home after their nightmare and ukrainian captivity. why would it beat me with the chair kicked me and hit me with them off. they beat me because of a broken chair. they said your cattle, you broke her chair and they started hitting me on the head again. the japanese with all sorts of needles in my ear and my nose just to mock me. and in iraq, a legislator insist on holding the u. s. accountable after american soldiers there allegedly kill a 15 year old girl working in the field with, from long scale to the world. this is our to international. i'm rachel blevins and here are the top stories this hour the 1st day of voting on whether to join russia has wrapped up that as we bring you are special coverage of the historic referendums and don bass and to other regions. ah, who's there ever and nuns are being held in 4 areas as you can see here we have done ask and no guns people's republic as well as the zap hiroshi and her son reagan's now back in 2014 dynamic. and lou got voted to declare themselves independent actor. they refused to recognize the qu in kiev, the new ukranian government, backed by the west, launched and military offensive on the don bass, which has continued to this and day. now the pictures you see here are from polling stations in don bass on the 1st day of voting. people say that they have been waiting for this moment for 8 years. here's was the head of the events were public, told us. yes, we did. m stewart. i'm sure the citizens of august, the people's republic will make their choice in favor of joining the russian federation. by making ser choice, we will obtain peace and quiet and we're going back home to our historical borders . this is what he's just right them. pulling stations here, come to people, not the other way around. that's all due to safety concerns. now here's how it's organized. there's a q of people, they enter the bus through the front door. and then over here, there's a makeshift polling booth where people 1st they sign up over here than over here because the vote and here's the was it was every ballot that has been cost so far. again, this is due to fears that large gatherings of people in well places in traditional, alongside or around traditional polling stations that they might become targets of attacks of over missile attacks by cave or terrorist acts even still lost some huddle back in 2014, to be honest, most people had like guns like had been inspired. we had a desire to get away from all of this band, dera stuff. people went to vote for independence with great enthusiasm. they were queues pouting stations. people wanted to come back to their roots, get back to russia. these i years, we've been waiting for this moment. it was and is a difficult part. and i would have liked it to have happened back, enjoyable, 14, but fight decided otherwise. okay. maybe we had to go through everything in order to reach our dream of re unification with the great russia. what i'm very happy about the referendum it is beautiful. the stork, i'm sorry, the law from smith dania, but in 2014 there was confusion. here. we didn't understand what was going on, but we hope that for would be taking him to russia back that i left her, then it returned to my family and they were here for all this 8 years fla, then who experienced confusion and fear. so now we have ho go to the thought, we hope that they will take it. no, i said i december, i felt very positive in 2014, but now i am completely happy. everything is okay. we have been through at all price nish novella must be around. the atmosphere was festive back in 2014, and we wanted to re unite with russia today. we finally got it. whipple, to the door. we are returning home, but we have come a long way. but everything has come to a logical conclusion, yet we, the war will finally end. the more that i see it. the witching. meanwhile, 21st and a voters have cast their ballots, ends up hiroshi according to local officials and neighboring her san around 15 percent of people have had their say in the matter. now this footage is from harrison and melody hobo where military and police are ensuring security, sweeping for explosives before residents arrive. but despite the potential threats, people continue to cast their ballots. yep, the shall, is the revolution. i believe that only with russia will be able to revive our region, raise the economy, medicine education, revise the industries that her son region was famous for in soviet times and give a new impetus to our economy. i cast my vote for joining in russia. my can yes, i'm a mr. finally. well together. finally, well is home with the mood is excellence, high voltage for russia for my home for my mother was actually done with session. i want to come back home. i just want to come back home just wanted a little bit more of his on his always been a russian city. they said it for a person. the native language is the one in which his mother read fairy tales for him in childhood. they read to me in russian, where now had one of the voting stations here, instead of song. these have been set up all over the city. long with these members of the electoral commission are going flat to flat house to house collecting people's votes. because despite the fact that already thousands of people who have some city in the province itself have voted, there's been a lot of intimidation. there been threats acts of terror. and there is ceases, of course bombardment of your song with, with me selves with rockets by the ukrainian military. the ukrainian side nationalists have also threatened people. they've told them to stay away from voting stations for. busy their own safety taken at face value. it is believed that they want to target these voting stations to keep people away away from the referendum way from expressing themselves nevertheless. so far things have been. com. security has of course been beefed up. there is a lot of tension, but as i mentioned, thousands have already voted and more and more of voting with every hour. several events were held across russia to support the referendums and don bash. here you can see the city of camera in central russia in moscow, thousands of people gathered near red square waving flags and banners. there was also a rally over and grows me the capital of the chechen republic in southern russia. the events are being attended by representatives of public associations, political parties, and civil active s. now, meanwhile, the western countries have condemned their referendums, calling them and democratic. this comes after years of selective policies towards the self determination of people as are to contributor rachel mars and explains. western officials clearly don't support these people in ukraine having the opportunity to exercise their right to self determination is guaranteed under international law. you as a master to ukraine, bridget brink and nato secretary general jens fulton berg called them quote sham referendums. and the european union's chief diplomat use a burrell, dismiss them as quote, illegal referendums, which are quote, in violation of ukraine's independence sovereignty and territorial integrity. and a blatant breach of international law when territorial integrity comes in conflict with self determination. it's apparently the people's will. that matters most and least that's what the position was. the western officials had towards costeo's independence. that is, after nato had bombed yugoslavia and carved out kosovo from russian allied serbia under the pretext of protecting its ethnic minority sounds. a lot like the justification for the referendums now in these ukrainian regions whose people have suffered under keams attack since 2014. but unlike with the current situation in ukraine, the international community at that time agreed that goes to those minority shouldn't have to live under systemic oppression. today our armed forces joined our nato allies and airstrikes against serbian forces, responsible for the brutality and kosovo. oh, what i'm really proud of is what we did in class. so i really found it very difficult to watch when people were being killed at pleasure to united states would continue to work with those nations that have not recognized an independent kosovo to convince them to do so as quickly as possible. so apparently, the western position only favors self determination if it harms their enemy and benefits the west. another example, what about if taiwan decided to hold a referendum to succeed from china tomorrow? it's hard to imagine that the westwood, denounce it, and argue instead that the taiwanese have to respect the one china policy that the west supports. all, all, egging on taipei provoking hang and using taiwanese chinese relations and tensions as a pretext to rack up sales for the u. s. military. industrial complex. referendums are all equal in the eyes of the west. the democracy exercise by catalonia, in its bid for independence in 2017 from spain, was denounced by most of the you, under the spanish constitution. yes, there these vote to cut the lonia was not really go. countries like france, italy, germany and the u. k. were more interested at the time in what a vote in favor of independence for catalonia could mean for their own countries as they struggled to contain independence movements on their own territories. in other words, these people over here are fighting for their own democratic self determination. but how does that affect me? that's what they were doing. as for madrid, it came down to a question of revenue loss as colonia, with just 16 percent of spain's population. also accounts for 19 percent of its g d p. another referendum may be looking on the horizon in scotland as separate a sentiment as festered since edinburgh voted to reject independence in 2014. but the u. k is new as prime minister list trust isn't keen on permitting a 2nd round. perhaps she's concerned that the result won't be the same. if i am elected as prime minister, i will not allow another. independent trust brings up the notion of family, but apparently isn't interested in acknowledging similar family style bonds that link the rust, the phone, ukrainian regions to russia. the western hypocrisy and double standards of defending democratic principles to self determination only if and when it suits them, hasn't escaped the attention of the scottish leadership. if she governs as she has campaigned over the summer, she will be a disaster, not just for scotland, but for all of the you key. there's a tendency to denigrate or block referendums that suit the western agenda. but when the irish vote to ratify the lisbon treaty, that is the use constitution establishing a centralized leadership and foreign policy failed the 1st time while that didn't prevent them from being allowed to vote a 2nd time to secure the desired result. similarly, the dutch vote to dinner a rough read them in 2016 against the you having closer linked to ukraine. but that didn't prevent the country's parliament for voting against the people's will. a year later, apparently it was enough to say that, well, hey, they were asked. so given the tendency of western officials to cherry pick the referendums, they support or don't, in accordance with their political agendas, while they're hardly in a position of high moral authority to be telling anyone, seizing the opportunity for self determination, what is or isn't legitimate purpose or at the institute of european studies, and belgrade stephen gauge told us that the western reaction to the referendum should not matter to russia. and especially the people who are determining their future. i don't see what kind of other sanctions are going to be imposed. i mean, west is fully involved in a proxy war. it is arming one of the sides heavily and i think that there will be increased growth similar to what we've seen in 2014 with the frame in case. but i don't really see any kind of escalation that we haven't seen so far. of course, the west will be very disappointed and there will be a lot of a lot of, i would say, a vein barking by the politicians that are already created within their own societies. but i don't believe that russia and especially people who live in these areas shouldn't be particularly worried about the western reaction. i think they should be concentrated on the future. i had them and rebuilding our lives and of course of the infrastructure that was shattered. and of course li, rebuilding our functioning side of the awesome new trauma that started out with the euro. my done, if not even with the breakup of the soviet union in 1991. well, keep you updated with the latest news as saturday, march the 2nd day of loading for millions of residents. ah. finally, after a long separation from relatives military personnel, from russia and the don vos republics, who been in ukrainian captivity returned home r t. 's. maria the notion, i talked to some of the service men who shared their stories of being tortured a happy day for what had been some very anxious families as 55 military personnel from russia and the dunbar. republics, sons and husbands, fathers and brothers who had long been held in ukraine in captivity, have come back home, fight zebra storms and he's a, he's in life that they returned. my son to me. thanks everyone. god bless everyone . we are proud of him. we were afraid to lose him. not that we believed we knew that he would return to her. we prayed every morning and every evening the whole city was waiting for him. everyone was waiting for him. all the relatives, his wife was very boring. we are very worried, it's the latest and so far, the largest prisoners of war exchanged between moscow in key f since the beginning of the russian offensive in february and both sides a hail and it's a success. summer long. the most important thing is that they didn't leave us there . when we were there, there was a sense that no one wanted us in our country, but you see how it turned out. our guys quickly took us away quickly, pulled a sound among the 215 key of prisoners. the allied forces traded for the men were at 5 notorious as old battalion commanders. but it was a freedom at any price. still them grew. they said that no one was worried about you and your country will not exchange you accept trust, but we believe that would be an exchange. we'd just believe it. of course, i'm happy that i'm in russia. i'd like to thank those who were involved in the exchange that it happened when i hope that the rest of all people we taken out of that and they will also be at home at the most important thing for me now, is to say my family friends wife, i haven't seen her since january 1st, but we signed our marriage certificate and i just left right away. sometimes i talked to her via video link, but basically i haven't seen her in almost a year. 10 of the many foreigners who've been fighting on kids side were also released 5 bridge citizens to americans and fighters from the rocco, sweden and croatia, some of their release prisoners who spent months in captivity talk about torturing humiliation, and also confirmed that more and more foreigners are fighting on ukraine's side, and thus the yellows begin this. they stood armed with clubs. from the very beginning, they began to beat me with a bass on unused electric shocks. then with every incorrect answer or action i said, or did they shocks me them beat me with a baton on my legs until i had bruises, as vernon threw up, understood is the right for what it cuz they beat me with the chair kicked me and hit me with the mom, they beat me because of a broken chair. they said your cattle, you broke our chair. they started hitting me on the head again. much did jab me with all sorts of needles. my ear, my nose just to mock me crash for more than the home with a veronica, they threatened me with a knife, then they threw me into a pickup truck and we drove off somewhere. another 15 people ran up there and they started taking pictures with me to pay my look there. they caught an orc and occupier took pictures and jumped videos. they lifted me by the head and took pictures, won't face the what. it was clear from their voices that there were not only ukrainian staircases, a foreign speech was heard. arabic speech was her thumb. okay. after that they took pictures with me there while they continued to beat me to put a knife to my eyes, they put a knife to my groin. he said, we will cut everything off of you now if you do not confess communion with the holes. they also explain why capturing members of the russian military and he's such a desired trophy for those fighting for key as functional. and that's at the bottom line is that they are nancy's not the am for he just analysis received money for the military present for surgeon. it's about $300.00 for officers after thousands liang, although his former prisoners released during this recent exchange, are currently being treated in various russian hospitals. if military dr. commissions decide the our feet, the service men may soon return to the front lines. raving ocean on naughty moss region. or ron is dealing with massive riots organized both by supporters of the government and those who are protesting police brutality. the demonstrations are in response to the news that a young woman died in custody after being arrested by the country's morality police allegedly breaching strict rules of wearing a had job. police insist that she had a heart attack saying their treatment had nothing to do with her death. however, the family claims she didn't have any health issues. and demonstrators believe the 22 year old masa i'm a name was beaten under now demanding justice for her. as they're burning police stations and vehicles and several cities as well as torching, he jobs in public. the pro government supporters took to the streets in response, calling for the execution of the protesters, calling them quote, israel soldiers and iraqi legislator has called on the countries authorities to hold the u. s. accountable for the killing of a 15 year old girl, allegedly hit by a stray bullet fired by an american soldier. he says this islands on the issue is disrespectful and that the nearby weapons range should be shut down. or to the teenage girl was killed by a bullet fired during u. s. military exercises near they base outside of baghdad. the u. s. embassy has not bother to issue any official apology for the just incident. the death which occurred as a result of the use of life rounds. your military drill, snow residential neighborhoods, exhibits an outrageous disregard for the iraqi blood and a blatant disrespect for the country sovereignty. the incident occurred earlier this week on a farms situated near that baghdad international airport, where american military forces regularly conduct your old family and friends, are convinced that us soldiers are to blame for the tragedy. the now houses in the vicinity of the shooting rage. and there is no amity but with her family. and then in one in the area on the army soldiers, a station outside baghdad airport sent me dot army. and she got shots were harvest vegetables in order to tell them on the market to secure your livelihood. and that all parents judge and mother, all they wanted to do was to leave in the rock peacefully. but that was in vain. there's shooting rings in the middle of our village shop, a repeal dozens of times about as displaces of populated area with the residents. farmers and their livestock, oh ever. we got no responses from the authorities except for cause to leave area. we don't like out via we endured a lot because of the intensity of the shooting, which kept us locked in our homes. recently i lost my brother who's left 7 children orphans, and now i've lost my grand daughter here. the k springs at the double standards in the western media, which in contrast to the coverage of her recent killing of a young woman in neighboring iran, have ignored the death of the teenager and her rock co director of the international action center. sarah flounders says that the location of the incident makes it even more significant. this is on ending its outrageous. and this latest killing of a young, 15 year old students working in her father's field, is just the latest absolute outrage. most outrageous is that it took place in abu great now that it's a site of the nose tor years torture prison. nothing us when a huge us great and a giant prison camp for iraqi prisoners. people around the world saw those who renders pictures of what happened in that prison. the fact that they didn't close it down, that that base continues and they continued live fire range. it's really passed fine for us to get out. the u. s. military has been in iraq since 2003 when america intervened under the pretext of combating terrorism and claims of having weapons of mass destruction and allegation later acknowledge as baseless even made by the c i. j. most recently, the country's prime minister spoke at the un, urging states to stop using a rock as a site to can matt terror. dr. either a reiterate the iraq schools on for its territories not to be used under the pretext of combating terrorism or protecting the national security of other countries in a manner that endangers with our security and stability of iraq. stress is the need to respect the principles enshrined in the united nations charter and the rules of international law and international relations. the respect for the sovereignty of states us have been forced out of countries that they were occupied by a very powerful people's movements. but will they leave on their own? will they leave because of a resolution? i don't think so. and their determination to stay in iraq in syria to threaten the whole region. years after every demand that they li, they're not claiming they're not fighting towers of, they are a terrorist force. and they're completely on accountable for the crimes that they submit. and the crimes that they submitted for years are still $2500.00 us food. tens of thousands of us military contractors who operate in a completely lawless way. and, and yet this is after every demand by the iraqis, that the u. s. lead. so i think the demand should be raised for accountability, where we've us for spawn, they don't respond with accountability anywhere in the world for their cry. china is accusing the u. s. of theft claiming it's been oh, legally ag sporting oil from syria. they so many good, where's the u. s. and other countries to store unlawful military stationing and actions in syria. still imposing unilateral sanctions on syria sto stating oil and grain from the country and give the syrian people that true human rights. freedom and dignity, china's ministry of foreign affairs says the us take syrian oil every day, damaging its economy. the country produces around $80000.00 barrels per day, but reports say that us forces still over 80 percent of that. i'm now now meanwhile, more than 14000000 syrian people find themselves in dire need of humanitarian aid. struggling to meet their daily needs. gender shoe, a senior fellow at the pen, gall institution, says syria is now facing an acute crisis. a fact that the west dismisses this by this dire situation. the u. s. doesn't care much about the, you know, the people in that country build the active to steal the oil and also grain from that a country. so that's really something i was a lot of people beyond the comprehension, but i think mostly because of the dominance of the u. s. media that dominates. so let us let us langley media by the u. s. u. k. you know, from canada, from australia and european countries to so when it is something above the u. s. many european countries, the u. s. allies will sometimes simply shift their attention to something else. ignoring what's going on in theory. i like, oh, it does happen. it doesn't, this is not happening. i'm not looking at that. so somehow there's a lack of attention from the international media. remember, even the u. n. is austin for the tension from the global power to look at the u. s . the. continue to have a strong military pregnancy, this country without being invited by the rent government under the audio from this country, stephen green from this country and the imposing unilateral function on bit for nation. so this is, this does require much, much more attention from the international randa on this issue. bankers in britain are said to be rolling again. this, after the government has decided to scrap the cap on bonuses, it's part of a plan to overhaul and d, regulate london financial industry. the u. k of new finance minister quad. the quire tank claim is that the move will enhance the cities competitiveness and world market is we did global bond to create jobs here. invest here and pay taxes here. long, long. no power is not in front. good. i know you knew who the scott did? was to push off the basic salaries of bankers or joy activity outside you. we're going to get rid of it. yes. the cap was introduced in 2014 across the european union, while the u. k. was still a member of the block. it limited banker bonuses to 100 percent of basic salary and up to 200 percent. if approved by shareholders. the measure was part of an effort to curb risk taking, which has in the past, ended up with tax pyre. payers bailing out failed banks designated to attracted bankers to london and stimulate financial activity in london. but some have accused the government of rewarding. those who they say are, are ready to rich. so that's it. who are the winners from this budget? bankers, city fat, cats, fossil fuel giants, the extremely wealthy who with a loses every one else at a time when ordinary families are having to choose between heating and eating. this government's focus on giveaways to bankers and corporations is totally the wrong priority. funny, i really thought we'd reached the bottom of the barrel with boris johnson. i was wrong. i'm not sure i have any blood left to boil. journalist option returns e says they've given the current crisis facing the u. k. economy, this is not the time for such a decision. ok, you would just listen to some voices outraged by quasi quoting the new movies for.