this is a ok with a from how to i'm very happy about the referendum. it is beautiful. official is direct lucelle, but i believe that only with russia we will be able to revive our region. raise the economy, medicine education. with the 1st day of loading, wrapping up, archie continued its special coverage as the ongoing referendums and don bath. stop her. she and her song on whether to join russia, 55 military personnel from russia and the non master of publics being held captive and ukrainian captivity have come back home and are sharing their stories. a porter

with beat me with the chair kicked me and hit me with them on they beat me because of a broken chair. they said here, cattle, you broke our chair. they started hitting me on the head again. did you have me with all sorts of needles in my ear and my nose just to mock me to create and an iraq, a legislator insist on holding the u. s. accountable after american soldiers there allegedly kill a 15 year old girl working in the field with from moscow to the world. this is our to international. i'm rachel robins in here are the top stories this our 1st day of voting on whether to join. russia has wrapped up that as we bring you, our special coverage of the historic referendums and don bass and to other regions . ah,

who's the referendums are being held in 4 areas. as you can see here, the don ask and the grants people's republic as well as the her son and zap hiroshi regions. now, back in 2014 done ask, and they've gone to voted to declare themselves independence after they refused to recognize the coo and key at the new ukranian government, backed by the west. launch a military offensive on the don bass,

which has continued to this day. now here are some pictures from polling stations and on bass on the 1st day of zoning. people say they have been waiting for this moment for 8 years, years with the had ever gone for public told us the yahoo m stewart. i'm sure the citizens of august people's republic will make their choice in favor of joining the russian federation. by making ser choice, we will obtain peace and quiet and we're going back home to our historical borders . this is what is just what and write them. polling stations here come to people, not the other way around. that's all due to safety concerns. now here's how it's organized. there's a queue of people, they enter the bus through the front door. and then over here, there's a makeshift polling booth where people 1st they sign up over here. then over here because the vote. and here's the earn with it with every ballot that

has been cost so far. again, this is due to fears that large gatherings of people in well places in traditional, alongside or around traditional polling stations that they might become targets of attacks of over missile attacks by cave or terrorist acts. even still some huddle back in 2014. to be honest. most people here in la guns. i had been inspired. we had a desire to get away from all this band, dera stuff. people went to vote for independence with great enthusiasm. they were accused polling stations. people wanted to come back to their roots, get back to russia. these i years, we've been waiting for this moment. it was and is a difficult part. and i would have liked it to have happened back in 2014, but fight decided otherwise. okay. maybe we had to go through everything in order to reach our dream of re unification with the great russia. i'm very happy about the referendum it is beautiful. the stork, i'm sorry, the law m. smith dania,

but in 2014, there was confusion. fear. we didn't understand what was going on, but we hope that for would be taking him to russia back that i left her then returned to my family and they were here for all this 8 ears, butler then who experienced confusion and fear. so now we have ho go to the thought, we hope that they will take it. no, i said i just im sure the level of reason that i felt very positive in 2014 but now i am completely happy so everything is okay. we have been through it all. right near snellville atmosphere of the atmosphere was festive back in 2014. why we wanted to re unite with russia today. we finally got it. whipple cheese, we are returning home, but we have come a long way, but everything has come to a logical conclusion, yet we, the war will finally end the more. but i see the witching. meanwhile, 20 percent of voters have cast their ballots and upper oci. according to local

officials and neighboring her san around 15 percent of people have had their say in the matter. this footage is from her son and mel. it's hopeful where military and police are ensuring security, sweeping for explosives for, for residence arrive. but despite the potential threats, people continue to cast their ballots yet the shall is the revolution. i believe that only with russia will be able to revive our region, raised the economy, medicine education, revive the industries that her son region was famous for in soviet times. and give a new impetus to our economy. i cast my vote for joining in russia. mike and yes, i'm a mr. finally. well together. finally, well is home with the motors excellence. hi, walter, for russia. my home for my mother was actually done with session. i want to come back home about i just want to come back home to the blues. them on. it's always

been a russian city. they say that for a person, the native language is the one in which his mother read fairy tales for him in childhood. they write to me in russian where now had one of the voting stations here in cheddar song. these have been set up all over the city. long with these members of the electoral commission are going flat to flat house to house collecting people's votes. because despite the fact that already thousands of people who have some city in the province itself have voted, there's been a lot of intimidation that been threats acts of terror. and there is ceases, of course bombardment of your song with, with me solves, with rockets by the ukrainian military. the ukrainian sud nationalists have also threatened people. they have told them to stay away from looting stations for their own safety taken at face value. it is believed that they want to target these voting stations to keep people away away from the referendum way from expressing

themselves nevertheless. so far things have been. com. security has of course been beefed up. there is a lot of tension, but as i mentioned, thousands of already voted in more and more abusing with every hour. now, several events were held across russia to support the referendums and, and on math. here you can see the city of camera and central russia. now in the center, as moscow worth, thousands of people were together where they gathered on red square waving flags and banners. and here finally is, grows me the capital of the chechen republic and southern russia. the events are being attended by representatives of public associations, political parties, as well as civil activist. meanwhile, western countries have condemned the referendums, calling them undemocratic. this cons after years of selective policies toward the

self determination of peoples, as archie contributor, rachel marson explains. western officials clearly don't support these people in ukraine, having the opportunity to exercise their right to self determination is guaranteed under international law. you as a master ukraine, bridget brink and nato secretary general against fulton berg called them quote sham referendums. and the european union's chief diplomat use a burrell dismissed them as quote, illegal referendums, which are quote, in violation of ukraine's independence sovereignty and territorial integrity and a blatant breach of international law. when territorial integrity comes in conflict with self determination, it's apparently the people's will. that matters most. at least that's what the position was. the western officials had towards coast those independence. that is, after nato had bombed yugoslavia and carved out kosovo from russian allied serbia, under the pretext of protecting its ethnic minority sounds. a lot like the justification for the referendums now in these ukrainian regions whose people have

suffered under chemo attack since 2014. but unlike with the current situation in ukraine, the international community at that time agreed that coast those minority shouldn't have to live under systemic oppression. today our armed forces joined our nato allies and airstrikes against serbian forces, responsible for the brutality and kosovo. oh, i'm really proud of staff is what we did and cough so i really found it very difficult to watch when people were being killed. the united states formerly recognized kosovo as a shabury, an independent nation, kosovo committed itself to their highest standards of democracy. so apparently the western position only favor self determination if it harms their enemy and benefits the west. another example, what about of taiwan decided to hold a referendum to succeed from china tomorrow. it's hard to imagine that the westwood, denounce it, and argue instead that the taiwanese have to respect the one china policy that the

west supports. all, all egging on taipei provoking beijing and using taiwanese chinese relations and tensions as a pretext to rack up sales for the u. s. military. industrial complex. referendums are all equal in the eyes of the west. the democracy exercise by catalonia, in its bid for independence in 2017 from spain, was denounced by most of the you under the spanish constitution. yesterday's vote to cut the lonia was not only go countries like france, italy, germany and the u. k. were more interested at the time in what a vote in favor of independence for catalonia could mean for their own countries as they struggled to contain independence movements on their own territories. in other words, these people over here are fighting for their own democratic self determination. but how does that affect me? that's what they were doing. as for madrid, it came down to a question of revenue loss as colonia,

with just 16 percent of spain's population. also accounts for 19 percent of its g d p. another referendum may be lurking on the horizon in scotland as separate a sentiment has festered since edinburgh voted to reject independence in 2014. but the u. k. 's newest prime minister list trust isn't keen on permitting a 2nd round. perhaps she's concerned that the result won't be the same. if i am elected as prime minister, i will not allow another. independent trust brings up the notion of family, but apparently isn't interested in acknowledging similar family style. bonds that link the rus, a phone, ukrainian, regions to russia. the western hypocrisy and double standards of defending democratic principles to self determination only if and when it suits them, hasn't escaped the attention of the scottish leadership. if she governs as she has campaigned over the summer, she will be a disaster, not just for scotland,

but for all of the you key. there's a tendency to denigrate or block referendums that don't suit the western agenda. but when the irish vote to ratify the lisbon treaty, that is the use constitution establishing a centralized leadership and foreign policy failed the 1st time while that didn't prevent them from being allowed to vote a 2nd time to secure the desired result. similarly, the dutch voted to enter a referendum in 2016 against the you having closer linked to ukraine. but that didn't prevent the country's parliament for voting against the people's will. a year later, apparently it was enough to say that, well, hey, they were asked. so given the tendency of western officials to cherry pick the referendums, they support or don't, in accordance with their political agendas, while they're hardly in a position of high moral authority to be telling anyone, seizing the opportunity for self determination, what is or isn't legitimate professor at the institute of european studies and

belgrade stephen gaiety told us that the western reaction to the referendum should not matter to russia, and especially the people who are determining their future. i don't see what kind of other sanctions are going to be imposed. i mean, west is fully involved in a proxy war. it is arming one of the sides heavily and i think that there will be increased growth similar to what we've seen in 2014 with the premium case. but i don't really see any kind of escalation that we haven't seen so far. of course, the west will be very disappointed and there will be a lot of a lot of, i would say, a vein barking by the politicians that are already discredited within their own

societies. but i don't believe that russia and especially people who live in these areas shouldn't be particularly worried about the western reaction. i think that they should be concentrated on the future. i had them and rebuilding our lives and of course of infrastructure that was shattered. and of course we're building a functioning side of the awesome new trauma that started out with the euro. my done, if not even with the breakup of the soviet union in 1991 or keep you updated with all the latest news as saturday march the 2nd day it will be held for millions of residents. ah.

finally, after a long separation from relatives military personnel from russia and don bass republics, who been in ukrainian captivity returned home r t. 's, maria, fin ocean. i talk to some of the service men who shared their stories of being tortured, a happy day for what had been some very anxious families as 55 military personnel from russia and the dumbass republics, sons and husbands, father and brothers, who had long been held in ukrainian captivity had come back home, fight zebra storms. either he was in life that they returned my son to my bank. every one god gladly, one we are proud of him. we were afraid to lose. not believe we knew that he would return to. we've prayed every morning and every morning there was a lady was waiting for it. everyone was waiting for him. all the relatives,

his wife was very boring. we are very worried. it's the latest and so far, the largest prisoners of war exchanged between moscow and keith since the beginning of the russian offensive in february and both sides a hail and into a success summer. the most important thing is that they didn't leave us there. when we were there, there was a sense that no one wanted us in our country, but you see how it turned out. our guys quickly took us away quickly, pulled a sound among the 215 key of prisoners. the allied forces traded for the men were at 5 notorious as old battalion commanders. but it was a freedom at any price steal them grew. they said that no one was worried about you and your country will not exchange your excess ross, but we believe that would be an exchange. we'd just believe you. of course, i'm happy that i'm in russian. i would like to thank those who were involved in the exchange that had happened to winnipeg. i hope that the rest of all people we taken out of that and they will also be at home. that the most important thing for me now

is to see my family, friends, wife no, i haven't seen her since january or so we signed our marriage certificate and i just left right away. sometimes i talked to her via video link, but basically i haven't seen her in almost a year. 10 of the many foreigners who've been fighting on kia side were also released 5 bridge citizens to americans and fighters from the rocco, sweden and croatia. some of the released prisoners who spent months in captivity talk about torture and humiliation, and also confirmed that more and more foreigners are fighting on ukraine's side. no . both the yellows, dubuque, yes, they stood armed with clubs from the very beginning. they began to beat me with a bass on unused electric shocks. then with every incorrect answer or action, i said, or did they shocks me beat me with a baton on my legs until i had bruises, as vernon threw up, understood as to why the forwarded crew. they beat me with a chair, kicked me and hit me with the mongrel. they beat me because of a broken chair. they sent here to cattle. you broke our chair. they started hitting

me on the head again as much as the jagged me with all sorts of needles. my ear, my nose, just a mark mean to crash, but the more on the home on the road, they threatened me with a knife. then they threw me into a pickup truck and we drove off similar, another 15 people ran up there and they started taking pictures with me to pay my look there. they caught an org and occupier took pictures and jumped videos. they lifted me by the head and took pictures, will face the what it was clear from their voices that there were not only ukrainian staircases, a foreign speech was heard. arabic speech was heard someone after that, they took pictures with me there while they continued to be like to put a knife to my eyes to see if they put an i to my groin. he said we will cut everything off of you. now if you do not confess, steaming with the holes, they also explain why capturing members of the russian military, he's such a desired trophy for those fighting for keith expense. thought that since what on line is that they are? nancy's not the i'm for india denazi's received money for the military presenting.

so for surgeon it's about $300.00 for officers after thousands liang, although his former prisoners released during this recent exchange, are currently being treated in various russian hospitals. if military dr. commissions decide be our feet. the service men may soon return to the front lines, raving ocean on naughty moss region. and a rocky legislator has called on the countries authorities to hold the u. s. accountable for the killing of a 15 year old teenage girl, allegedly hit by a stray bullet fired by an american soldier. he says this islands on the issue is disrespectful and it's in your my weapons range should be shut down. or to the teenage girl was killed by a bullet fired during u. s. military exercises near they base outside of baghdad. the u. s. embassy has not bother to issue any official apology for the just incident. the death which occurred as a result of the use of life routes. you were military drill,

snow residential neighborhoods, exhibits an outrageous disregard for the iraqi blood and a blatant disrespect for the country sovereignty. the incident occurred earlier this week on a farm said she waited near the baghdad international airport, where american military forces regularly conducted drills, family and friends are convinced that us soldiers are to blame for the tragedy of houses in the vicinity of the shooting rage. and there's no enmity between her family and anyone in the area on the, on the soldiers station, outside baghdad, airport, them dollar media. and she got shotwell, harvest investable in order to sell them on the market to secure your livelihood. and that of her parents judge him about all they wanted to do was to leave in the rock peacefully. but that was in vain. there's a shooting range in the middle of our village. we appealed dozens of times about it as displaces of populated area with residents, farmers,

and their livestock. however, we got no responses from the authorities except for cause to leave the area. if we don't like out here, we endured a lot because of the intensity of the shooting, which kept us locked in our homes. recently are lost. my brother who's left 7 children orphaned and now i've lost my grand daughter here. the case brings at the double standards in the western media, which in contrast to the coverage, the other recent killing of a young woman at neighboring iran had ignored the death of the teenager in iraq. so for more on this, let's cross live now to the co director of the international action center. sarah flounders. sarah, it's great. have you on the program today. now, what do you think of the iraqi legislators call for an investigation into this case? what are your thoughts on the incident overall? well, my 1st thought is what our us troops still doing in iraq. the iraqi parliament has demanded that all us troops leave. so their demand for an inquiry

comes after their, their resolutions calling for us, true to, to leave iraq more than 20 years after the us invasion of iraq. more than more than 30 years since the u. s. complete bombing, sanction, and destruction of. so this is on ending, outrageous, and this latest knowing of a young 15 year old student working in her father's field. the knob is just the latest absolute outrage. most outrageous is that it took place in the grid. now that is the sight of the notorious torture prison, not the us. a huge us base and a giant prison camp or iraqi prisoners that people around the world saw

those who renders pictures of what happened in that prison. the fact that they didn't close it down the base continues and they continue with live fire rain. it's really passed fine for us to get out. and you make an excellent point there, especially when it comes to the media coverage and how much they pay attention to. and really how quickly they move on. and when you think about it, this girl was 15 years old. that means that her entire life has been lived under us occupation. so then, i guess the next question here is, do you expect these us soldiers to be brought to any sort of accountability for this killing or really for a real investigation to take place on fortune. and it looks like we're having a little trouble with the connection there. hello

. hello. oh and meanwhile, and neighboring or ron hundreds, church to the streets and support of the government as a counter to a week long nation wide protest against police brutality. now the latter also continued to rage, initially, triggered by the death of a young woman, arrested by the morality police protesters and burn police stations and vehicles and several cities. moreover, iranian women torch their jobs and public. some of them are demanding justice for a 22 year old girl. others call for governmental resignation. all righty and let's bring sara founder's back in. we apologize for the connection

. trouble bear. uh sarah. good to see you. i believe i was just asking you about whether we can expect any sort of accountability to come or really even any investigation into this reported killing unfortunately, no. when you consider the photographic proof of the hundreds killed at abu ghraib torture the rates the the abuse, and yet no, no really a high ranking officer was ever found guilty. a few of the full soldiers who were most guilty, got 2 years, 3 years. there was no accountability for those crimes. i can't imagine they will be accountability for the death of a 15 year old young student. and that is the crime in iraq that the u. s. continues the occupation after every demand that they leave, and they are completely on accountable for the crimes that they commit. and the

crimes that they submitted for years. there are still 2500 us proof. tens of thousands of u. s. military contractors who operate in a completely lawless way and and yet this is after every demand by the iraqi, that the us lead. so i think the demand should be raised for accountability. well, us respond. they don't respond with accountability anywhere in the world for their crime. and i know speaking of those demands, we also heard from iraq prime minister, who at the u. n. g, a meeting, asked to stop occupying the country's territories under the pretext of combating terrorism. what do you make that statement? and you mentioned there, i mean the united states has not had a history of listening. so any, is there any indication that there will be any change moving forward not coming from the us. we can see that there are ways that us have just been forced out of

countries that they were occupied by a very powerful people's movements. but will they leave on their own? will they leave because of a resolution? i don't think so. and their determination to say in iraq, in syria, to threaten the whole region, years after every demand that they leave. they're not claiming they're not fighting terrorism. they are a terrorist force. and the death of this young woman shows and you know, using live ammunition fire where there's a village in town right there where there's forms right there. what's the reason for that? so i think it's important that the world but demand and then it was very important to raise it to the un general assembly to raises continuing occupation of iraq to the now speaking,

i'm talking about it getting the story out what you make as his immediate coverage here, especially the fact that they aren't covering this story, but at the same time, they are providing a lot of coverage of the death of a woman in iran. how do you see that? well, it shows that there is a complete double standard in the media when they commit crimes when their police commit crimes right. here on the u. s. there are still on average 3 police killings a day. overwhelmingly black and latino people that goes on no coverage of that. so. but in iran they want to get world and because they are, are getting a ramp. and so everything they can do to pump up the anger again, the death of this young woman. and this is, this is really a regrettable that's not to justify it,

but the us hypocrisy and elevating that and at the same time saying nothing of accountable accountability for their shooting of a young woman. it shows not only a level of hypocrisy, but a level of continued lesson here in the, in iraq and around the world. the way us troops of occupation oper. yeah, there truly is that hope for accountability still all around sarah flounders. thank you so much for your time and insight on this matter. thank you. and that's all for now. we're here to check out our g dot com for all the latest breaking news and updates. we'll see right back here at the top of the hour. ah.