then came the 2005 world athletic championships in helsinki.he made it back from injury and became the world champion. >> my greatest moment on sports and i would say my life was winning the world championship. getting a gold medal was fantastic and the preparation before i tore my achilles' tendon a few weeks before the olympics was my big bill. i don't believe this to start off with leader but i learned how to walk again and eventually i managed to come back. getting a little mental break as well. it was by far the greatest. >> i remember the competition itself. were you always confident? did the fortunes rise and fall? >> i was really nervous because i felt like this was my chance to win a "bridge into a gold medal. during the helsinki games, the weather was horrible. 10 degrees, pouring down and when we walked into the stadium, this guy opened up and it was like the sun came down for the first time. then all my anxiety left knee. >> the first feeling is so much joy and relief. >> i screamed and i was way too happy. it was an amazing moment.

every week meets with russian women living in helsinki during a short seminar she explains the basic principles of local child protection systems that fellow works for a nonprofit organization that helps families who have moved to finland from russia . the following story happened to me whilst i was called in to school where there was a mother and a child and the mother said if you don't take her away today. i will kill her i have this mother was russian she came from moscow it was clear that she was not in the right mental state but the in the morning we came to social services and the girl was taken and then we learned that her mother was suffering from psychosis and had been admitted to hospital in such critical cases a social worker i cannot ignore what's going on i was obliged to do what i had done here will i be on. that same evening television it's yet another troubled family she's been working with them for the past two years. hello. is your mother at home. hello sergei and out of the passage we keep working with your family. mortgages. and there are glad to see you again tod

olympics like when they come out of your one day he was a soft first ever gold sixteen years ago helsinki were in attendance and there are also some big name athletes on the guest list who've been charismatic ambassadors of the russian school it's my first ball actually olympic any of the balls is my first one so. i can see a lot of very good looking people it's very nice to see the big stars from the past . hopefully as well for the future. but it's a nice and those of us fair a lot of friends over to dress the dress up nice of everybody they get serious about that huge one of them has been held since the south finally allowed the athletes to compete kicks and this has added extra value to the. russian community celebrating sixty minutes to space thanks phil is a lavish affair something that spent the night aiming to be conscious of the ocean at arsenal in your i'm extremely happy to have been invited to this ball i just heard about it when i was a child and i had been dreaming. about attending ever since so i'm happy that london twenty twelve gave me that opportunity it's amazing to be

i had the rub between moscow and helsinki over the seizure of russian children by finnish social services is our next report. you can tell an ordinary russian and a siberian appalled in the blink of an eye wrote. to the public just in those days siberians were different clothes eight different food. different animals. but what about now my journey began in two men but the big city was all shiny all funded skyscrapers and shopping malls much like any other prosperous russian outpost. so i decided to travel to. a small town just outside. many these humble me dumplings came from here to dominate the russian cuisine but only in siberia to put them in super bowl filled with cabbage and jam making sure you can have too many as a starter main dish. although it may draw the odd of a mole of a most people in siberia see nothing wrong with hunting only if you decide to participate. when you look upon martin. as in the middle of a swamp only accessible by air transport in the summer months and winter a clip to the dogs. it's inhabited by siberian a large muslim minority that migrated had before the

previous olympics like lena dunham are your who won the us is our first ever gold sixty years ago in helsinki were in attendance and there are also some big name athletes on the guest list who've been charismatic ambassadors for us in sport it's my first ball thankfully olympic any of the balls is my first one so. i can see a lot of very good looking people it's very nice to see the big stars for the past . hopefully for the future. but it's a nice and there's a most fair a lot of friends. who dress dress up nice if everybody if they get serious blasted huge one the event has been held since the u.s. saw finally allow the athletes to compete at the olympics and this has added extra value to the board with the russian committee celebrating sixty years a participation at the games the show was a lavish affair and something that many have spent their lives aiming to be a part of the ocean at arsenal in europe i'm extremely happy to have been invited to this ball i've heard about it when i was a child and i have been dreaming about attending ever since so i'm happy that london twenty twelve gave

in trouble in the first place polly boy k r t london well up ahead of the raw between moscow and helsinki over the seizure of russian it children by finnish social services. wedge issues do just what their name implies they get between people and drive them apart like a wedge and these issues seem to always take the forefront in the media things like abortion gun rights marijuana legalization and the weather well the weather isn't really a wedge issue but people sure talk about it way too much there's only so much room in the national discourse and these wage issues just eat up all of the time and attention but the thing is that there's a little so they go the tenth amendment you know the one that says that any powers that are specifically delegated the federal government are reserved for the states and last time i checked the constitution doesn't have a special weed clause saying that marijuana has to be an all or nothing a national proposal and that goes for abortion and most of the wedge issues also there's a simple answer all these wedge issues just left the states make up their own m

your leadership on the senate foreign relations committee on europe, your leadership in the helsinki commission, you've been one of the real champions on this issue. i just want to thank you, want to thank you for your good advice and for allowing us to be able to get us to this day. i'm convinced tomorrow the senate will pass this legislation. the president is going to sign it, and we will have achieved a great victory for human rights. i thank you. i think also your observations as we were talking about how to move forward with this bill in connection with pntr for russia and as senator lieberman talked about a little bit earlier, i am convinced as important as this bill was, that the magnitsky bill by itself would have been extremely difficult for us to get through for the president and for the president to sign and to become law and that combining it with pntr, we got it done. i also believe that pntr for russia without magnitsky would not have gotten done. so i think the marriage of these two bills is the right thing. it allowed us to move forward, as senator levin said, in repe

it might be things like helsinki. it might be legislation. it might be examples. >> talk about your mother. [laughter] >> it could just be the iconic betty ford. >> mother, it is you, i promise. that is what he is known for. i think the helsinki accord is one of those that kind of gets lost in the shuffle. and the berlin wall -- a lot of people do not credit the beginning of the berlin wall coming down, really going all the way back to the helsinki accord. so that is one of them. i think he gets -- he got criticized a lot for the pardon of richard nixon, but the kennedy family gave him the profiles of courage award before his death, which was an unbelievable honor to him. and that meant so much to him. he knew that he was doing the right thing for the american public and it was not something -- [applause] at the time, you know, woodward and bernstein criticized him up one wall and down the other, but he knew in the long run that it really was the right thing to do and for our nation to appeal, it had to happen. the fact that if we were going

i thank him, the ranking member on the helsinki commission. i want to thank senator shaheen, the chair of the european subcommittee on the environment of the senate foreign relations committee for her work, senator bob menendez on the foreign relations committee. all those were very instrumental in dealing with this. senator durbin who has been a real champion on human rights. i want to acknowledge kyle parker, a staff person from the helsinki commission who was very instrumental in the development of this legislation, and i want to also acknowledge senator lieberman's work. i know he will be speaking in a few minutes. it was senator lieberman and senator mccain and myself that first suggested that we should pass the magnitsky bill, it's the right thing to do, but we certainly shouldn't let pntr go without attaching the magnitsky bill. i want to thank senator lieberman and thank senator mccain for raising that connection. it was the right thing to do. first of all, it allowed us to get this human rights tool enacted. secondly, i think it gave

how did you get there and negotiating in the summer of '85 through the tenth anniversary of the helsinki final act and the general assembly in new york, engaging in a relationship with foreign ministers, another new face for the united states. the march towards geneva included the discarding of the old notion of communication on issues on which we disagreed and patch over with language which was always misinterpreted and the reestablishment of the acceptability of arms control and human rights and already made a statement. arms control regional issues and bilateral issues. the essence of that, we did not trade one u.s. interest for another u.s. interest, interesting gupta that point. people say if the soviet union does something we don't like they will pay with u.s. interests instead of one of their own interests so we got away with that with a new negotiating approach and gradually to geneva where we arrived with some sense of things being significant to the soviet union and one of the preparatory trips we met with a member of the triumvirate's who said you know as do the year we got to

president, as the senate chair of the helsinki commission, i have a long-standing interest in central europe. for many years, the helsinki commission was one of the loudest and clearest voices to speak on behalf of those oppressed by communism and to call for democracy human rights and freedom from soviet repression. it has been a great triumph to see the peoples of this region free from dictatorship. over the past two decades, i have been profoundly heartened as newly freed countries of central europe have joined the united states in nato and have become our partner in advancin advancing -- in advocating for human rights and democracy around the globe. the leadership on those issues may be especially important now as some countries in the middle east undertake transitions, the outcome of which are far from certain. even in europe in the western balkans, there is a crying need for exemplary leadership, not backsliding. americans know from our own history that maintaining democracy and promoting human rights are never a job that are finished. as my friend and our former colleague, tom

since i've been in the united states senate and his devotion to the cause of human rilings, to the helsinki presence pls, is something that makes me proud to be his colleague. this is a pro-russian vote today, as senator mccain said. for the leadership of russia, the passage of this legislation is an accomplishment and an admonition at the same time. we welcome additional trade. we mississippians welcome additional exports to russia and the jobs that will create in russia and in the united states of america. at the same time, the signal is strong to russian officials, if you're involved in human rights e-- abuses such as the horrific sergei magnitski case, you're not welcome in the united states. you'll be denied a visa. you're not welcome to use our financial system. we feel strongly about this. it's a step. and it's a step that i think we can make the case in future congresses, should be applied globally. but it's an important statement, an important piece of legislation, good for the united states, good for our workers and ultimately good for foreign relations across the board. so thank

in the summer of 85, through such events as the 10th anniversary of the helsinki final act, and meetingser of the united nations general assembly in new york, the secretary, secretary schultz was able to engage in a relationship with foreign minister, another new phase for the united states. the march towards geneva included a discarding of the old notion of a page along communiquÉs and issues about which we disagreed in which we patched over which -- with language which was always misinterpreted. and the so-called four-part agenda. human rights, arms control, regional issues and bilateral issues. the essence of that, rick has touched on. it meant we did not trade off one u.s. interests were not u.s. interest. how quickly people would say if the soviet union does something we don't like, let's make them pay with the u.s. interest. instead of one of their own interest. we got away from that as a new negotiating approach. we made away gradually to geneva, where we arrived with some sense of things being very, very different in the soviet union. and one of the trips we have met with one me

the bad old days of the cold war but you also remember how the united states managed to start the helsinki process with the soviet union. the idea was that negotiations between the u.s. and the soviet regime -- and the iranian regime should not only be about nuclear proliferation but also a human in. in the soviet society, they felt there is international support and i knew there was a government outside their own totalitarian system trying to give them a push. that was important. another important fact was that you had very good strategists managed to organize some of the people who have left the soviet system and became opponents of it. you gave the boys to the opposition here in the u.s. and you also managed to raise the cultural warfare against totalitarianism. not only the intelligence services but the universities, the academics, they managed to mobilize the opinion of the people in the world against the soviet regime. i don't see that today. let me tell you what frustrates me as an iranian. i see american academics raging war and demanding closure of guantanamo beg for years and yea