow spectators had to wait until the beginning of the third period where. got a long way to the equaliser as he made the most of a power play to make it. the lord's response was that much quicker. needed only forty four seconds to put his teammates in front again sealing the final results off to one spark sit second from bottom in the west. snowboarding now where it seem russia have presented the new kits in which they will perform for

the next three years including that's one hundred fourteen home in the next in sochi the russian alpine skiing and snowboarding federation has signed a sponsorship deal with one of the biggest brands in extreme sports equipment the country is becoming one of the powerhouses and trendsetters in the snowboarding world with many athletes competing for podium places the outfit was presented by members of the national seeing and among them was a european cup winner in big city gate la pushkin female boarders in parallel slalom to guess who won it's also all of six races last season also claiming the first ever world cup sidle for her country and. who was the first russian to clench olympic silver medal in snowboarding in vancouver despite a poor start of the current season the borers are eyeing an overall win at the world cup with the next stage starting on january the thirteenth in austria. i started this year's campaign with a second place but it later stages my results became even worse however i do

conclusions and where it's hard to improve in my performance it's still a long way to go for me to try and win that woke up for the second straight year that i was age just like last year but i feel to improve on my results so far i was just unlucky the. these trainers did rightfully so after the world cup teaching started in january before much better. so the harwood now where opening games of the new n.b.a. season were finally held in one of them a former n.b.a. champions los angeles lakers have started the new season with defeats kobe bryants and company losing to the chicago bulls on home court by single point eighty eight eighty seven the visitors had a narrow two point lead after the first quarter they extended their advantage to seven by halftime mainly thanks to derrick rose who would eventually finish with twenty two points for the visitors the lakers woke up only in the third period as bryant with his partners added eight more than their rivals to find themselves one

point ahead by the beginning of the fourth quarter dunk from josh mcroberts given los angeles a sixty nine sixty eight lead the sides were neck and neck for the final twelve minutes but with less than five seconds to go rose added the most important to point to seal the final result the game finished eighty eight eighty seven in favor of the bulls. stand across the ocean where in the n.f.l. the green bay packers have clinched the number one seed in the playoffs that's asked for beating the chicago bears on home serve thirty five twenty one aaron rogers turned out to be the hero of the night as he had the first down match of his career rogers made twenty one of twenty nine passes for two hundred eighty three yards and five scores german michael thin they call it once and make it seven nil to the hosts in the first quarter jordy nelson james jones downs of peace with the packers improved to fourteen wins and one defeat in this season.

and that brings us to i.q. though which is considered to be one of the most complicated martial arts russian leading instructors gave t.v. reporters a unique opportunity to finds out what it is all about firsthand robert are the neon has more. the japanese martial art of fire kiddle he's in to keep warm it means way of her morning spirit and doesn't involve any offensive moves at all and teaches you to use your opponent's aggression and power against him without causing injuries leaving many delta it can be really effective might be probably one of the reasons why russian leading i keep instructors held the muscle class court t.v. correspondents in moscow and promptly showed some specific i.q. did petitions. now what if somebody tries to take your microphone away don't

resist getting saw it and it's still in your hands. it's all the same if you need to take it away from somebody else. just get inside like this and take the microphone however it only looks that easy in the hands of a skilled i.q. the prosecution or if it's still different when it comes to one man who was maybe just a bit overconfident off to war now we're alone lesson. here is the way to get you through is a fool who is bigger and stronger than you. who are seeking the other skills just to grow by kyoto was also known as a martial art for intellectuals a very sophisticated one so those who hope to gain skills very quickly soon quit like you know tasks are much tougher than some stand up fighting or wrestling techniques as in judo or someone. nevertheless having experience in the different martial arts can only help in starting

a kid where perfect balance and coordination are a must the russian nation and team member in the third year would know is a perfect proof of that initially haying had a vast judah background in two thousand and one she became the first ever russian woman to get a mussar sports degree kito is boarded will be put it takes more time to reach a decent level of skills than i care than in other martial arts how do i can patients that's their new way one can become really good i keyed i some start with a background in other martial arts some just start from scratch that's possible at any age i keep the phone during my hey you she taught that kids can stare their way of harmonious spirit as soon as they are able to walk the earlier you start the closer we get to perfection robert but in their own party more skilled. well that a year to go before the summer olympics and yet in the maze away

a letter that came to one aims to win his first ever gold medal for. his home country now this seventeen year old young man is one of the country's most talented young athletes he made his international debut for vietnam at the two thousand and nine world weightlifting championships in thailand winning three silver medals a year later he represented his nation at the inaugural youth and picks in singapore where he claimed gold in the fifty six kilograms of vision his form in twenty eleven was impressive he smashed two world records at the recent asian championships and lifting its also off two hundred seventy seven kilograms it's the nature is currently the world's sole pragyan here and is second in this senior rankings. to win a gold medal for vietnam at an event as big as elin big games in london would mean so much to me i would be so happy for me it would be the perfect way to pay back the love and belief that so many people have shown to me. and finally let's move on

to a variation of weightlifting now where russia's marianna no more ball has set the new under fourteen world record at a recent russian powerlifting cup right here in moscow that's one of your old athletes won the competition in style with an impressive results should bench pressed seventy seven point five kilograms despite an injured shoulder which is strained during the warm up but she coped with the pain and finished the tournaments on top marianna hopes to enhance her current result by lifting eighty kilos next year. that's all for now there will be more sport on artsy very soon meanwhile our youtube channel at artsy sports news is always available so head there to rates and comments on some of the stories seen right here thanks for watching.

british. markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy. financial headlines to two name.

good. news.

to. all. witnesses. to history in the making of. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . please. look. at least here. legally. purchase.