You. Leave. When kids start training at 10 oclock in the morning in st petersburg. Its 3 in the afternoon where you both lives 4500 kilometers further east unlike by count. Those living in russia the largest country in the wrong. Place. But russias true greatness it is said lies not in its area but in its people there are more than 146000000. 00 russians each with a story to tell. Stories full of hope and joy out of sadness and anger. On our trip through this vast country we will meet 6 people from 6 different generations. Living life. To live each has much to town about childhood and youth about working and growing a lot. About life in big cities and in tiny villages. About having children and about dying in russia. Through them we discover life in russia from birth to death. To him. This time our journey takes us from the north west across the country to siberia and then to central russia. At the cherub metallurgical combine days began with an alcohol test. Its one of the obligatory Safety Measures at this company which is one of russias largest steel works. To meet li khan called is a process technician at Blast Furnace number 5 which is bigger than any Blast Furnace in europe. Its a fiery giant more than 100. 00 metres high. Iron ore and coke are let in at the top of the structure. At the bottom it spews out moten crude iron. 13 and a half 1000 tons every day. A sub and i said whats special about our Blast Furnace is that it runs all year long day and night. The furnace is nicknamed 7 again kind which translates roughly as nordic beauty although said our young because heat isnt very nordic. The chill is if her job is to give us the smelting product crude iron. Freezer didnt thats the material we earn our money with that image being given up. Just next door to crude or pink irene is clear who pressed and she. To me it seems to make steel a material that is essential in areas ranging from construction to the gas industry. Its also central to Economic Life and a symbol of russias heavy industry. So thats the symbol then i started here when i was 20 right after the army yeah it wasnt a random decision lamplit back then this was one of the best industrial plants you could work at in terms of their pay on the social benefits but its still like that today but you have. Said very young cat provides all of russia with iron less than half of the steel produced here is export. Blast furnace number 5 seems to live brief and some time. To act out when it 1st went into operation more than 30 years ago it was served by more than 700 workers today there are just 176 of them they take care of the furnace and ensure that the blaze never goes out. And. Yeah its awful special as im a steel smelter from head to toe 1st i worked as a smelter at the runoff then as a gas worker and watched them for then i got further training and became a Plant Operator give us a time like a search of the water breaks every day and is only seen as special by outsiders for me this is everyday routine supersets that in. With an output of more than 70000000. 00 tonnes per year russia is the worlds biggest steel producer need to be concorde is proud to be doing his small harsh to contribute to that and to secure a livelihood for himself and for his family whom well meet later. And then. But 1st were off to siberia moving 5 and a half 1000 kilometers and a generation onwards to lake by con. Here we meet a woman who is also proud of her working life although it lies a while back. Stop it you. Both more each other via is 79 years old and for more than 20 years shes been retired like more than 40000000 others in russia but when she became a pensioner women retired at 55 and men at 60 since last year the retirement age has been raised by 5 years for both. Bob or you as shes lovingly called by her family has been living on her own since her husband died more than 10 years ago you may think that she has plenty of free time on her hands but she isnt entirely alone in her house on the lake she has 4 dogs 5 cows 2 calves and 4 chickens to take care of that takes up much of her day. Even so she still finds time to pursue a passion of hers these are ice skates from the 1943 can you imagine crazy 943 and i still use them. The steel blades can be fastened to her simple felt boots and they make lubov just as happy today as they did 70 years ago when she put them on for the very 1st time. Could. Be. Too much. Yes i was there to me ice means movement having somewhere to go. Well that was very very good that the credit i put on the running essence case around the entire peninsula. Lost over. The penance allah is lubov more each other of us homeland on the legendary bicolor. Vast mysterious and with a touch of melancholy. Like by karl is sometimes said to be a mirror of the famous russian song. You both says the lake gives her hope and assurance. Plays by coal is everything yeah i love to sing the songs about us when i was in. A bag of xenu the waves the young lad doesnt have to swim far its wonderful that. You believe says she is certain that mighty lake like ours will grant her unborn life at 79 years old she has just passed. The average Life Expectancy of russian women for men in russia the average Life Expectancy is 68 years 10 years less than in the e. U. But this average is rising due in part to falling alcohol consumption. Russians relation to death determines how our next protectionist makes a living we visit him in the republic of to stand in the town of team a show 1400 kilometers east of moscow. More than 1800000 people died in russia in 2019 even in earns his living with a burial tradition that is popular here. He makes gravestones with pictures of the dead. The portraits show the deceased in the hey day of their lives even makes and sells the tombstones directly next to the cemetery. All the products i make a special they hardly every day anymore still. In russia a persons grave is a place where their life can be celebrated their social status wealth and popularity. Here the dead weather cheaters athletes managers and mafia are shown at their desks dancing making music or going for monks. Its a way of summing up their lives and yvonne babin creates a memorial to them. For eternity. Uses each izing grave here with a special needle big by b. It will be due. To chip transfer growth of the software it took me a week to complete this headstone each client is different when you know one says i want to square one i dont need any figures others tell me i dont like square one so i need Something Like the if its a new another for the poor the cardinal from the 1st president through the everyone has their own taste their own vision that youre that this has been a tradition for generations i guess somebody thought it up it makes sense that the news. Events profession is in demand in russia with its aging Industrial Society today one out of 3 russians is over 50 and although the number of people who died in 2019 it was lower than the Previous Year the government has been raising the alarm and not enough people are being born in russia and the population is shrinking. The forecasts say that in 15 years there could be 12000000 fewer russians alive than today. Even babin sees himself as a mediator between the generations. The great stones of for the living there for grandchildren and great grandchildren are. Going to digital my children will have me put on my headstone to tell the next generation this was your gram part of the day of the school farm and think thats how we commemorate was dead to be formed in. Place. From the same want to industry. The fire a steel plant in chatter poured yes. Steel is hard and durable. The stuff of russias stable future and dimitri can call presides over its production piece responsible for the safe operation of Blast Furnace number 5 for several young. Theres nothing romantic about it because i feel. First of all my job is physically and emotionally demanding anything can happen so i have to be vigilant all the time we get. And things do happen as in every industrial plant there have been a number of incidents involving several young. 12 years ago a device malfunctioned and caused a fire on the roof of the control room leaving one person dead and several injured and this year an explosion killed one of dimitris coworkers. We men have always compared our Blast Furnace with a woman who has been used. You have to watch out how you approach are. You sure. There were times when my colleagues would shave before they shut down the furnace for repairs but. They wanted to make a good impression so that she wouldnt play tricks on them. At the can use them or that sounds silly. Thank you but its true. For a long time russia has tried to modernize its economy and make its industry more efficient but in the past few years its growth rate has languished well below that of other emerging economies now the government wants to make the economy expand faster than the global average. Its putting nearly 370000000000 euros into major invention all projects to improve infrastructure over the next 5 years by 2024 here president Vladimir Putins current term in office and russia wants to be among the 5 biggest economies in the world and be independent of foreign products for reasons of National Security says the kremlin. A country has to be able to defend itself to be independent. Without the Metallurgical Industry that would be unthinkable. Thats why our plant is so important to additionally we sell steel and earn revenue with it while they are studying we create jobs pay taxes and raise russias prosperity. She however takes care of her own livelihood the. Is an independent woman. I have a son a daughter and 5 grandchildren that is they live in the city. The city is it could see around 300 kilometers away and a 5 hour drive from the volves house but the resilient ice skater knows long distances from her childhood then clear where there were starting in the 1st grade i had to travel 4 kilometers to school and 4 kilometers back on my skates. What doug was going off if there was no ice we had to walk this course we kids didnt like that so much but there werent any cars so we had to go by foot. Most in the Circus SchoolService Corps photo i cant tell you how many times i nearly drowned. Once 3 of us was skating home there was a crack in the arse for the well as the most but i wanted to know where it started so i kept at it with my skate and suddenly i fell into the water. In january. And i just managed to reach out with my arms so the other girls could pull me out. My friend marcus said uber lets walk on the shore otherwise youre freeze the wind was freezing but in the forest it was warm. And so i headed home and walked in more than arrived half frozen. When i got there my mother said where we knew what i said i was it not because studying. The or finding a new boss house is not easy there are no signs or numbers only a narrow unnamed path leads to it. The nearest settlement is called b. L. M. Say its 60 kilometers away one and a half hours by car. Its a small town with just 4000. 00 residents half of them are ethnic russians the other half more yachts and indigenous mongol like ethnic group. This part of siberia is one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in russia the official unemployment figure for the country is just under 5 percent here its twice as high in places the. The eat the cake was. 50 i dont have any neighbors but im not scared other people should be afraid of me. I have a gun it doesnt shoot but i can scare people with it. Looking like it. From the peaceful spot in siberia back west to the settlement. In the republic of bush quarter. It has just 4000 residents but 200000 graves. This is where most burials take place from the nearby regional capital a city of 1000000. Stone mason event babin lives next to the gigantic cemetery with his wife marina and their children we met at the cemetery. I was selling flowers i worked in the Personnel Department and on the weekends i sold flowers. That. It was just to make money on the side. That i would. He drove up in his delivery truck and asked me to marry him. And go look at giving me a selfish. I felt her energy and i knew she was the one for made it pretty whilst at the y. Your. Event is not the only entrepreneur at the team a shell of a cemetery gravestones are made in many of the yards here and a sea of plastic flowers extends along the approach to the cemetery sold into k. s these arent guaranteed to stay fresh for long time was. Funerals are a lucrative business in russia its one of the few branches of the economy that is scarcely regulated by the state. One of these gravestones costs 10000 rubles around 125 euros the equivalent of a months average pension the competition is stiff in this sensitive business. And my work has to do with people soldiers you know what i mean at the. At the Near Post Office its not like repairing a car. Because theyre gay out of the clients come to me with their pain by crying. So they tell me everything. I take it all to heart and at such moments i feel what i do is somehow noble or. At the children pov yet still mel they dont have time for nobility. At Blast Furnace number 5 dimitri con cause night shift is coming to an end. He takes a pragmatic view of his work to be slower than your boy in which the plant didnt exist my life would be a lot harder than yes im healthy and i have a good head on my shoulders and you realize that what the law i could travel and earn money elsewhere but it would be more difficult. Id have to search a lot and move often. Not that everything here has been easy theres the i pad to work hard every year to get a raise those who know me. Many people in chappaqua vs think like dmitri nearly one 5th of russias steel is produced here more than 35000 of the citys 315000 residents are employed in the steel business they earn an average 70000 roubles a month the equivalent of 900 euros nearly double what people are in in many other professions here in china pontiacs. To go at the the stable incomes and social benefits here are the reason people are peaceful the business agree with the word that you would theres no unrest or protest here. We have any piece of them near the worst mr people around here earn a decent living for their work and they can account on getting their pay tomorrow and the day after hes up to the business of the scene there. But not all russian see their future so optimistically Living Standards are going down in the country 13. 5 percent of the population lives below the poverty line thats nearly 20000000 people according to a study by an independent only institute and 2019 more than half of 18 to 24 year olds want to leave the country more than at any time in the last decade but dimitri can cough says its not an issue for his children. Im sure that i can paper my son if he wants to study at university. And i can look after my wife and daughter. What does this situation look like for older people russia has more than 46000000 retirees receive an average pension of 15000 rubles a month or 180 euros for many about especially in the cities thats hardly enough to survive on. Others like the new bob murray child of our say they cant complain the cost of living is lower in the countryside than in big towns. And barbara certainly doesnt have to pay for water when the sun is up she gets her from lake by car the oldest and deepest freshwater reservoir on earth. Look at the stones. And the water in the lake is so clean that you can drink it directly. In the scott says just i dont have time to be over but theres always something that needs doing. But im not as strong as i used to be i have back pains from the hard work. Carrying water and shoveling out the manure is hard warble warble and there was a bit right. For half a century of moderate child of out worked in a large factory. Like dimitri in a steel mill in china pov yet she learned several technical professions on the job. He worked as a puncher a welder a mother operator and later as a production and. Hand you know there you are you dirty old things. Were worried you might matilda come here my darling. Anyway are. You bored for members her working life in the soviet union as the happiest years of her life. Shes not alone in feeling that way nostalgia for soviet times is widespread in russia at the moment. A recent independent study found that 75 percent of russians you the soviet era as the greatest period in russian history. Oh well you. Know it hurts my ribs a collapsing whats the matter come on off egypt where were you. The moocher always shows up at meal times. And so do her friends. But. They. End it. And. Then. We leave this slice of bucolic life in siberia and return to the place where death is part of daily routine to the entrepreneurs at the cemetery. One of the rituals here is the open coffin it enables the relatives to see the face of the deceased for the last time. If it was. I feel comfy the final route to the graveyard is lined with small pine branches. It was. An. Event babin is familiar with all the rituals but where he works things are loud and busy. Several of the graves at the team of a cemetery are being remodeled. Well done other. Than what i. Want but. Theres a real base here to me that may cause them with one or the other what this job isnt for everyone because you think whats special about it its just a building site with cement but ive had colleagues who had to quit after one day it was immaterial in most schools and to business news. This was something mystical about any mystical. Mystical is a word which doesnt carry much meaning for the former factory employee and atheist new ball of morning. I thought to. Myself i think. Id like to. Discuss thank you. So what i know to be rubbish. Once rubbish all of that with the church and all that the priests dressed in gold and silver its not for me i can stand all of that. Worldly Golden Fleece you but elsewhere the Russian Orthodox church is experiencing a rebirth after decades of suppression in the soviet era. 65 percent of russians surveyed say they consider themselves believers. Church leaders claim that number is more like 80 percent in any case the strict conservative worldview of orthodox christianity is gaining influence in russian society. Is why she wanted to use it. To. Severe. War with the world. The lord have mercy is the central prayer in the Divine Liturgy Services can last for several hours. While all the all. Going to war. Was on. Her. Leg it is if you think about it logically theres nothing up there. Your soul doesnt fly up to heaven. You die any written by once. And that means dealing with. That means live with a clear conscience live on a sleigh and dont harm anyone then everything will be fine everything will be fine. With us. Dmitri can carve says he lives in harmony with his conscience and with the state he believes in a strong russia and in bloody mary puton whom he considers a strong president. Putin has governed russia for 20 years and he continues to be the countrys most popular politician. So i. Saw him. Yeah you know i respect. First of all hes a real man like me. I have a mans job in a team of real men here in russia a real man is someone who is reliable and every aspect of life someone you can depend on. Someone who pursues their goals. Love this different i love my wife and my daughter but i respect i respect him for his insurance his resilience and his voice spoke with you. Alongside that praise for Vladimir Putin the man neatly can carve has a few critical words for russian politics. But. I dont want to go into geopolitical details about the reunification of certain parts of the land or other actions abroad yet. We have enough problems in russia itself like our dying bill is for developing our farming. I dont want us to import cucumbers from china we should grow them ourselves like in soviet times will see a story. But dimitri does not want russia to be isolated from the outside world like in soviet times and he does not want that for his children. After a few generations time will be friends with other countries so he and it will respect each other. In this place which stands for past there are also thoughts about the future. At the moment in the Municipal Cemetery and. Its about the fate of an old gravestone which yvonne bobbin is replacing with a new one off and the families of the dead can only afford modest headstones immediately after the burial later they are replaced by costly or fancier versions the old ones are broken up and placed inside the graves. About a quarter of the old headstone belongs in the ground. There it needs to stay in the grave. From. The new you cant just throw it into the trash heap right on. Russians on a believers in a study carried out in 201742 percent of those questioned said they believed in life after death its no wonder that many people have a special relationship with cemeteries. A graveyard is a holy place. But theres no need to be afraid. Old boy oh boy you should be afraid in the c. C. Not here not by a. Committee. But over in the steelmaking city have chanderpaul vs dimitri con com also doesnt seem afraid. On the contrary he has found happiness here in his professional and his personal life. Was the signal to do is set up a new cold war time moved here in 1997 with a single back of his and now thanks to my job i have everything that you need to be happy. Car partners just. Have a wonderful family and healthy children and relatives. See me i want to stress that so i think im a happy man one. My family is happy too. We live in a good country and life is good in some. Way come 7 over the governor was a mug or just some of. Your stale gradually. Read the way out. That you 7 have already seen share. By. Your birth mother a Childrens Home is a mixture of apartment and gotcha she has everything to make her happy according to dimitris definition. And more. About the am well acquainted. Cream cheese and meat and this fish in the lake. Between gravestones and balloons to visit yvonne babin and his family is to experience a blurring of the border between his professional life and his personal mission and that is what makes him feel fulfilled. Long as both you look at the pressures on a sleep i feel that my work brings me. Closer to god. That might have been an excellent final statement for our film if it hadnt been challenged by the license from him pragmatism of your boss or the child of. From lake baikal. Hes fluid you get good some people are never satisfied they think everything is bad you know what the you know the good one wants a lot of money another needs a palace to live in to the ski just 3 planks on a roof a person doesnt need more than that look you know that were all going to die one way or another even if you live in a palace yours. And that ends our encounter with russia and 6 generations of russians between birth and death weve heard their stories full of joy and hope ups and downs stories full of life. Enter the conflict team sebastian. Lebanese Hezbollah Movement is condemned as a terrorist group by many countries but it also has a powerful political face with seats in parliament and government my guess is weak from beirut as one of its politicians even who saw week how does the self named party of god reconcile its very different activities conflicts. Her own right around 30 minutes t w. I was here when i arrived here i slept with 6 people in a room for joy and similar it was hard as for. I even got white hair. Jim language. This keeps me and they tell me to entrust the lives of say you want to their story. Her fighting and reliable information for margaret. It is for me. Its for. Beethoven it is for. Her. And beethoven is for. Beethoven is for everyone. Beethoven 2020. 150th anniversary here on d w. This is the w. News live from berlin one of russias top film and theater directors found guilty of a bestselling public funds carol sarah brainy call for now faces a possible 6 years in jail hes called the charges of sars and the case has brussels for russias cultural community. Also coming up summers here turkeys beaches are already