‘It’s the first time the chess world’s been split. It’s never happened before. Even during the Cold War, chess continued’.

These are the words of grandmaster Sergey Karjakin. When the special operation began in Ukraine, Sergey supported Russia. Because of this, the International Chess Federation suspended him for six months from all competitions under its auspices. The grandmaster filed an appeal, but it was rejected. ‘Foreign chess players are silent in the media. And they sent me personal messages with words of support’, the grandmaster told an RT Documentary film crew.

In April, Sergey played matches with children from Donbass. He said the meeting was significant for him since he had lived in the Donetsk region for three years.

At the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian athletes were removed from international competitions, and cooperation with artists in the West has stopped. Watch the film Killing Russian Culture.

#video #Donbass

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

The nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye has repeatedly been in the spotlight in Western, and US media since Russia’s special operation in Ukraine started. The headlines frightened readers that ‘Russian attack on Ukrainian nuclear plant veered near disaster’ The situation was compared to Chernobyl and Fukushima.

John Dougan, a former American policeman, did not believe the Western media. He went to Zaporozhye to find out what had happened. John said: ‘None of the reactors were hit. None of them were even close to being hit.’ Russian troops took over the nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye without damage. The station operates as before and fulfils its primary function - it provides power to the people. See for yourself - watch our video.

#video #Zaporozhye #Ukraine

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘People are very afraid that Ukraine will return here’. Anna, a resident of Volnovakha, said back in 2015, the Ukrainian military promised to destroy the city if they ever had to surrender it.

During the special operation, Volnovakha became the first major city of Donbass to come under the control of the Russian army. Near it, they built mighty fortifications, so intense battles for the settlement could not be avoided. The Ukrainian military told residents that if they left, they’d torch the city ‘because savages live here’.

The stories of the townspeople have become part of our film VolunTeers.

#video #Donbass

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

Congolese people are highly superstitious. They habitually exorcise the Devil from children. However, if a priest says he can't cast the evil out of the child, the kid will be kicked out of home.

Abandoned by their families, these unfortunates are forced to beg and steal on the streets. In our film, children recount how they were thrown out.

To learn why parents have their kids exorcised, and how these poor and abandoned children get by, watch our film, The Shegué, the Sorcerer and Che Guevara.

#video #Congo

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

This woman from India named S Petchiammal pretended to be a man for 36 years in order to raise her daughter. She became pregnant at the age of 20 and lived with her husband for only 15 days - he died of a heart attack.

After giving birth, she had to work several jobs: construction sites, hotels and cafes. There she faced daily harassment. So she started pretending to be a man. ‘Only my relatives knew that I was a woman. So I saved every penny to ensure my daughter has a safe and secure life’, she said.

The lady revealed the truth only after her daughter grew up and married. She received the support of millions of people, but decided to remain a man until the end of her days.

A similar situation happened to the subject of our documentary, The Untamed Shrew. An Egyptian woman pretended to be a man for 43 years to find a job and provide for her family.

#video #India

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

“How much we cried for someone to stand up for us, but no did. No one... Who responded? Russia".

This is a hard video to watch, but it has a happy ending. Refugees from Donbass describe how they escaped shelling. They are dirty and hungry. Some have been hiding in cellars for weeks. But most importantly, they survived! Now they are in Russian refugee centers, where psychologists and volunteers help them. Learn about their first minutes in safety in our post.

Watch the film Ukraine: Heading East, which explains why Ukraine began shelling its own citizens eight years ago, and how their dream of a peaceful life is only coming true now.

#video #Ukraine #Donbass

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘Ukrainians had mortars and they tried to push us out of the position. The machine guns were located at the terminal, on the tower. If they had taken up this position, they would have had a direct path to the village’. With the call sign ‘Shisha’, volunteer Victor defended the Donetsk region from the Ukrainian army in 2014.

The fighting occurred near the Holy Iberian Monastery, opposite Donetsk airport. For all the time of hostilities, Victor was never wounded. According to him, ‘God saved me, for certain. I spent a lot of time there and have not been wounded. Lucky me! An angel was guarding me. That was very pleasant!’

Learn his story in our post. Viktor is one of the subjects of the documentary Portaitissa of Donetsk. This tape is about how the monastic community became the epicentre of hostilities.

#video #Ukraine #Donetsk

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘I told them [Azov fighters] that they were coming to life, I would have shot them myself... I don’t have an ounce of pity here...’

These are the words of labour veteran Tatyana Ivanovna. She lives in a village near Azovstal. Listen to her story of the Azov battalion shooting the animals in the area and how they almost killed her for trying to save her chickens.

How they mocked her when she asked for water and food: I told their commander: ‘I want to eat, I haven’t eaten for six days …’ And he’s like: ‘I also want to’. But ‘DPR people... came, hugged me, one brought me stew, another brought me bread, and one even thought of bringing sweets’.

We turned to the subjects of the film VolunTears. They helped Tatyana Ivanovna and other residents of the village of Uspenovka by bringing them food, water and medicine.

#Ukraine #Mariupol #Azovstal

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘Unfortunately, some Ukrainian priests urged people to do these killings. They even blessed knives and axes in church.’

Polish priest Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski describes how the Ukrainian church blessed crimes in 1943. What the Ukrainian nationalists did in Volhynia would later be called the Volhynia Massacre. Poles were stabbed, their heads were cut off, nails were hammered into their bodies, their tongues were torn out, and they were gutted.

Volhynia is a region in northwestern Ukraine. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA*) slaughtered up to 100,000 Polish peasants during the massacre. On bloody Sunday, July 11, 1943, about 100 villages were annihilated under the banner ‘Death to Poles’. Eyewitness accounts of those events are in our post.

The film Volhynia: No Statute of Limitations is available on our Telegram Channel.

*recognised as extremist and banned in Russia

#premiere #Ukraine #Poland #Volhynia

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘I’m a person who does not deserve to be loved. I was, and still am, the product of a child molester’; these are the words of a man who a paedophile brought up. In Germany, the authorities allowed a criminal to take the child. Now he’s traumatised for life.

Marco and Sven were not even 10 when they got into the house of a paedophile. The men agreed to be interviewed by an RT Documentary film crew on the condition that their faces are covered and their voices altered.

For more than 30 years, homeless children lived with paedophiles in Germany. It was an experiment conducted by psychologist Helmut Kentler with the approval of the Berlin authorities. Watch our video and the film The German Paedo-Files about this.

#Germany #humanstories

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

According to UNESCO, by 2030, the world will face water scarcity. It is already being seen in India, as many villages are forced to buy water.

Our post tells of a woman who spends almost all her money on water. She has no one to help raise her five children. Watch the film H2WOE.

#India #waterscarcity

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘The children are crying. They’re calling for their mothers. Unfortunately, we cannot help them with this’.

A Russian surgeon with the call sign ‘White’ works on the front line. In a field hospital in the DPR, he treats civilians who were blown up by mines or came under fire and Ukrainian prisoners of war - often wounded by their brother-soldiers. He is one of those doctors who desperately fight for everyone’s life, constantly risking his own. Unfortunately, the hospital is shelled almost every day by Ukrainian forces.

This military surgeon and his colleagues are subjects in our new film about doctors who work on the front line. The premiere is coming soon.

Donetsk doctors have been working on the frontline for eight years since the military conflict between Donbass and Ukraine started in 2014. Our excerpt from Trauma is about Oksi, a senior paramedic. She saves the lives of civilians suffering daily shelling.

#Donbass

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

Another fake over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s health is being spread by the former head of British intelligence, Sir Richard Dearlove. The ex-MI6 chief speculated in a podcast that the Russian president would ‘be gone by 2023 - but probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia’.

But it's really too far-fetched as the President’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly said President Putin feels good and everything is all right with his health. Moreover, the Russian president appears at all his events with no any rescheduling.

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘Before, I could never have imagined a person living with a doll, but now I can,’ says Senji Nakajima, 62.

He lives with Saori, a silicone doll, and not just lives but takes care of her – washes, feeds, hugs, brings her to bed, and talks to her. Dolls are in high demand among the Japanese. Doll vendor Noboru Tanaka explains it this way: ‘When you make love to your wife, there can be some problems. With a doll, none matters!’

The dolls often replace real partners in Japan. Experts say it may be one of the reason births and the population is declining. But Mr Nakajima doesn’t care; he is sure Saori is the love of his life. Learn more about his story in the clip. Then, watch the full documentary Substitutes about people who have silicone dolls to help overcome loneliness.

#Japan #humanstories

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

Have you heard about such a language as Church Slavonic?

Agafia Lykova was taught to read books in this language by her parents, hermit Old Believers. In the 1930s, the Lykovs fled from Soviet pressure to the taiga. In 1978, geologists accidentally discovered the family in Siberia. According to their recollections, the hermits dressed in homespun clothes, used primitive tools, did not recognise any blessings of civilisation, and prayed all the time.

When RT Documentary met the recluse in 2014, she desperately needed an assistant. So, on the Day of Slavic Literature, we upload a video where Agafia writes to other Old Believers and asks for help.

After filming, a lot has changed: a new hut with a solar panel appeared in the yard and new helpers joined the family. One of the last is Father Georgy from Orenburg. He helped Agafia manage the house this winter.

#humanstories #culture

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘Azov shot. They [Azov fighters] simply shot him because he said: ‘There are people here, children here, don’t go. That’s it; there is no person’.

Natalya, who lives in the village of Kamensk, explains how the ‘Azov people’ killed a man in front of his family, who just asked them not to come close to the house where there were people. Natalya is now in the Mariupol Cardiology Center, which turned into a general hospital during the fighting. The centre received minor damage, taking over the entire patient load. Now almost everything is treated there, including injuries from exploding mines.

Natalya got there by accident. A Russian doctor noticed her on the road as she was ill due to serious heart problems. ‘The doctor said to me in the operating room: A little more, and you would have been gone; you just had time. I don’t even know how to thank you’.

Learn about doctors who work on the front line in a future film premiering soon.

#Donbass

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘You take and build something, get a result, and enjoy the process,’ says Aleksey Tsapok, a DIY YouTuber and engineer. Aleksey makes fun things like potato guns, squid launchers, and caramel-fuelled rockets. Aleksey says he’s been inventing since he was little.

Find out more about what ordinary Aleksey has created with his hands in the clip. Then, watch the entire film DIY Da Vincis to meet other blogger-inventors.

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

Mass murder occurred at Texas elementary school for children aged 7 to 10. As a result, 19 kids and two adults died. The tragedy happened in the city of Uvalde, at Robb Elementary School. According to investigators, the shooter Salvador Ramos was 18 years old. He had an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, as well as a pistol.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Ramos first killed his grandmother, drove to school and parked his truck nearby. A Border Patrol officer killed the shooter. Watch the details of this tragedy in the video. Do you think gun rights should be tightened?

#breakingnews #Texas

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary

‘I told them it isn’t for me, but they didn’t believe me. They kept beating me. They fed me very poorly.’

This Indian girl was held as a sex slave for a year. She left home to get some money for her brothers to get an education, but it ended badly for her. In India, these kinds of stories are common. Children are often kidnapped and sold into slavery.

Today is International Missing Children’s Day, that’s why we want to show you this poor Indian girl’s story. Watch the clip to know what horror she has gone through.

Find more stories like this in the documentary Lost Kids.

#children #slavery

Follow: https://news.1rj.ru/str/rtdocumentary