a current was attempted by president boris yeltsin led a successful campaign against it. in 1991, colbert chang resigned, and the red flag was lowered over the kremlin. as the russian flag was raised to bring us some analysis on me, let's bring in samuel romani, who's a shooter and specialist on the russian foreign policy at oxford university. he joined us via skype. hello there, samuel, thanks for being on this news our. what do you go? whichever resignation, symbolize all those decades ago? some historians, this is a true pat question. some historians believe it could have actually held on teens position and safety u. s. s. to agree? well, i think that by the time 991 and rolled around the soviet union's position as basely untenable the majority of soviet republics at arctic regions seed. the soviet union was undergoing the huge economic crisis including hyperinflation. and the united states. was that keenly supporting our garbage has resignation in the past over to boris yeltsin and transition towards democracy and the free market. so gorbachev's resignation was in par

that night, boris yeltsin, was gone. and vladimir putin, became president of the russian federation. and putin has been running that country with an increasingly authoritarian hand ever since. since 22 years, it's clearly not long enough in power for him. putin has given himself the authority to stay in power until 2036. because who among us doesn't think a 37 year presidential term is normal for a president and something that is nominally a democracy? vladimir putin has described the collapse of the soviet union, 30 years ago, as quote, the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. a genuine tragedy. and when he says it was the greatest geo political catastrophe of the century, he is talking about the 20th century. the century that included world war i, where 20 million people minimum died. the flu epidemic where 50 million people died. world war ii where 60 million people died. putin believed that the collapse of the soviet union, 30 years ago, this week, was worse than all of this. he says that the end of the

occupy moscow's white house, but the tanks were stopped by the public with future russian president boris yeltsin. famously mounting one and giving a speech. the crew bed fizzled out in just 3 days. but a huge consequences for the fate of the country. hans will m at stein field norwegian journalist on a veteran foreign correspondent right here in moscow, covered those dramatic events and he shared some of his memories with us. for me, this puts was very dramatic. i was inside the white house bill it all together with but his yeltsin and his closest of from the night of the 19th august 1991. i was sitting in the hospital, lots of the chairman of the supreme soviets office as the military detachment, sir. and swore the legends to what is he, hansen, 12 o'clock, but is the clouds was speaking from the balcony. that was 1000000 moskowitz assa living shield around the white house. we were only 2 journalists inside a lot of people, pension ass. poor people are they are missing the social security that they had. and the former is european society under communist drew a day had subsidized flats, jim gard

and the other thing was that he had anatomy, boris yeltsin. and they fell out. they hated one another, now had yells and go bunch of work together. the show would you probably been with us today. that's all we had to reform. those reforms are absolutely necessary. the gorbachev was working on 2 fonts, one to reform the soviet union inside, and also to reform its relations with the capitalist world. and he tried his efforts there failed because of the inability of the united states in russia. the union then russia to, to come to terms we'll say that see in the pay say that space, the number of conflicts, whether that's nicole and a car back from touch cheapest on to for example, k cost on is back. is dante, do you think that we would have seen those kinds of disputes if the ussr had remained a whole the biggest loss i think of all in terms of. busy relations human relations . ready was the breakdown of the been rather narrow to tell you waited the feeling of community community our see that existed within the soviet union, that local level that is lost and i thin

they want to return russia to the neo colonial vassal, stayed that it was, and a boris yeltsin post soviet union. that was really behind oliver lincoln's latest threats. daniel shore, professor of the a city university, new york. thank you. thank you, kevin. a dante for journalism. that's how jesus sanchez support has reacted to the british high call ruling friday that the wikileaks found a can be expedited to the u. s. washington. one, it's appeal against a previous decision. locking assange from being sent to america to face trial and espionage charges. campaign is slammed. the latest move which was handed down on what was the u n's he would write stay we condemn today's u. k. high court decision to allow the expedition of julian so on. so the u. s. which will prove historic for all the wrong reasons. we fully believe that julian saw and has been targeted for his contributions to journalism. back in october, those a to day, harry, i was the united states trying to appeal over numerous grounds, including the fact that it offered an unprecedented package of assurances, as i saw it would no

the future russian president boris yeltsin, famously mounting wall and giving a speech to bid fizzled out in just 3 days. but still had huge consequences for the fate of the country. hans vill hans time felt a norwegian journalist and a veteran, foreign foreign correspondent in moscow covered those dramatic events at the time and he shared with us his members. for me, this porch was very dramatic. i was inside the white house really dog, together with body hillson and the closest from the night of the 19th august 1991. i was sitting in the hospital, lots of the chairman of the supreme soviet office as the military detached man swore the legends, 2 bodies, hillson, 12 o'clock. but if the clouds were speaking from the balcony, there was 1000000 moscowitz living shield around the white house. we were only 2 journalists inside a lot of people pension f. poor people. they are missing the social security that they had and the former is geography and society.

the tanks were stopped by the public and future russian president boris yeltsin. famously mounting one and giving a speech. the crew bid fizzled out in just 3 days, but had huge consequences for the fate of the country. now, hans will hammerstein fell the norwegian. john, listen, federal and foreign correspondent, moscow. a couple of those dramatic events. he shut his memories with us. for me, this puts, it was very dramatic. i was inside the white house bill it all together with what his yeltsin and his closest of from the night of the 19th august 1991. i was sitting in the hospital, lots of the chairman of the supreme soviets office as the military detachment, sir, and swore the legends too. but his henson, 12 o'clock. but as the clouds was speaking from the balcony, that was 1000000 moskowitz assa living shield around the white house. we were only 2 journalists inside a lot of people, pension ass. poor people are they are missing the social security that they had. and the former is european society under communist through a they had to subsidize flats, kindergartens, holidays, educa

a crew was attempted, but president boris yeltsin, let a successful campaign against it. in 1991. gorbachev resigned and the red flag was lowered over the kremlin as the russian flag was raised. samuel romani is a tutor and specialist on russian foreign policy. the university of oxford, he says, mikhail gorbachev reforms were the most far reaching and many have been reversed. since putin overshoot legacy initially all to the jet transition towards an attempted democracy, the transition towards a free market privatization, the easing of cold war tensions was followed by an improvement of us russia relations intermittently over the next 15 years. but now under vladimir hooton's leadership, we've seen the exact reverse luciana, torturing consolidation. we've seen di, status companies taking over private enterprises and even more importantly, you seen a return to systemic confrontation between russia and the last that was arguably sharper than it wasn't. 19 it is the former soviet republics when a multiple different trajectory sound like the baltic states estonia, lapierre, l

interesting question that i think probably i'd have to say to the point of no return was when boris yeltsin was elected. the president of the republic june 1991 . and by that time you see it was committed to break up usaa to an independent russia party because, you know, he, he kind of reinvented himself as a russian nationalist also, partly because he saw as a way to power as a way of talk topic go, which of course what happened in december 19 to break up your side so not too much fun. it's basically a type of deal with the leaders of the ukrainian or russian republics. and together they sign the steel constructed. ussr replace this commonwealth a c r. yes. ok. and then subsequently, y'all seem to complete control of also institutions down forces secured security service. ready financial institutions and, and the foreign ministry and everything. so, yeah, so, so it was the empowerment of you'll see crew is popular election. remember, it's a popular election as russian president during lunch, not one. that seems to me to be the case. of course, we have a big time period was the attempted co

a crew was attempted by president boris yeltsin, led a successful campaign against it. in 1991 go, whichever resigned, and the red flag was lowered over the kremlin as the russian flag was raised. for more analysis on the storyline springing, dimitri babich, who is a political analyst for the russian state and news media company, he joins us from moscow. thanks for being on this and use our to make tree. first of all, what did gorbachev's resignation symbolize? 3 decades ago. well, you know, i was already a journalist, they will know very young one at the time. and i remember that people did not graph at the moment, maybe during the 1st 3 or 4 months that was already there. and on the soviet union, people thought that some of the country would emerge. you know, community jo, independence, they people thought that these could be something like a new country. and only in spring and maybe you went in some on a 92. they realized that yes, the saw that union was bound and we're going to have 15 new independent states on the stair retreat. as for what about you off? i remembe

he looks at his predecessor, boris yeltsin, and the breakup of the soviet union, and thinks that wastake. ukraine, which was part of the soviet union, is really under the sphere of russian influence. he thinks when they went through their enlargement in the late '90s and the early 2000s under a number of u.s. presidents, he thinks that has all been to russia's detriment. so while there is extreme urgency to have these calls now, this whole scenario in president putin's mind has been building up for years and years and years and years. but here's what's making a pressure point for him. he can see what's happening in ukraine. he can see he's getting less military support through nato, and his assessment could be that if he doesn't act soon either to get it to change course or make any military steps he feels he needs to take, if he doesn't do it soon, his window of opportunity will be lost. i can't read his mind, very few people can, and it's too much of a stretch to say these are definitely the scenarios that will play out in his conversations right now. but this is a pressure point a

ukraine, recognizing its sovereignty after the breakup of the soviet union union with then president boris yeltsin. it's not the first time russia has tried to change its narrative. within nato you have a division, john, how boldly to push back against russia. what you see is a sort of geographical difference within nato that the eastern countries, no surprise there, the ones closest to the russian threat, seem to be more alarmed, more firm in the kind of response they want to russia than some of the western countries. it's not a straight divided line because the u.s. is very firm in this, by the way, we're on the other side of the ocean, but there is that difference there and russia is trying now to exploit that difference, division in the ranks they hope makes any pushback less than they might otherwise. it's an open question russia invades. folks in the pentagon believe that's a possibility. >> that sentence in and of itself should make people sit up straight. your reporting is so important here and why this talk tomorrow is to delicate and the situation so dangerous. thank you so much for help

and on christmas 30 years ago, christmas 1991, boris yeltsin became president of the russian federation. he served as president for eight years almost exactly from christmas 1991 until new year's eve, 1999.re he served as president until dee y2k, december 31st, 1999. that night yeltsin was gone and vladimir putin -- surprise, who's he -- became president of the russian federation. and putin has been running that country with an increasingly authoritarian hand ever since. since 22 years is clearly not long enough in power for him, putin has just given himself the authority to stay in power untig 2036 because who among us doesn't think a 37-year presidential term is normal forn a president in something that is nominally a democracy? vladimir putin has described the collapse of the soviet union 30 years ago as, quote, the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. a genuine tragedy. when he says it was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century, he is talking about the 20th century. the century that included, like, world war i, where 20 million people minimum died, the 191

boris nemsoff was the leading opposition leading in russia, deputy prime minister under yeltsin. after putin seceded yeltsin, he became a vociferous and fearless critic. he was planning an opposition march to protest against the putin regime. it was two days before that he was shot four times in the back when he was walking across the bridge. press reports at the time called it the highest profile assassination since the stalin era. days before russian authorities had thrown one of his key russian allies in jail, another vocal putin critic. nemtsov's friend was put in jail for the high crime of hand being out leaflets. the guy who was put in charge just for handing out leaflets about the march, his name is alexi naflny. he went home and went to visit his grave. and navalny meant it. he became the biggest, loudest, most charismatic, pushiest opposition leader in russia. he vowed to run for president himself to unseat putin. navalny built up an irreverent, creative, forward thinking, nimble opposition movement that kept coming up with new, unexpected ways to expose corruption in th

boris nemtsov was the leading opposition leader in russia in 2015. he had been deputy prime minister in russia under yeltsin. after putin seceded yeltsin, he became a vociferous and fearless critic. of vladimir putin. in february of that year, february of 2015 he was planning an opposition march to protest against the putin regime. it was two days before that he was shot four times in the back when he was walking across the bridge. press reports at the time called it the highest profile assassination in russia since the stalin era. and he wasn't the only target. days before he was assassinated, russian authorities had thrown one of his key political allies in jail. another vocal putin critic who had worked alongside boris nemts o', v's. nemtsov's friend was put in jail for the high crime of handing out leaflets. the guy who was put in charge just for handing out leaflets about the march, his name is alexei navalny. here he is leaving jail after boris nemtsov's death. reports say navalny left jail that day, he went home, he took a shower and then he went straight to visit boris nemtsov's grave. this act of t