I'm on the move in six of the greatest cities in the world,
and I'm on the trail of their top movers and shakers.
And they're not all cut from the same cloth.
In our globalised world, don't make the mistake of thinking
everywhere is now the same.
Each great city marches to it's own tune.
My own background is diplomacy, cultivating networks.
As an ambassador, my job was to get to know
some of the most powerful people in the world,
and find out what really makes them tick.
Crime, glamour, power and influence, it'll all be there.
In these six cities, I'll grapple with the dark, Machiavellian heart
of politics, I'll witness up close the lives of the immensely rich.
And I'll get into the minds of those who really rule the roost.
This is a journey to uncover the networks of power.
When I joined the Foreign Office, my first posting was here
to Moscow, home to the Kremlin, from where the Soviet Politburo
once controlled half of Europe.
28 years later and I'm back in town, I'm riding in from the airport
in a venerable Soviet limo called a Chaika,
in the old days they used to dish them out to high party officials.
But who's in charge today?
That's what I'm here to find out.
I'll be staying at the famous Ukraina, which was once
the world's tallest hotel, built in the '50s
at the behest of the infamous Josef Stalin.
I remember it as a cockroach-ridden monstrosity
that said pretty much everything about Communist rule.
But today, it looks as though those Soviet bugs are long gone.
Wow, what a change! What an extraordinary place.
All that's left of the hotel's Communist past
are a couple of statues, and the magnificent mural in the main hall,
a celebration of the simple life of the Soviet proletariat.
The rest of the hotel is an Aladdin's cave filled with
a Russian oligarch's favourite things.
When I was a young diplomat,
I used to live just down the road from here.
And every day when I went to work, I'd pass this building,
a Josef Stalin skyscraper, an icon of Soviet Communist power.
Today, well, it's part of a luxury Western hotel chain.
What would the old dictator think?
Like the Ukraina, Moscow seems to be a city transformed.
The streets are filled with trendy young people
and some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.
And what better way to begin my stay here
than meeting a beautiful woman.
Masha, hello! Hello, nice to meet you.
Masha Tsigal is one of the city's most celebrated fashion designers.
Her clothes are a big hit among Moscow's new high society,
with more billionaires than any other city in the world.
You can wear that in the evening, or...
Yeah, you can wear that in the evening
or going to a dinner party.
Russian girls are very much into dressing up,
if you probably noticed this. I've noticed this.
When I was here before, in the old days of the old Soviet Union,
there weren't ladies like that at all.
They were hidden somewhere.
Probably they are making them somewhere,
and they are using them as their weapon.
A secret weapon Russian weapon. Secret weapon.
I would like to be conquered by that secret weapon. Yeah!
Back in the USSR, the only smart, educated women I met
were KGB agents, who were under strict orders to seduce me.
But tell me how Moscow has changed?
Oh, it's like two different worlds.
You can party 24 hours, you have the best restaurants.
It became kind of really fashionable
to be a fashion designer, if I can say this.
So you were fashionable just by being a fashion designer? Yeah.
Were you a celebrity? Are you a celebrity?
I'm a celebrity. Yes. You are a celebrity? Yes.
So that's very good. I just like your honesty,
because most people say "Oh, no, I'm not a celebrity. No, no..."
Yeah, but I'm not British to say this. That is absolutely right.
I'm a Russian girl, that's why I'm pretty straightforward.
Sounds good. OK.
Charmed by Masha, I set off on my quest
to find Moscow's networks of power.
First stop - Red Square.
The most famous symbol of power in all of Russia.
In Communist times, Red Square hosted huge parades of missiles
and tanks, but I could detect a few changes.
Nowhere is the clash between ancient and modern in Moscow
more vividly drawn than here in the iconic Red Square.
Over there the walls of the ancient Kremlin fortress.
Down there, the Lenin Mausoleum where,
if it takes your fancy, you can go and pay your respects
to the embalmed remains of the founder of the Communist revolution.
And over here,
Lord help us, an ice rink.
The rink, in all its end-of-the-pier tackiness, would have given
the old Politburo a fit of the vapours, but it has brought
something Red Square always lacked - fun.
It's the brainchild of the man who runs GUM, which stands for -
Main Universal Shop.
Millionaire businessman Mikhail Kusnirovich.
Kusnirovich is Moscow's king of retail,
controlling the Russian franchises
of some of the West's biggest brands.
This is unbelievably different.
'He wanted to treat me to one of GUM's specialities.'
It's very good.
It's original.
As a child?
Yeah, as a child. Just to the buy ice cream.
When Kusnirovich started out, his biggest customers were a handful
of wealthy Russians who'd got rich after the collapse of Communism.
Vast chunks of the country's state industries were sold off,
frequently in murky deals.
This put most of Russia's wealth in the hands of a select few -
the so-called oligarchs.
In '91, we had the crash of our country,
not any more Soviet Union, totally different.
Our entrepreneurial idea was to give something that
we missed during the Soviet times.
First of all, I feel that we are miss free choice.
You take your vanilla, I take chocolate. You, know, it is freedom.
Kusnirovich made the most of Moscow's new freedom to shop,
setting up his own clothing label.
Bosco now sponsors Russia's Olympic team.
Do you sometimes wake up in the night and think,
"My goodness me, what have I done?"
Sometimes it has happened at night. When I'm close, in my office.
Go up, I'm alone, all this building.
Not bad. Not bad, exactly!
Not bad.
Like the mega-rich the world over, many oligarchs have retreated
to gated communities, far from the prying eyes of ordinary Muscovites.
One of these communities is Rublevka,
a 40-minute drive from Red Square on the outskirts of the city.
The local shopping mall is yet another temple
to designer labels and fast cars.
Back when I lived here, it was a one-horse town,
with a village store and a petrol pump.
Outside a local restaurant, I met up with Dmitry Afanasiev,
who runs one of Russia's leading law firms,
and has represented a number of Moscow's oligarchs.
He's the very model of modern Russian man,
has offices around the world, and studied in the US.
Dimitri returned home in 1999,
to what people referred to as the "Wild East".
Within about 12 to 24 months,
I had two of my friends killed in contract killings,
and I said,
"this is going to be quite an interesting challenge,"
to do what I like to do, which is uphold justice,
and at the same time be successful commercially and make a difference.
Moscow can be a dangerous place to do business,
and a decade ago, few left home without their bodyguards.
At that time, there were two types of law firms in Russia.
The first type was basically a bunch of solo practitioners
who called themselves Russian lawyers.
They would state, "Give me 100,000. I'll give it to the judge."
And most of the time keep it to themselves.
When the Russian clients found out, occasionally they shot them.
Malpractice insurance Russian style.
So we said, "Hey, there's a great business opportunity."
For starters if you don't steal money from clients, you're a market leader.
Second, if you actually know how Russia works,
you can describe it in decent English,
you're way ahead of the competition.
Moscow is a magnet for those who want to get rich.
Thousands flock here from the former Soviet republics
in the belief that the city's dangerous streets are paved with gold.
To succeed here, like Afanasiev,
you need a grasp of networking, Moscow style.
During the Soviet times, people distrusted the Government,
so the only network of support they had was their friends,
and it was the kind of friends that sometimes were willing to go to jail for a friend if they had to,
friendship to the extreme, that's the Russian way of friendship.
And then what happened is everything tumbled and turned upside down.
Communism became capitalism, so in that big of a mess
how do you distinguish who you can rely on and who not?
And the only thing that carried through all these changes
is that old network of personal friends.
Afanasiev's network of friends
quickly became a network of influence,
extending beyond the oligarchs to the very heart of power.
The best way to build a success in Russia is to help Russia.
For instance, our law firm has represented Russia as a country
in some of the most important cases internationally.
We feel this is the way we give back to Russia
for the success that Russia gave us.
So if there's one person I ought to know here in Moscow, who should it be?
The President.
And a good driver.
And how do I get to see the President?
What's the key to unlocking his door?
Think what you can do for Russia and not what Russia can do for you
and you'll get to see the President.
And to get a good driver what do I need to do?
That's a more difficult question!
Today, Moscow's most powerful man is not an oligarch
but the country's President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
I knew that, with the best will in the world,
there wasn't much I could do for Russia,
so the likelihood of a meeting was pretty remote.
But how close could I get?
On the surface, Moscow has come a long way since I was last here.
There are nice hotels, comfy beds and no bugs.
But power, on the other hand, seems much as I remembered it.
For hundreds of years, the focus of power has been the Kremlin,
occupied today by President Putin.
He hails from the organisation that, during the Cold War,
was our biggest enemy. The KGB.
When Putin first became President in the year 2000,
power was in the hands of the oligarchs.
He soon changed all that,
returning it to the Russian state,
but there was also another group that benefited.
Ordinary Muscovites refer to them as Siloviki,
literally "people of force",
meaning former agents of the KGB, the security services and the military.
Some of them are friends of President Putin,
who, like so many Russians, seems to value personal loyalty above all else.
Touch of the cloak and daggers here. I'm sitting in the back of a car under a railway bridge,
waiting for a former KGB and Special Forces officer.
I hope that he's going to tell me everything
about the role of the security services in Putin's Moscow.
For much of the 1980s, Anatoly Yermolin was a KGB officer,
part of an elite unit which operated in countries like Afghanistan.
In the privacy of my car, Anatoly briefed me on his 2011 investigation
into the number of Siloviki who held positions of power.
But you could argue, you could argue, Anatoly,
that any new leader, when he comes to power,
needs to have the comfort and security of people around him
with whom he is familiar?
If I were a big businessman, or if I wanted to start a business,
then it would be impossible for me to do this
without having a good relationship with these forces.
I would have to have some kind of understanding.
One of those who is believed to have fallen foul of Putin's network
is the businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
who Yermolin worked for after leaving the KGB.
Once Russia's richest man,
Khodorkovsky was convicted of fraud in 2005 and remains in prison
after a trial many claim was politically motivated.
For the hard men in the Kremlin, showing their strength
has been an important instrument of power.
And while many may have smirked at pictures of Putin
throwing himself around on a judo mat,
it's part of a calculated ploy to boost his image as a strong leader.
Behind these walls sits the most powerful man in Moscow - President Putin.
This is as close as I'm likely to get to a leader
whose authority has always rested on a traditional Russian respect for strength.
That authority has come under challenge for the very first time.
My visit to Moscow coincided with the aftermath of Russia's presidential elections,
which Putin had won amidst allegations of vote-rigging.
At first glance, this protest rally looked to be an example
of the new and more democratic Russia, and to a degree it was.
But as we drove through the streets, I felt I was back in the good old USSR.
The last time I saw so many police on the streets of Moscow
was when Brezhnev died in the 1980s.
Of course, in those days, an anti-government protest would have been unthinkable.
Political opposition in Moscow was once the preserve of dissidents and the intelligentsia.
But today, many protestors belong to a burgeoning middle class
who have prospered thanks to Russia's growing economy.
They have tablets and smartphones,
and are part of an online community which is already the biggest in Europe.
I had an appointment with a woman who is the embodiment of this new social phenomenon.
Xenia Sokolova is the deputy editor of a magazine which is rather curiously called Snob.
Outside Xenia's flat, security service officers were on stand-by
in response to the protest around the corner.
Many of Xenia's readers are part of the wealthy urban class
who have taken to the streets.
'Although Xenia is a critic of the Government,
'I hoped she might suggest someone close to the Kremlin who would speak to me.'
If I wanted to talk to people in this magic circle around Putin
could I go and talk to Putin? Could I go and...?
They are as closed as the Politburo was?
It was as I'd expected.
A Kremlin insider seemed frustratingly out of reach.
But then Xenia pointed a way through.
I need a mentor, a navigator to lead me through the...
OK, I can be your navigator. Can you be my navigator? Of course.
By the time I left Xenia's flat, she had not only given me
an introduction to a Government official
she'd also arranged a meeting with a young woman,
beautiful of course, who was once a family friend of Vladimir Putin.
Thanks to my new friend Xenia Sokolova,
I've been invited to attend a political talk show called Gosdep.
With guests from across the political spectrum,
the programme was originally aired on Russian MTV,
but was axed after just one episode.
The presenter, Xenia Sobchak,
was recently voted one of the most influential women in Russia.
Her father, when Mayor of St Petersburg,
helped launch Vladimir Putin's political career
and until recently she was a family friend.
(THEY DISPUTE IN RUSSIAN)
(APPLAUSE)
The programme's over, she's doing a few pieces to camera.
She's told us we have only ten minutes.
So we'd better get in there and grab her before she goes away.
(THEY TALK IN RUSSIAN)
'My interview took place while the director was teaching the audience how to clap.'
Tell me, has this fantastic discussion, which you controlled brilliantly... Thank you.
Has it taken place in a democracy
or in an autocracy or something in between?
Well, now unfortunately, it has taken place in internet,
and due to this, I think, of course,
we're speaking about lack of free press in Russia.
Because these kind of discussions unfortunately you can't see on Russian TV,
and for me as a journalist, it's a huge problem.
This programme used to be on MTV.
But since the first issue of this programme has come out on air,
the programme was banned.
I can't work on federal TV,
and the kind of problems, political problems they do there is...
You don't want to watch that.
Because the powers are controlling those other sources?
Because they don't want people to know different kind of views, you know?
Like for me, for example, I invite from both sides.
You had all kinds of people there tonight. Yeah.
They don't agree among themselves.
I had people which are totally pro-Kremlin,
and I'm also giving them the right to speak and to discuss.
But when you, like, withdraw one of the positions,
then you realise you live in a kind of absolute world.
This is where I don't want to live. I want my country to know what's happening.
Xenia is none too pleased that Vladimir Putin will be Russia's President for yet another term.
I've counted that in six years I will be only 36
and then, of course, I can do something.
Because more than six years it cannot last.
Before the six-year period is finished, it will change fundamentally?
Well, it can't be 12 years. Come on. It can't be 12 years?
Otherwise I will learn English better and go to the States.
You know, 40 something? No, I'm not ready.
So you would say that power is shifting, moving?
Moving towards you and people like you and away from the traditional source?
Well, I don't think that the power is moving towards me.
You're one of the most influential women in Russia.
I don't know, maybe this is your opinion...
'My suggestion that Xenia has power seemed to make her nervous,
'a sign perhaps of Moscow's current tensions.'
Well, I'm a bit shy,
because I'm afraid that some kind of provocation will happen right now.
You will hand up some dollars out of your pocket. Me?
And then MTV comes out and the federal channels.
"Look, she's also being paid by American citizens!"
This is what they usually do.
Actually, even speaking English in Russia now is a bit kind of, you know, scary thing.
So talking to an Englishman is dangerous these days?
Kind of, you know, because the propaganda says
that all the people who don't agree with the powers,
they are paid by Americans. So please give me my $100!
I mean, why do I work for free?!
Most of Russia's newspapers, television, and radio
rarely dare express any criticism of the Kremlin.
But there are a few exceptions.
Echo Of Moscow is the city's most popular radio station,
with around a million listeners a day.
I arrived as editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov
was discussing the week's events on air.
While I waited, I decided to admire the photos
of the great and the good who have appeared on Echo.
Richard Gere, bringing enlightenment to the Russian masses.
Ah!
The blessed Tony Blair.
(THEY GREET EACH OTHER IN RUSSIAN)
Venediktov himself has quizzed many of the world's great leaders,
from the Clintons to Putin.
Putin.
Young? Young.
Before he was President?
Over the years, and many meetings, Venediktov has got to know the way Putin works.
What kind of a man is he?
(HE LAUGHS)
Why have you survived?
But you must have an idea.
For them? For them.
After years relying on his chums and the Siloviki from his KGB past,
Venediktov thinks Putin's network of power is changing.
The irony is that of all the people I've met in Moscow this week,
the one who seems to know personally Putin the best
is the editor of this radio station who,
uniquely among Moscow broadcasters,
is allowed repeatedly to get under Putin's skin.
(RUSSIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM)
Gorky Park lies a few miles south of President Putin's office in the Kremlin.
It's named after the literary mouthpiece of the Russian Revolution, Maxim Gorky.
Thanks to Xenia Sokolova,
I was going to meet one of this new breed of appointees I'd heard about.
Back in the old days I used to bring the children here to play on the swings.
I've got to say, on a day like today,
it was the most depressing experience on God's earth.
Now Sergei Kapkov has apparently jazzed the whole place up.
First signs, not terribly promising,
but let's keep an open mind. We'll see.
To make Gorky Park less depressing,
Sergei Kapkov has introduced brightly coloured buildings,
even ice sculptures, all aimed at making the place more welcoming.
A tough job when the weather's this bad.
(THEY GREET EACH OTHER)
Having people like Kapkov on board is good for President Putin,
as he has no history with the KGB.
Kapkov used to be Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's right hand man,
and Abramovich provided much of the cash for Gorky Park.
The oligarch's billions will no doubt make Moscow look better.
But Kapkov is also trying to bring about a cultural change that is more than cosmetic.
As I took a ride on Moscow's magnificent metro,
it occurred to me that throughout Russian history there's been a struggle between two groups.
The old guard, grey and set in its ways,
and the modernisers, dynamic and demanding change.
But what's different about Putin's Moscow
is that it's not always clear which is which and who's who.
Moscow is a city that desperately wants to stand on an equal footing
with the great western capitals.
The last 12 years have seen the emergence of a middle-class opposition.
But not all well-to-do Muscovites think that Vladimir Putin stands in the way of progress.
Tina Kandelaki is a well-known journalist and TV presenter,
and one of Russia's most popular celebrities.
Good evening. You must be Tina.
'Tina owns a fashionable restaurant in the centre of town.
'It serves food from her native Georgia.'
In Twitter I think that I'm fourth, or something.
I mean the first five persons in the Russia, in the Twitter.
Tina is one of many who prospered during the economic boom
that accompanied Putin's first presidency.
But when she first arrived in Moscow in the 1990s,
Tina had next to nothing.
That's terrifying.
So in a very short period of time you have won for yourself enormous success.
Tina believes that Putin is the only leader
who can ensure Moscow's future prosperity.
In the end, my quest to meet Vladimir Putin came to nothing,
But I think I caught a glimpse of him
racing through the streets in a convoy
which no doubt got him to work on time.
Instead of the man himself,
I did get an interview with one of the Kremlin's favoured strategists.
This is the Plekhanov University,
one of Russia's most prestigious academic institutions.
As I walked through its gloomy corridors
I got a whiff of the old Iron Curtain.
Professor Markov's office had the same kind of scent.
Good afternoon.
I'm interrupting?
Yes. We are preparing for the visiting of the minister of Egypt to our university.
They come to you to get you to interpret the President's decision?
That's part of my job. Yes.
'Sergei Markov explained the evolution of Putin's network of power.'
People say Putin surrounds himself with people, personal friends,
whom he's known since kindergarten, since primary school,
during his career in the KGB.
Is that fair, unfair? It's true.
It's true? It's true.
Markov then went on to say something which I found astonishing
given his close ties with Putin's regime.
Markov thinks Putin will be able to handle the challenges posed by the new opposition.
Is he capable of doing that?
Are you optimistic about the future of Moscow?
Judging from the people I've met,
Putin's supporters and opponents seem to agree on one thing.
He has to change the way he rules
to satisfy the aspirations of the very class he has brought into being.
Before leaving Moscow, I decided to drop by Snob magazine
and thank Xenia Sokolova, the woman who had helped me so much
in my exploration of Moscow's networks of power.
Hi. How are you? Nice to see you. So this is the famous...
'Just as I was getting optimistic about Moscow's future,
'Xenia told me about a friend of hers who was found guilty
'in a trial she believes was politically motivated.
'She seemed quite shaken by what had happened.'
Five years?
So you think a period of repression is now beginning? Yes.
A counter-reaction? Yes.
I've seen people, some who are anti-Putin and some who are pro-Putin...
Yes. But they all seem to say the same thing
which is something has to change in the next six years.
When communism collapsed, the world wondered what the new Russia would become.
Over 20 years later and we still don't know the answer.
The hopes and dreams which came with the collapse of communism
have not yet been realised, but take a walk down the street
and you can still feel the wind of change.
For someone like me who's been away from Moscow for almost 30 years,
the city presents an astonishing spectacle.
Traffic jams, restaurants, bars,
all in striking contrast to the drabness of Soviet communism
and serving a new and prosperous urban class.
But behind the glitter lies still an ancient Russia
where power rests in the hands of a single leader
and those most closely beholden to him.
And it will be here in Moscow
that the struggle between this network of power
and the forces of modernity will be won or lost.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
E-mail accessibility@bskyb.com