For centuries the kremlin chimes have been counting the hours and minutes and marking changing times india is for those who dont know or maybe have forgotten i will remind you that the times india is change surprisingly regularly in 20th century russia. In 1919 the bolsheviks overthrew the czar and replaced him with a communist government for the following 70 years. Then in 1991 after Michelle Goldberg hoffs perestroika reforms the russian people overthrew the reds and voted Boris Yeltsin in as president in the countrys 1st democratic elections. However with freedom came the economic crisis and the 1st chechen war whilst yeltsin was anointed modern days are and then his health started to fail and. This is how russia entered the new century and the new millennium. Being a documentary film director ira. Corded what was going on around me. This film is my personal witness testimony about the events of one single momentous year. From the 31st of december 1999 to the 31st of december 2000. For the freedom of russia some holes just lost for the freedom of the media. We. Didnt win the freedom of the media will be guaranteed. But. People are really curious theyve all gathered here. Well and share press freedom. Nobody appreciates the freedom in this country. You know jim was killed we know you are wrong we do appreciate it thank you k. K. By nightfall all the key figures in the campaign had gathered in a Campaign Office. Its important i introduce them to you. The only lesson russias minister of press broadcasting and Mass Communications and the owner of the countrys Largest Advertising Agency his ministry supervised all the t. V. Channels in russia either directly or indirectly. Gleb. The former soviet dissident and chief political adviser in the kremlin in the early years of putins rule 12 years after putin became president he joined the opposition. Senior partner mario over the former head of channel one russia and deputy head of putins Campaign Office she joined the opposition shortly after the election and died in 2016 at the age of 54. Mikhail kasyanov Prime Minister of russia during putins 1st term also later went in top position he was persecuted and publicly humiliated after a t. V. Show screened a hidden shooting of his intimate life. As laughs or cough was the kremlins main ideology. Just and held senior positions between 2002013 he was demoted after putin returned for his 3rd term in office. Your hero valentyn youre musharraf was Boris Yeltsins chief of staff in the 1st person yeltsin spoke to after the Election Results were announced in 2002 you must have married young daughter tatiana. Anatoly to beis was coleader of the union of right forces in parliament and one of the architects of economic reform in russia as well as a close associate of Boris Nemtsov after putins fast term his party lost all its seats in parliament and went into opposition. Wasnt really. Because of the. Cook issue dollars fish. You know. Pushing you know. Well look. We think. It. Was usually the. Only company. Because both make. You want to be here with. Anybody. When you said it was obstinate or not. To me it niall playfully but you will have to sit up if you want to have the will to nibble but i will bludgeon if i thought he was doing in the best and the given dont a family of. Need. That gentle wish the safety issue you should know that if you move in. With. Him you probably might. Mean that hes still. Going to know. Now what. She. Loves. The press conference is great these are great words when you take them down congratulations well now we should we should have a drink. With your lets have a drink and then get to bed or we should toast whose chorus youre. Going to want to leave me theres always why would it be cool to do that or do you just. Follow washington and. Know. The council who will serve us there are no waiters here you never heard from telling us it was going to. Be something our sleep was late you say we can serve ourselves i wish there was a meeting tomorrow at 10 we could not look up to know if you saw all. 3 you know where youre from. I belong to the people. What do you mean the people. The people are us the electorate so theres a in which there wasnt some of us are serious and unfortunately not all of us can gather here and some people are sitting off or downstairs where theres no table like this so theyre sitting at their p. C. s. Little silly notion that my hunger but their enthusiasm is obvious and ill ask the mitri on a told you which to think everyone once again has. More you can use them. Sometimes she says the same goes for everyone gathered here. Ill save it to you but if you did. Not know so do you know we didnt always agree but in fact which in everything was developed step by step little by little no aiming at the result were currently moving closer towards the only solution to peace in the ground you know its a. Symbol of. So i want to thank you all and congratulate you. You know it sort of put it at the foot of the mortgages but. This is your success was that its those of. Us. In the world that her re already sounds a bit hoarse thats because were all tired it was a great effort now well get a 2nd wind. Possible thank you and see you tomorrow. Were going to. Help. The t. V. Set in the Campaign Headquarters was tuned to n. T. V. Just a year later russias best channel would be broken up and nationalized immediately or hes going to disappear with the money in our treasury you know michael you. Will get it all there you leave anyone who cares. I knew. You. Were there was. A snowball that. Perfectly true social mission was a good place if you are fortunate lets hear. The story much of racism. Even now looking through the footage hi can hear Boris Nemtsov savoys coming from the t. V. Against the hubbub in the winners Campaign Headquarters i turn up the volume. And. Flush it wasnt so but you didnt get what your ship called you look cool your grandmother question wasnt too distant past. So you. Can post the issue of our Little Cottage and listen to the work of others oh yes there is just a ghost list on the actual use of personal work for you to get damned little for reading worthless novels it was your visitors to be included. In the book you took mr lewis if that were not up to the surface ships but you can useless theyre going to come to the bottom of the ocean. Or similar to the russians still going to destroy. The thats a good idea to you mr nichols ever since im so. Glad. That tomorrow i was to stretch out for many years in the autumn of 2015 the body of the millionaire lesson was found with head injuries in a cheap hotel in washington d. C. It was a bit better to. Leave and in the winter of that same year off who had joined the opposition to putin was shot right under the walls of the kremlin strangely enough most of the people who worked for putins victory and stood shoulder to shoulder with him when he was elected have today either gone into opposition whole being dismissed like Alexander Voloshin the kremlin chief of staff and even putins wife look miller who he divorced. The only person still with him at least for now is Dmitri Medvedev who became interim president of russia between putin 2nd and 3rd terms. That it may have putin took power like a hot knife slicing through butter coopting a submissive state happy. Raters ready and waiting to follow its new leader. The state was as yet still unfamiliar with the concept of vertical power the subordination of everything from parliament to the economy to one single command center was already going into high gear. Although the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky hadnt been imprisoned yet and n. T. V. Was still daring to criticize the president for example over his handling of the loss of the cursed Nuclear Submarine it was already becoming quite obvious that it was better not to cross the president the ghosts of the past were reappearing and trying to make up for what had been lost in the present soon of putin the president of the Russian Federation would call the collapse of the soviet empire the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century however. Meanwhile i went on shooting my film which was now about the elected president followed by a film about life in the kremlin it seemed that nothing radically changed during the 1st year of putins presidency just details and nuances that seemed insignificant at 1st glance. For example the president signed a federal law returning the banner of victory over fascism to the army. Well what bana did they hoisted over the reichstag in 1985 the red soviet flag of course with its stock hammer and sickle and although the trickle i was still the National Flag of russia the president ial guard swore allegiance to the red flag of our old soviet home. The new president also brought a new inner circle to the kremlin equal section putins former deputy in some petersburg became one of its main figures it was said sheen who was seen as the prime mover in bringing the Business Community to heel and imprisoning Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In would take over as head of rosneft the oil company that swallowed up khodorkovsky after his arrest. This. Separate a few out of your nose and we can. Also not have them going to myself because all of us really with mustaches she was going to do talk about. The news after rescuing. Him so yes you. My work resulted in an official film that was aired on russian state t. V. On the 1st anniversary of putins presidency im a shown in many countries of the world. Even today im not ashamed of it in fact it seems to have matured and shows a lot that had gone unnoticed at the time however i am still being asked if anything was left on the cutting room floor it was for example this. You turn on your camera again. About the way people live. Recently i was in school and some woman not get elderly but also not younger said to me. Give us back our old life. The way it was 20 years ago. What can you say to that its impossible to get anything back. You can either recover your youth nor bygone days and. Moreover if we try to return to that we will definitely destroy everything. To ensure that people arent doing worse than they did not for better. That is something we can do. This is such a candid conversation so i cannot help but ask why did you restore the old soviet anthem. At the world and if this is connected with what i just mention. It is necessary to restore the citizens confidence in the establishment yeah. But. That woman who said we should give back her old life the way it was 20 years ago. People shouldnt feel that they are being deprived of something. She has to grow old but we have to live on. This. Yes youre right we have to live on. The why do you think we should live with this music rather than that. Especially when we listen to the anthem written by Alexander Kelley you know why cant we think about our victory in world war 2 rather than the gulag. Why should we necessarily associate this music with the worsening aspects of life during the soviet period of time and. With that conversation about the anthem i was trying to find out why putin thought the state should return to the past at all especially when todays russia still has not yet come to terms with it. But if i told you it would hardly be possible to restore things. But its really important to sense that the majority of the population has a certain nostalgia. You must not deprive people of everything. This is the moral aspect and. This is what i think about when i remember my parents that this was part of their life do we just dump it all on the scrap heap of history as if they hadnt lived at all and he knew it would be very cruel towards our parents so that is at least one reason why did i do. So thats sort of what im certainly going to like. That produced the divorce medical but im. Pretty sure thats accurate doc unsubtle there is certainly as much if not not sitting outside of those rates to. Close your peripheral pushing for a few years ago to get out of her office. That it was a good recruiting. To put. This all castro under the supervision of the film director and the key to macau called fantasias father sergei who wrote the lyrics for 2 soviet anthems is working hard to record new fashions of the former soviet and present russian anthems well thats again by senior. To person never let that sink push for the court to dismiss the lights dim career. High job or difficulty of. The over the. d oh come. On was richard we can just watch over him so much over. The course of the motivation to portion of. The sticks and that i think is she may have moved into the jeffs own officials in the money underworld with him yes that he says he can only conclude since to. The fullest to. Let her sisters know and its a. Good. So we go to the is this your whos lives in the. Slum. Yes. My son has some. Really good. Teachers like you know coming in. An unexpected morning calling from the kremlin brought me back to the president s office if you can believe hello you again with the silly camera but be careful the camera is on it would. I wanted to have a heart to heart talk show strictly speaking i thought i could take the liberty of talking about it. I do not know what your goals are and i wont interfere in the creative process. Do things as you see fit im not trying to impose anything on you which i just want to state my point of view and you can decide whether you use that or not. So about a conversation about the adult i wouldnt even. Certainly know that its in the me but i havent returned to the old melody by Alexander City because really unfortunately many people dont understand history. And its strange that there is such a misunderstanding as sure it was clear to me i do not know if i managed to convey this yesterday in what was more or less a formal conversation. So the. Blues edition of that is limited lets say the restoration of the anthem way the soviet melody and gives additional bonuses to someone involved in politics in respect of increased ratings or public confidence. This is necessary in order to achieve anything that was you must be able to rely on the population. Of course you can always argue about the ways to make that happen and choose the best option to my new again. What happens if there is a dispute with the whole thora this with a president its very simple there are instruments of democracy a lot of people have signed a petition against the anthem like the conscience of the nation so to speak. This conscience does not feel for the tragedy that the people are going through. It was signed by people who do feel it and who voted for you. Will begin to assist you understand whenever i have to make certain decisions some people including the ones who voted for me will always say that they are wrong so. I believe i have to explain my motives to everyone simply everyone and then act as i deem necessary but he was who are. Used to it. So youre not afraid you will lose some of that trust by taking tough decisions that will some with the. I mean i think its obvious that the decision should be taken in the interests of the state regardless of whether they provoke a positive or a negative reaction as we can you know you have to understand that. If you can see here you can agree or disagree but you really must understand that if you really think about it you absolutely see youre already wavering you know i know what you want me to say that im wavering. No but this is a matter that could have been put on hold for now like the issue with lennon in the most a lamp. In the mavs a feeling issue of the labor code could also been put off. No it couldnt happen. To them thats your opinion others think that land reform could have been put off if they said that there was no need to introduce a new land code you know what people like that exist to do you think theyre less important than those who do not want to have the old anthem back it would only give me shit you get when you can get your. I think the politics is the art of the possible the art of possible compromises isnt it. Yes it is although thats a nice phrase that you can use whatever whenever you need to feel a part of. It was a compromise. But in this. Yes to a certain extent it is a compromise. But its still. Its certainly looks like a compromise but im used to. Things that if it gets in the eastern nevertheless these are meaningful actions to achieve a position which you can rely on to solve substantive tasks in the reconstruction of the state and the modernization of the economy so that you. Can see i cant disagree with that argument you see i was already moving closer to mine but only with a sock about our positions are moving closer and yet you say people cant be persuaded. I dont know why putin needed to convince me his decision was right when it was already impossible to restore the anthem was there anyone left to disagree with him are you concerned you havent persuaded everyone of the correctness of this decision that if you cannot persuade everyone unfortunately its impossible 140000000 people because you cant discuss things with everyone a person although i think id be able to if i could only its not possible. In your opinion. But you solicit no offense but i still dont share your opinion about the on some. Pity thing. On the 31st of december 2000 exactly a year had passed since the resignation of Doris Yeltsin and the appointment of Vladimir Putin as his successor. You would. Think. It. Was. Booting got a sea legs quickly enough and increasingly distanced himself from his mental. Vacation you think in the pool of people that play them who can play them in person a for us but we brits but it is basically not for me to write he not as a critic for the critique of the end put it thats when it got to be a record breaking 50 minute or so ago. During the year after his resignation Boris Yeltsin rediscovered the original meaning of the word family if you chose 3 minutes to midnight to the blistering to the outgoing yes the bush and putin would have gotten the word to mean it fits by the way this is the 1st year that its been more or less peaceful theres none of the yearning of the previous 10 years the feeling of thank god its over. Here dear relatives through because of the words dear friends. Stored. Tonight. Is nearing out the old year and ringing in the new you know im sure you know for this country. Would be upcoming year will be better than the old one. Will be better. And yet we are ringing in. Our rather and bringing out the old year with a certain sense of loss so sorry. For this war. It. Was. All worth it. You did a restore the anthem without your knowledge even the new lyrics couldnt save it. Because its reddish. I felt this word redish which embodied all the bitterness of this reanimation of the soviet past also became a valedictory sign for me yeltsin died in the 7th year of that amir putins presidency. But. So. Does the president have a say over a lot of things but certainly the head of state has a say over many things. Certain functions of the president are laid down by the law they are very comprehensive and president ial powers may become the determining factor for forming these functions correctly but if you live in a union as a rule have been as far as things ive been planning are concerned ive basically managed to meet the goals ive set for myself. But it was the bill that you so you could get to see. Just what is your attitude towards the all embracing unity of the nation under the guidance of the wise visionary and just that it may have putin i do believe you should. Trust him to i sense a slightly higher in the in your question. Therefore. Certainly be everything we used to call extreme and this certainly doesnt help but rather horse. Who stood by me so all the bustling monuments and other elements of our talk received left over from the past and had not to leave everyone but they are very difficult to counter that also generation talk about shall we go if. I admit despite the fact that this was only the 1st year of putins rule all my questions were already raising issues of succession of power imperial ambitions and autocracy although there was no obvious reason for this and if you listen to believe what putin said then you should have had no reason whatsoever to worry about russias future. With you watching the kids getting out of the car and buying a mug of beer is quite difficult as you can probably guess because youre always on the move a lot of people. Around you its more or. Less of someone so there is a problem with the traffic yes if i get out of the car and start drinking beer thousands will wait for the motorcade to pass and nothing good will come of it he should you dislike you so theres that but i still got to tell you all this is just the simplest example of some of us but everything is like that but most of. The would you like that. Someone used to which in that you yes and i would. I do believe that the day will cause when ill be able to return to a normal life. I do believe that someday ill have a future as a private citizen with israel but ill be engaged in some other activity and will live the life of a normal person. Should not mention. Oh well these are wonderful but stay foster a certain optimism and dont accumulate. As much of the signal and i dont sense any irony in what you say you use true and ill tell you why you know what you get into its very important and so is going with this by the way as we are returning to your question about whether it wouldnt be better to step into the shoes of a model citizen should see him on the. Im going to 1st of all the month of the life of the monarch is quite complicated shell survive but monarchs quite often in recent years in various parts of the world during official visits just give the opening of sending receive them and i can say that their faith does not inspire me at all or. At least i would not like to experience anything like that. Especially in. The mother comes because its just their life is hard and full of restrictions and they need to listen to them they dont belong to themselves you can of soup. With thats their destiny but also missed the. Trees and its forever is one of the winter homes in this respect the elected head of state has a better life than those since it gives you a chance to prove yourself in the greatest need to you to be in service to the motherland with the maximum effort. Amongst them. Especially when it was done it would have the same target nobody gives you an opportunity to live a normal life after uniform jurisdictional duties after the end zone or term signal of i mean then you dont youre constantly being reminded that youre terminal and one day. Youre going to lose no more treats treatment or mileage look at you no need to work and you will go the 1st of all have to live a life of a normal person that will and as they used to say in a way you want to shamed oh. Well i was wasnt. Global so im so that you can address people openly in your new position without of hurting your gayness and it was an ebook dont eat yourself and one more thing is very important if not it is necessary to understand that you will live as a normal citizen even and that in a few years time it goes to youll be confronted with everything you do in the states or in the society now is important there he said this all goes if you. Wish to know were going to learn you. Its a good test but should not only do so you mr will its a good thing to remember that before taking any decision rather than yielding to monarchical initial was. Enough you just maybe its because its. Washer we lapse ill put the camera down inside his offscreen that age as you can suck up he said look if you do exactly as you are saying you will do now it will become a pledge of where the future for both the country and you pass nelly and no one solution got more young going to the most disgusting epilogue of those riots you know but as im telling you just as a good kid ive sat and thought of what a rack my brains about how it should be theirs to i dont wait dont think about how your children of living future do i call the children of your friends and relatives will live it how you will have to stop what kind of country it will be. Those who say it was move a group and this is a serious issue most probably the source of all the advantages of democracy according to study late so i dont know it would be rash one of the reasons why democracies have. Democracies are more resilient you go back to new york immigrate so you know what it is possible to get. Mortgages not no idea what to say now so lets keep our fingers crossed and 2 farms are. Plenty. Going to get. You to. Hear them. Still rules russia a lot has happened over the years hes been in power the end of the war in chechnya and the beginning of the chechen wars in moscow the olympics and doping scandals the crimea and the war in ukraine and a growing confidence and getting kicked out of the g 8 war over there was emigration imprisonments and the deaths of those who try to speak out against putin and there was also the price i had to pay for naively assuming i was just a witness life has proven that tacit consent turns witnesses into accomplices so we all voluntarily became hostages of the very person who was leading us towards a glorious future that ultimately came to echo the dark past. Ico africa. Your garbage and not many construction materials. Want to. Use the garbage like old bottles to build. Business on the old home i hear. A simple solution for a serious problem. The cold comfort. Comment on w. To know that 77 percent. Are younger than 60. Cuts me into me. And you know what its time all voices. On the 77 percent be told. This is where you cut. 77 percent this weekend on d w. C play. To. Cut the trees. Christmas time double. Play. This is the news live from berlin australias Prime Minister apologizes and cut short his holiday to face the nations unprecedented bushfires 2 volunteer firefighters battling a blaze near sydney have been killed crews are working to contain more than 100. 00 fires an intense drought and record temperatures also coming up. After the u. S. Households to impeach President Trump democrats say they want questions answered from Senate Republicans before the