with much stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. welcome back to watching our team with me lucy kaplan of let's recap our headlines. forty two rainy and pilgrims are kidnapped in damascus amid reports of bloodshed in the capital as well as syria's northern city. outrage in israel thousands of protesters demand social justice from a government that keeps cutting at home yet shelling out to score political points . dance experience violence escalates in the gulf states dozens of demonstrators have been injured in bahrain and a teenage protester was killed shot in in a saudi arabia. well up next a former soviet soldier and prisoner of war in afghanistan tells how radically his

life changed after the conflict ended. is this it. do they live here. you know i did see of my has been away from his home village of unfrosted in ukraine for nearly thirty years. in the spring of one thousand nine hundred three he was drafted into the soviet army and sent to afghanistan almost as soon as he arrived he was taken prisoner. or. my guide is there to get an id. but. this is the first time he's been home after all those years. when he left his cousin natasha was twenty nine years old now she's fifty eight. is this your son what's his name big or polo eager.

aloha low. value his father sister will soon be eighty. and. you know he's mojahedin captors gave him the muslim name of nicam and that he reluctantly takes his six year old son to this hill on the outskirts of conducing where the remnants of soviet tanks can be found scattered all over the site. i still have vivid memories of those events even though twenty years have passed i saw our tanks and soldiers being blown up but i couldn't do anything about it i was being held prisoner. on that ill fated day in one thousand nine hundred three you

know he left his unit without permission. he claims he was drunk and simply wanted to see people praying in the local mosque suddenly that moshe dean overpowered him and put a bag over his head. they hit me over the head and knocked me unconscious but nonetheless i have lived a full life here for thirty years and i am. the soviet war in afghanistan lasted for ten years the u.s.s.r. had brought a communist regime to power and then provided it with economic and military aid to support resulted in nearly fifteen thousand soviet soldiers dead some fifty thousand wounded with more than three hundred missing and assumes to be traitors united samara was one of those. one of the major had deemed tried to force me to fight on their side but i didn't love

them more than one of the put a gun in my hands but i never fired a single shot. this is what going to look like when he was sent off to join the soviet army next to get out of his brother who was only eleven years old at the time. years later you know the nickname that was able to find his brother's address and phone number. but it hi dear brother. do you want me to come and see your will you be waiting for me. after thirty years . has resulted returned to his native ukraine the u.s.s.r. is gone and he's only just learned that the soviet union had declared an amnesty for both prisoners of war and desert as. ok. i'll be there for at least two weeks. hope to see you soon. a short while before leaving afghanistan. makes

a video of his family and everyday life he wants to show it to his brother. this is the main street. now we are approaching my home. nearly thirty years you know he lived in lodgings in afghanistan only recently was he able to raise enough money to buy a small plot of land and build a clay house. together it cost three thousand dollars. his family has only just moved in even though it's not quite finished yet. but now this is where all our plates are right now dust thing need to be cleaned and stored properly. now sir this is where we sleep and eat in the evenings when it's too hot inside. can only make about has spent much more of his life in afghanistan than in his native ukraine he got married and he and his wife have had four kids this is my youngest daughter. is fifteen years old she doesn't look as much like an afghan

child as going to these other children she has freckles a pale face and blue eyes quite typical of ukrainian girl. do you know who this is. it's my little boy some adjoin you watch it he's six years old he's just started school. going out he's an eldest daughter is seventeen chill soon leave her parents' home to go to kabul to get married. her parents are making preparations for the wedding ceremony. for the long now sergei let's go into this room please let me introduce you to my wife her name is you. nick when i married you ever when she was only fifteen years old twenty one years on they're still together their first child was born shortly after the marriage his father nicknamed him. yes it's now sergei let me show you

a few other of. just a moment. you know the nickname out has taught his son a few russian phrases so he can greet his relatives in ukraine. you know thirty ok fyodor say i want to come and visit you in ukraine ukraine. matt is dying to go to ukraine as soon as possible the moment comes early in the morning when his youngest son some of john woke up the boy couldn't understand why his father was leaving and for how long he would be away. bust into tears she worries that her father may never come back. you know his wife is firmly opposed to the idea of her husband visiting his home country she thinks

he'll succumb to nostalgia and might never return. to. accompany his father all the way to the border with tajikistan which used to be part of the soviet union. hopes that he will be able to leave afghanistan with his father. it makes me happy to know that at long last my father is gone to he's home country. god willing i might go there some time too. well i don't know what is more important to me my home country or my family i hope that things work out somehow. the thought of chicago banda is on the border of afghanistan and pakistan going i didn't come out bids farewell to his son or to this bridge we're on takes us across the border. he's

waited twenty nine years for the opportunity to cross the bridge between these two countries the most it's a short distance of five hundred metres we're going under it's a lifetime. shelter well afghanistan. now world. it takes five hours to fly to kiev and another one of the half the done yet. cannot enigma matt can't take his eyes away from the window thirty years ago he flew the same route but in the other direction. i'm flying into a new life. as the plane approaches only a few minutes remain before he's able to step on his native soil he's long for this moment throughout his years of captivity in afghanistan. hello mother land. i've been away for twenty nine years.

going out is brother serger lives in targets seventy kilometers from the nearest. you know he last saw him just before he left for the army so i was a young boy there. more and i come in. thank you one may i know it's you brother come in come in hello. sergey has never believed that his brother betrayed the soviet union to side with the most high dean. high load miller welcomed the wellcome. coming dear. initially letters from his army unit said was missing later they claimed he'd gone over to the afghan side but surrogate was somehow sure the truth would come out one day and they would see each other again. let me hug

a brother. or. dump will look like. i was your heart my heart's bonding reform i went out for a smoke but my hands are still shaking. the following morning they head to the village of a loss of where the two brothers spent their childhood it was from there the going out unique moment was drafted into the army as he walks around the streets of a vivid memories of those distant times when he was simply a boy called going on. my sweet home was if. it was even after so many years i have no difficulty finding my home across the ravine turn on pushkin street and then turn on the right just like that their old street looks just as it did thirty years ago there's still no asphalt only old people live in the neighborhood now all the young people have moved to the big cities cannot be

nick them at the scene but it's hard to live both in condos and cross of. our houses all run down the of us not even being painted. maybe they have no money . this was the house canady make them out lived in before heading to afghanistan he adores every single no can cranny and it. worked before but i used this window to get in and out. the home was sold after both their parents died and surrogate moved to taurus. you're all right and nobody in the world if there is nobody bought let's go all the. you know his parents didn't live long enough to welcome him back. this is the first time that cannot enigma at the scene the graves of the people he loved.

the fellow father. i'm so sorry i couldn't see you when you were still alive. back in one thousand nine hundred one cannot his parents were told their son was still alive. imprisoned in afghanistan. and pleaded with me to come back home well sure but no i could never do it or were you. going to his father died a few years later. well goodbye dad farewell. his mother died shortly afterwards she was buried close to her husband.

my dearest mother. canady asks his mother to forgive him and promises to come here again each year. well for the future science technology innovation all these developments from around russia we've got the huge earth covered. nuclear fallible that hides inside. radioactive fallout all government betrayal of the government blog everything lauded and lauded

and claude how can the truth be revealed if there's no official evidence there was indeed a very bright danger to the servicemen concert who were given no problem protection and to the people of this country generally because of radio like the fall of. the secrets of the u.k.'s nuclear tests exclaims. gennady is a former soldier from ukraine during the soviet afghan war he was captured by the mustard dean thirty years on he's finally returned home his parents have long since passed away and only a few of his relatives are still alive oh well we'll add some guests soon. don't be afraid it's our dog. dear me it's a good. hello and.

welcome sweet hearts. when you know the nick winner plays his video from afghanistan this is the first time that his relatives can see how he's lived during all those years away from home rather than. here we are surrogate coming into the house it's my home my afghan home here's one room and here's the corner or there's no running water no sewerage and no heating only the super rich in afghanistan can afford such luxuries but can only make matters pleased with what he has at least he earns what little there is. it was when we marry off eyes the law allows the couple to live in this room here. let's check it out there know who the president was to be married to but no date has yet been set for the wedding ceremony right now he's the only breadwinner for

the family every other week he works in a fuel supply company for three hundred dollars a month his father used to work as a truck driver later he was a translator from dari persian into russian now he has difficulty walking to the market because of a problem with his leg well this way. you know to make me mad really goes shopping there's only just enough money for food three hundred dollars isn't much in afghanistan. life is hard enough gallus down everything costs a pretty penny and i've run up a dept of two thousand dollars for the house and repairs but i can't possibly repay it. as going out in equipment one just between the stalls it occurs to him but such markets with an abundance of oriental goods only appeared recently the taliban had banned the use of t.v. sets and even mobile phones now condos has developed

a taste for the peaceful life. do you want to go. over little kids still enjoying playing with toys from just. going out in equipment hasn't held one of these in his hands for many years. yet. another present is a yes man for cannot be dealt his daughter yes max cost nine dollars apiece women in kunduz still cover their faces with veils the ladies of fashion in the capital kabul can afford to wear a regular headscarf and the women have to cover their faces after all this is a muslim country my daughter will have to follow this tradition too because she is now a grown up woman. on

his way back to the nickname at once to buy some food he hunts around the stalls seeing who has the cheapest price for minced meat and tenderloin. there are no fridges here. the meats it's out in temperatures of over forty five degrees celsius. you know to make my mother doesn't have enough money to get a fridge yet instead he buys ice at the local market. today gennady making a mess look forward to a feast meatballs with potatoes just like he used to have back in ukraine his wife cooks it up for him just based with her husband he's caring and very generous rather than follow we've been together for more than twenty years my neighbors friends and relatives still think my husband is a russian afghan men often beat their wives up he has never done that. there are

neither chairs nor tables in the nick woman's house like all afghan muslims the family sits on the floor at meal times when food was scarce they often ate nothing but flat cakes for weeks on end. up. biting never stops in afghanistan. there was one war there will be another girl from a life there is no life at all. i need to get the hell out of there. at one point. began to seriously consider the prospect of returning home for good nearly every night he saw his village in his dreams the clinic but the bus terminal and the chestnut tree near the bus stop. the nic limit was a young man when he left his country now he's so old but his cousin didn't even recognize him when he visited her at work followed you come over please.

somebody is here to see you. do you recognize me. is this her sergei. or she doesn't recognize me. well most of truthful i think she's in shock. it's not a dream. when going out in the room at left his home for the army natasha was only eight years old i've seen all of you at last. his relatives still see him as the young man they knew before he left and a happy to see him back they refused to believe that he might once have been a traitor shooting at fellow soldiers as far as his relatives are concerned he returned home from war after thirty years of absence. oh dear my dear my god

welcome back my darling. it's hard for you to stand up. well there are. other. rumors about going out in nick my time coming quickly spread around the village of friends of friends and neighbors who were also in the army turned out to see him. at. the polo guys. i'm not speaking to you. can only nickname at the not expected this sort of welcome. i can greet your brother first tell us what he did in afghanistan all those years then will decide

whether or not we can shake hands it's only natural. caution we address you again early it was your name and now. i'm still going out and. he thought the soviet afghan war was over and done with a long time ago. but they too had fought in afghanistan and wanted to know what gennady nick must have been doing in enemy trenches. forgive me you see all of us here have their own story to tell i for one was wounded and a concussion and so on when i came back i weighed fifty five kilos so we want to hear your story let's do it later we haven't seen him for twenty nine years. this is a good early sistas lead him away to a party celebrating his return the soldiers who had fought in afghanistan we get no answer to that question what they wanted to know whether going to the mic moment

was a traitor to his unit ritual anyone who was among the mujahideen would have been dead if he had not adopted their faith and had not fired on soviet troops that's the crux of the. matter this man lived in condos but we lost four men in fighting there how can i forgive him. men who went to afghanistan from the unprocessed reason died in the soviet afghan war a monument commemorating them stand on the avenue of heroes tonight in equipment never visited. when going out he was still in afghanistan a russian gave him a recording of a song it's about a pilot flying home the bodies of soldiers killed in afghanistan in russia the song has become a hymn to all those who lost their lives in the afghan war. this

avoid the caves that guided him or moved. here it is good news to. grow schemes that are need some this sure but he did you say government waved short a number thirty one you. get those. going out in a boat has dreamed of this reunion for twenty nine years all of his surviving ons sisters and brothers are gathered together. i'm so happy to see you in our country twenty nine years on. i'm very glad for all of us here thank you very much. i think everything will be ok. with old photos dating back to when they and their parents were still young and brought out. they're from a time when all of them thought they would always be together they have to remember

. that's you and i together that's a nice picture. and these pictures shows all of us. probably it was some kind of celebration. into you know the nickname at shows the video of his life in afghanistan when he called his home in condos the day before he learned of the house had been given a facelift and all their belongings had been moved into it his wife and four children expect him to come back he can't abandon them. before heading back to afghanistan cannot enigma that drive to a field to reflect even though he spent the first eighteen years of his life in ukraine and thirty in afghanistan he's a stranger in both countries. to the letter he's a sure are we fast the name for soviet soldiers in afghanistan well to some in

ukraine is a desert. he still can't decide for himself whether he's a traitor or a victim of circumstance was it better that he survived or should he have ended up just another unknown soldier lost in the turmoil of war.

if they shoot something inappropriate from the public they can easily be shot. casualties of war ok. i wish he would have never happened but it has happened. in a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary what destroys their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave. and it's clear what happens with such witnesses i got on my site. many checks feel. personally.