Once upon a time there was a country the largest in the world in fact it was an empire it was called soviet union shortly before it seventieth birthday it vanished from the map. It was. Just a ship the ship is a shape with a good shape your religious good to the state over here. The soviet union had been strongly dependent on Commodity Prices but russia in the two thousand was even more so two thirds of russias exports were generated by the oil and natural gas sector. Economically russias economy is a model economy it depends entirely on oil prices everyone just trades new Petroleum Products when the prices are high but if they drop the russian economy has a real problem this is very bad economics looks like and im going. To draw its neighboring countries back into its sphere of influence russia sold them or oil and natural gas at knock down prices. Small gifts sustain friendships big ones create dependency. Overseas to come on the book russia uses the economy to apply political pressure to stop the former soviet states from moving toward europe its sort of the u. S. I use a. Better us is a good example its a buffer between russia and nato and a conduit for russian oil and gas supplies to europe. Socialist. And was. Just they are mutually dependent. Russia relies on transit countries like belarus and ukraine which transport gas and oil to europe. There are always been quarrels about transit operations. In new york that are on the scene. And xander look i go and glad im here put down and have played this dependency game for years. Go wants to have things both ways favorable prices and indeed. From russia couldnt tolerate sit as long as belarus does not turn towards the west. This is why lucas shank always says that bella looses the little brother and russia the big brother and that we will always be together. These declarations appealed to the russian government. Which means better routes receives considerable economic aid. The russian subsidies account for fifteen to eighteen percent of Gross Domestic Product its. These enormous subsidies have made bellerose relatively stable. Over twenty years look i got about one hundred billion dollars but theres nothing constructive with it. It was all stolen. In return russia put pressure on Location Code to allow it to deploy heavy weapons here but. This Financial Support has cost us our sovereignty and perhaps even our statehood and that has meant complete absorption into the Russian Army Russian ideology and the russian world. Me. Most belarussians still accept the monopoly of their russian neighbors and of left to walk a fine line between solidarity and independence. But georgia was a different case. After the rose revolution it quickly developed into a pluralistic comparatively well functioning country. The tax system was simplified and the Banking Sector and Public Services modernized its cities were transformed. Mikhail saakashvili the new president completely renovated the center of tbilisi. After the rez revolution foreign capital began to flow into the country it felt like a new era was coming people had a great visions that our country would become a new switzerland or singapore or that an economic miracle would happen. And a big boom really did start and things that were worth a Million Dollars now cost one hundred million apartments in tbilisi were more expensive than in moscow we had an Enormous Growth in our client base and hired new stuff and really good money. Looking west away from putins russia circus really brought in renowned architects from all over the world the striking New Buildings were intended as a symbol of the new era. But soccers really wasnt only interested in giving the city a facelift he also launched a crackdown on corruption in politics bureaucracy and the Police Thousands of corrupt politicians and state officials were arrested. The entire Traffic Police force some sixteen thousand officers were sacked corruption was almost defeated in the first four years. Here actually on a sunny i served as georges ambassador to the United Nations from two thousand and six to two thousand and eight. But. In two thousand and two u. S. Military advisors visited georgia to assess its potential as a new member of nato. The country increased its defense spending ten fold to replace outdated soviet technology. Younger generation of officers were promoted maybe the elect experience but what was important they had their good and the High Integrity of his home and the country and also there was a huge i would say support from United States and other western countries to make this inform successful. We have well trained in the nato standards armed forces that are capable of conducting any type of war their military operation. Military wise and security wise i think georgia is ready to become the member right now. But theres a political decision that needs to be taken and we understand is also correlated with the relationship with russia. U. S. President george w. Bush was the main advocate of georgian and ukrainian membership in nato. The struggle for the former soviet republics was a struggle over spheres of influence. After the dissolution of the warsaw pact the moscow Led Military Alliance most former soviet republics hope to join nato. Estonia latvia and lithuania became part of the Atlantic Alliance in two thousand and four. Called it at that link in the us russia is actively engaged in democratic liberal reforms and is a liberal economy so where does this pressure on russia come from. Putin has often said that if there are no ideological differences between capitalism and socialism why is nato expanding eastwards what you want. At the two thousand and seven Munich Security Conference the conflict came into the open boat incognitos eastern enlarge meant a direct threat to russia at the years now but i would feel if you for. A minute with. Putins aim was to create a defensive ring around russia and he intended georgia and ukraine to be part of it. But it is not in the kremlins opinion that the west has to accept that this is in our National Interest that ukraine should belong to the russian protectorate as well as belarus and probably moldova the whole of trans caucasian should be our protectorate as well from the. Pentagon our from the Newspaper Novaya Gazeta is known for is critical and often ironic take on russias leadership but. Thats why russia will never let go of ukraine weve got our teeth into it like a bulldog if the west accepts this if theres a yell to two agreement then well work with europe. The two thousand and eight nato summit in bucharest was dominated by the question of eastern and large meant russias objections split the alliance. In the end a compromise was found georgia and ukraine were fobbed off with a promise of nato membership some time in the future. Meanwhile a longstanding conflict at the border between russia and georgia was heating up. Ever since the end of the soviet union two regions a conduit and South Ossetia had been seeking independence from georgia in two thousand and eight People Living on the border became pawns in a bigger game. To do something i get a my burnt out houses over there. I lived like i was in a fairy tale i had central heating a bathroom wine cellar. Thats all thats left to make a lump of metal and a refrigerator i had to raise my arms and give it all up which i have nothing left. We always got along with the associations we ate and drank together even our own money from each other. But now there is no hope of reconciliation theres no future anymore not a video out of it but yet a. The border between georgia and russia became the new border between the world powers. Russia banned the import of georgian products the georgians arrested alleged russian spies the conflict was escalating. And it was obvious that we were moving step by step into a war with russia i forced saakashvili to call the russian president to diffuse the situation. During this conversation Vladimir Putin told saakashvili straight up that if the georgian government launched military operations against a kasi a and South Ossetia the russians would send in their army. Bus was it i would see the bloodshed and it was just like. The interests of abkhazia and South Ossetia had long ceased to be the real issue in the conflict and a proxy war was looming. During the night of august seventh to the eighth two thousand and eight this war finally broke out georgia marched into South Ossetia so i cant really claim the small enclave was historically georgian buttin regarded this as an attack on russia itself and struck back. He would brook no one rest on the edges of his empire especially on what he saw as a frontier with the west. The war against georgia was a demonstration of putins resolve. He was intent on keeping as many of the former soviet republics as possible out of the wests embrace if necessary by military force. The war lasted only five days eight hundred fifty people were killed thousands more wounded and twenty four thousand south those nations fled the fighting. The russian army penetrated deep into georgia itself the country also lost the support of the west which condemned its attack on the breakaway region. Georgias dream of nato membership was over at least for the moment. Russia drew another lesson from its victory in the caucasus if it wanted to throw its weight around it would need a modern army when observed probably and that that teach there what tactical and logistical problems. We invaded georgia with rusty obsolete equipment. The georgian artillery caused a lot of casualties and some of our soldiers panicked when they came under fire. From. The Russian Military is First International deployment since the disintegration of the soviet union revealed the cracks beneath the surface. The former pillar of the soviet empire had been neglected for decades after the war in the caucasus president Dmitri Medvedev announced a long overdue modernization of the Russian Armed forces. When you want to. Wrestle with the. Us doing the right shes good he gets acquitted them but. I mean that i. Never shoot them and that we dont expect a war like this after twenty twenty five on the assumption that a major world crisis would break out resources would become scarce and people in the most widely differing countries would be starving russia is so vast and so rich in resources that we face attacks from all sides we must be prepared. To get them over the meaning that. When putin became president russias military budget was just four billion dollars. By two thousand and eleven it had climbed to seventy two billion. The Global Financial crisis in two thousand and eight put a stop to russias recovery oil and gas prices were falling on the Global MarketForeign Investors were concerned about state interference in the economy and the war in georgia. Are usually good news is when you can use the Current Crisis has no external cause is the model in which putins regime is founded the distribution of oil revenues has run out of steam youve generated. The gap between rich and poor in russia widened dramatically. Moscow was still doing relatively well but elsewhere people were struggling. The good old days were looking better than ever. With a city d. S. S. That enables them there was still a lot of nostalgia that for the soviet distribution economy was state supported government contracts subsidies and rising social expenditure. Said sir nicholas holbert. But even in moscow people were wistfully looking back to soviet times. Business down to appeared in many forms for example in the restaurant of the Famous Department store. Are canteen is designed according to the traditional soviet model the cashiers wear bonnets and there are tablecloths and flowers on the tables. What this is the famous vending machine that stood on the streets in soviet times you could buy normal water for one kopek or water with syrup for three. The generation that knew the Old Soviet Union still exists thats why this place is so popular the atmosphere here is familiar to everyone many young people also like to come here theyre interested in finding out how their grandmothers mothers and fathers lived. That and we are putting picked up on his countrymens longing for a new National Pride soviet symbols and traditions were dug out again red army banners the melody of the soviet National Anthem military parades on red square after an eighteen year interruption on may ninth two thousand and eight a grand parade was staged at the kremlin to mark the anniversary of the soviet victory in the great patriotic war. Propaganda gave putin the aura of a charismatic leader this is his image an old style fight against bureaucracy like the nice song and the bad boy as. All good things in the country are attributed to him everything bad to someone else. Fortunately for most of you are you more and we all understood that medved yes was just a pure sorrow good when it wasnt seen as an independent politician but rather as put in psychic school. In two thousand and twelve that a mere putting became president again madrid year four partly admitted that this had been the plan all along. Putin saw the revival of his country as his lifes work. And here you see what i see yeah thats what i see a lot of nice didnt move where do you. Put in spreading roots in cali Alexander Lukashenko has been in office since one thousand nine hundred ninety four. In many quarters his authoritarian style has earned him the name europes last dictator. Nobody has talked about free elections and belarus since one nine hundred ninety six elections and belarus are controlled by the government and their results are predetermined by the power apparatus. So bella roost does hold elections but the police and the Intelligence Services do Everything Possible to stifle any opposition. So say a ship removed from that is our group which was made up mainly of young people and went to the city center to hear the results in front of the Election Committee building. Suddenly a police car blocked the street in front of us. In the media. They didnt care that i was a president ial candidate and had absolute immunity and did that. With you and when i tried to get around the car and continue on as a grenade suddenly exploded and shooting broke out. Yeah because of years of knowing i mean suddenly i was on the ground under boots in the snow. And you know somebody screamed theyre killing the president ial candidate. Well someones face was burnt and in this madness i lost consciousness. I have survived the assassination attempt but his ordeal continued when he was kidnapped from the hospital. I was in the hospital emergency room lying naked on a drip when i was suddenly dragged by my feet back out into the cold. And it wasnt minus ten but minus twenty five degrees celsius outside. You dont expect to survive that. Was sentenced to two years on charges of incitement to mass riot he was only released from prison after diplomatic pressure from europe and suffering a stroke. The regime is built on the forces that carried out the orders to crush any peaceful resistance in two thousand and ten. That is. Back in russia the rigged parliamentary elections of two thousand and eleven were leading to growing dissatisfaction especially among the middle classes the kremlin reverted to the tried and tested formula repression and violence im going to college delude you. Many people who were particularly active entrepreneurial and well educated no longer felt they had any prospects in this country. The sense of stagnation of status was quite strong dissatisfaction with the situation led to mass demonstration as. The biggest protests in russias recent history started just a day after putins reelection. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand more transparency and accountability and an investigation into the allegations of electoral fraud. The governments response was brutal soviet style conditions were resurrected whoever is in for us is against us critics were branded enemies of russia or enemies of the state opposition activists were placed under surveillance. In belarus soviet style conditions had never been done away with in the first place. And little dude. Who is under surveillance has to live with a number of limitations you have no right to leave the country in you i have no right to hang out in places where alcohol is served when i was. Young i have no right to take part in large public gatherings. They decided to silence me so to speak and when you look now im sitting here like a fool. Can block. Better a syrian activist pop out of you know get off for his just twenty nine years old but hes been jailed several times. Because of the yemen issue this was this my friends and i decided to do something funny to set up a resistance organization. Our first action was to take stuffed toys including teddy bears and put them in a busy spot opposite the government building was. Painted various funny placards the slogans as if the toys themselves were demonstrating in. Your Community One of the posters for example said freedom for Political Prisoners is. Another was carried by a stuffed toy with an im missing that said these things the cops took out my eye to use it so they were funny things but our action prompted some serious feedbacks and. People began to add their own toys when it even started to happen in europe as a sign of solidarity with belarus. Next year those are the jewishness of them the stability. Of course the berlin rossini authorities didnt think the appearance of the stuffed toys in western european cities was humorous you know got off was hauled in again. And see you know what was in the middle we didnt last that long as consequence then they put us in jail. Thank you more the high and mighty were afraid of boys putting toys around the city. Thats just stupid at the cost of two books. I just love those little ones and then you may move on to the one that you may not know but lets look at. My knee and to you good to see i was sentenced to four years in prison removed and. I had to serve so many years for absolutely nothing. That those but you dont only suffer yourself for us with your relatives suffer too. Thats the worst thing. My wife also spent fifteen days in jail. In the end we got married in prison. I was wearing prison clothes no jacket nothing dressed completely in black with my prison number because she slit i didnt have a white dress or a veil Precious Metals are forbidden in prisons so there were no rings. It was all pretty sober and somber but still its my best memory from the eight months i was there. In the end the European Union pushed for going abroad or else release from prison. Today he still has to report to the police every week exile belarus in style. In georgia criticism of president Mikhail Saakashvili was growing louder the catastrophic war in South Ossetia was just one of the reasons another was the one time reformers own actions during his second term in office he underwent a shift. That was not prepared to leave the leadership when i was. Really i mean lets move toward terry terry and. Rule of the country to keep his own power intact. Shortly before the parliamentary elections in two thousand and twelve allegations of maltreatment in a georgian prison rocked the republic. When the videos of guards beating inmates were made Public People turned against suckers for you to. Go and knew that something terrible was happening there but didnt Pay Attention when you have systematic problem that youre overlooking and there is a torture systematic inside your penitentiary system you have to address this all youre going to be blamed for this. Oppositional activists and politicians in the country united under a new Political Alliance called the Georgian Dream and set out to remove soccers Beauty Supply bombed them about it was that. Instead of storing. Than in democratic structures the government introduced tougher measures to control the media and parliament. And so we had a strong almost a thorough tarion president ial republic with a totally submissive parliament. Absolute without much. Success really resorted to brute force to quell the protests. This was the same man who had studied and worked as a lawyer in the us and do it been so proud of the peaceful rose revolution. Or the sets trained on blood abuse when we were crushed with such unexpected severity the west said practically nothing. It didnt demand that saakashvili justify what he was doing. Well. If youre seen as pro western youll be forgiven a lot if youre seen as pro russian you can be beaten tortured and killed and no one will say a thing about it. These double standards lead to great frustration and disappointment with western values a little parcel of abuse me much. Nevertheless the Georgian Dream coalition swept the next parliamentary elections because saakashvili was forced to flee abroad. After all the euphoria of the rose revolution and the longing for europe disillusionment set in. Soccer surely as protester and government was now seen as repressive and corrupt freedom and democracy had ultimately prevailed but western values had clearly suffered a loss of prestige. Good understand he who had already enjoyed Great Success as a Real Estate Broker found a new role as an arch conservative t. V. Presenter with an attitude highly critical of the west. Civilization awakens desires that lead to moral depravity and the media spreads this depravity not just homosexuality but every kind of depravity such as consumption and selfindulgence. People are concerned about this and think we should get less money and hold onto our identity instead. In russia and western and especially anti American Attitudes took root you know visual propaganda in this new cold war the aim was to cement the power of the state. And this christian values are not taken seriously in europe anymore a new type of morality has been imposed that is the antithesis of christian ideals. God says that marriage is an alliance between man and woman. And now same sex relationships are counted as marriage. This is mortal sin is a serious and an forgivable. Thank god we still preserve moral and christian values in russia. But if we abandon them so help us god then it will quickly bring about the end of the world. The current phase of anti western sentiment is the longest and most aggressive sofa. Can see what they are going to shoot with the big propaganda is using all the stereotypes and cliches that existed about the west during the soviet era. Criticism of the west and reconciliation with tradition that was also moscows approach to chechnya. Runs on cut it off became president of chechnya with Vladimir Putin support the republic and been reintegrated into moscows empire. Just as a lesson in libya whether you like runs on or not hes created order after two wars and that is of great importance i mean this is. The fighting ended in two thousand and nine. Russian troops were pulling out. Of promised moscow he would combat terrorism in chechnya and moscow promised to fund the republics reconstruction it was the same deal that putin had reached with cut a year off father subsidies in return for stability. But almost four runs on the reconstruction of chechnya the construction of new houses streets and Everything Else is a question of prestige hes keen to be a popular politician. Was lanced but it all ends badly for anyone who criticizes him. After years of conflict jets now became a legal black hole within the Russian Federation moscow turned a blind eye. To the. Putin isnt very bothered about human rights. Its not the decisive issue guiding his policies rights are violated everywhere in russia. In ukraine the next round of the battle between pro russian and pro western factions erupted in two thousand and ten ukrainian election Viktor Unocal Veitch as president looking for Financial Assistance he turned to moscow. Following the tried and tested president putin offered to cut gas prices and pay several billion dollars for Ukrainian Government bonds in return. Was to tear up ukraines agreement of association with the e. U. Ukrainians took to the streets in protest as many as a Million People joined the euro mind on demonstrations prominent european politicians poured fuel on the revolutionary fire. Their appearances were seen as a sign of solidarity against an ever more brutal state apparatus. Thats i have been on the my done since the twenty fourth of november it was a demonstration for our integration into europe nobody had expected Something Like this to happen in the twenty First Century that on peaceful streets in a peaceful european city where your friends would die before your eyes. What started as a peaceful protest turned violent after Ukrainian Special forces intervened. Its not a heavy price but. What i felt is hard to describe i was in shock people were left unconscious their head smashed in half dead you know girls were screaming in a state of shock. An old lady was with us alexandra michelle. She was probably about seventy five a harmless old granny who had been sitting with us at three oclock in the morning carrying a small e. U. Flag. She was also in shock and was just running back and forth with red tear stained eyes crying children children children. On february eighteenth two thousand and fourteen the uprising became a civil war more than one hundred people were killed. While we stayed here from the twentieth to the twenty first of february there was shooting all around you could hear it on the nineteenth of february we also started to look after the wounded. These were guys from the police all very young and we treated them in silence once a young policeman said but were protecting you i was kind of disgusted and asked him from whom. You know who are you protecting us from from our own people. During the uprising president general fled the country. Meanwhile pro russian separatists were using the chaos on the mind on to seize power in Eastern Ukraine. They knew they could count on political and military support from moscow. Crimea had been russian until one nine hundred fifty four about seventy percent of its residents speak russian and more than half are ethnic russians in two thousand and fourteen Vladimir Putin decided to arrange its return in a controversial referendum ninety six percent of crimea has voted in favor of it must go lost no time in using the vote to justify a land grab bringing a historically significant region back into the russian fold putin knew this would block ukraine from moving closer to europe at least temporarily and further weakening opposition at home. Which is what you do cleverly played on peoples fears the kremlins propaganda said look at whats happening on the my don theyre shooting and killing people there do you want to revolution like this in moscow do you want thousands to die and people got scared. I wish they did just as. Russia paid dearly for meddling in your crane the west responded with sanctions the antics ation of crimea resulted in the most serious crisis in russian european relations since the fall of the soviet union. Could best buy the up of. But when the consequences became clear and sanctions were introduced it causes disillusionment and a deep very serious pessimism sets in. Everyone understood that reforms threatened putins pala thats why were stuck in a dead end and theres no way out of. Our she would think to a certain extent russia is experiencing a repeat of everything the soviet union went through before its collapse serious economic problems you know dependence on Raw Materials aggression toward the outside world. For Russia Ukraine today his what afghanistan was for the soviet union back then. When the soviet union interfered in the war there it sparked the crisis to the lot. More than twenty five years after the fall of the soviet empire lite America Putin is still looking to restore russian power and prestige with mixed results musk owes an accession of crimea and its scarcely concealed intervention in the war in Eastern Ukraine have led it up a blind alley ukraine is more pro western than ever georgia and bella rose are keeping russia at arms length and relations with the west are frosty. For now the attempt to revive the old soviet empire has failed not least due to russias own weaknesses but most of all its because today more and more people in the former soviet republics have transferred their loyalties to their own countries and their own future in this new issue which this is you because im not that you know youre a mine if it becomes more normal here because if we had a better government here and better managers then things wouldnt be too bad. Ive realized i love this country and i will never leave it i want my children and grandchildren to live here. Thank you come and visit us again soon come here and well welcome you into russian style. Frankford to help watch International Gateway to the best connection self road and rail. Located in the heart of europe you are connected to the whole world. Experience outstanding shopping and Dining Office and triallists. Biala gassed at Frankfurt Airport city managed by from. This is deja vu news live from berlin north korea launches another test missile on the white house responds immediately it is a situation that we will handle the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile is thought to be north koreas