we believe that russia -- that this is possible this year. >> the more that russia moves to being a modern society which plays by the rules, the stronger of a partner that it will become. >> the repor coming out syria suggest that the regime there is willing to shoot anybody who dares to protest. 22 protesters were reportedly shot on friday, and others are fleeing to escape the military crackdown. this has been described as savagery. -- >> down with asaad is what the protesters are setting in damascus. people also to the streets to the north of the country, and their outrage is growing by the day. these images are from the northern regions. the people there refuse to be intimidated. the footage is uploadad to the internet through web sites for the opposition movement. independent reporting is not possible at the moment. in the far northwest, the streets are empty and many of the 50,000 residents have fled. they are afraid that there will be a hard crack down on the civilian populations. more and more people are trying to escape across the border, and they are shocked by what is happening.

business is getting off to a slow start in russia. >> last year was difficult. the state invested very little during the crisis. but now things have improved. a lot of promises have been made this year. a lot of money is being invested. we are slowing down a bit, but we're satisfied. >> at the economic forum in st. petersburg, russia is trying to attract foreign investment for a broad range of projects, like a moscow suburb they have championed as the silicon valley. the president has vowed to modernize the economy. >> victory over corruption without effective governance and a good quality financial syst will not overcome our extreme depeence on naonal resources and we will not achieve a high quality of life. >> contracts worth millions are being signed at the forum, and many are with chinese companies, thanks to president hu gin tow. but a deal to supply natural gas to china has yet to be made. >> the plans have been well received here at the forum, but a question mark hangs over his future. will he stands for re-election in 2012 or will it be vladimir putin? t

. >> ifill: finally tonight, a film about the soviet union's past and russia today. it's part of the economist film project, a "newshour" collaboration with "the economist" magazine. together, we showcase independently-produced documentaries that take us places we don't ordinarily go. jeffrey brown has more. >> brown: the story of the collapse of the soviet union has been told many times, but not the way it was in "my perestroika." here we get the point of view as five muscovites talk about the changes they lived through from 1970s childhoods filled with communist-era propaganda to their adult lives today as they make their ways-- some successfully, some not-- in the new russia. the film maker is robin hessman, an american who lived in moscow in the 1990s. welcome to you. hi. >> brown: why did you decide to tell this story this way through real them? what were you after? >> i lived in russia from '91 to i 99 and there were extraordinary changes that were happening everyday. when i moved back to the states at the end of '99 it seemed that despite the fact that the col

russia and the eu signed a deal to resume fresh vegetable imports. under the terms of the agreement, each state will have to certify the origin of the produce and the absence of the deadly e. coli strain. -- impose the import ban at the beginning of june as the number of victims of the e coli bacteria continued to rise in germany. moscow set up the time that it would lift the ban only after no new cases were reported in the eu for 10 days in a row. >> no more bad cucumbers. >> that is right. >> we like that news. russia is marking 70 years since nazi germany attacked the soviet union. on june 22, 1941, hitler gave orders to invade soviet territory. millions of people were killed in four years of fighting. >> this is an important day for boris. he has come to the kremlin to take part in the reverse. he still remembers the day hitler's forces mounted the attack. he heard the news on the radio and immediately volunteered to go to the front. >> we were young. we had no idea what war really meant. it was only when we got to the front line that we realize

russia accounts for a quarter of e.u. vegetable exports. >> cucumbers are a key ingredient in russian cuisine. this stand sells two domestic types and one from turkey. you will not find any from the netherlands. russia has imposed an immediate ban on raw fruits and vegetables from the eu. >> it is a serious concern. every country in the world would protect its markets so it does not received such gifts. >> the e coli outbreak is dominating the headlines. a senior official criticized europe for failing to control it. the european commission protests the import ban and demanded an explation from moscow. >> it is hard to tell what would have been the reasons behind it. what are the reasons of the russian authorities? from our point of view, we think this measure is disproportionate. >> russia has even been checking travellers from the you for suspicious symptoms of the deadly e. coli strain. >> insecurity surrounding gris sent stocks south today -- surrounding greece sent stocks of today. >> there is bad economic data out of

a plane crash in russia it takes 84 lives. germany and poland mark 20 years of operation. greece is the word of this two. nevebefo has the vote of the parliament in athens been so crucial for the stability of the bureau's own. the prime minister and his government faced a vote of confidence within hours. with parliament was drawn support from the government, greece could default, a nightmare scenario for the of the countries that share the euro. >> outside of the parliament, the opposition is in the majority. thousands have come to protest against the austerity measures that the union is demanding from their government. the people here would like to see the prime minister lose the imminent vote of confidence. >> the prime minster and his prime minister want to get agreements for their austerity program but there just exploiting our payments for the gain of others. does the pri minister and his government want to get agreements for their austerity measure. -- the prime minister and his government want to get agreements for their austerity measures. >> the greek finance mini

. >> russia and norway have ratified an agreement that resolved a long-running dispute over parts of the sea. the deal follows decades of negotiations which began during the cold war. this has been approved by both parliaments. the agreement opens up natural gas reserves which have become more accessible through global warming. -- the agreement opens up natural gas reserves. the parliament and has created a web site explain the workings of german democracy all in arabic. this is designed to reach the arab world where calls for dramatic reform and use of the internet is going hand in hand. >> there is political upheavals sweeping north africa and the northeast. they decided to make a new arabic language web site. this is aimed at arab-speaking people who are interested in fostering democratic institutions in their countries. >> we have gone down a complicated and ultimately successful path towards self determination and democracy. that is why we should fully support those countries that haven't worked on a similar journey. >> the web site explains the basics of the parliamentary democ

russia as well. in yemen, a ceasefire agreed by the country's vice president and rebel tribal leaders appears to be holding. some rebel leaders say they will support the transfer of power to the vice president. demonstrators continued to celebrate the departure of the president's, who was flown to saudi arabia over the weekend after being wounded in an our rocket attack. -- in a rocket attack. he is reported to return in a matter of days, the opposition groups vowed to prevent men t. to iraq now, five u.s. soldiers were killed by a rocket strike outside an army base on monday. four iraqis were killed in separate attacks around baghdad. in another event, the central iraqi city of tikrit, a suicide car bomb killed at least 12 people. a security compound was the target, as well as the target of attacks just last week. >> the greek prime minister has just been talking. he says he will consider holding it referendum on austerity measures passed by the cabinet and would push for legislation to make that po

it would depend on russia and china, whether they would put a veto on this. they could put sanctions against certain companies. i think general economic sanctions against syria would harm the people more than the regime. what i see as important is the role of the neighbors to have a lot of financial power. until now, these countries have stayed with the president. >> christine, thank you very much for talking with us. that has been our in-depth report on the pro-democracy movement in syria and the push for reform. as always, thank you for watching. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--