1
00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:07,920
I'm on the move in six
of the greatest cities in the world,

2
00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:11,280
and I'm on the trail of their
top movers and shakers.

3
00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,440
And they're not all cut
from the same cloth.

4
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:18,280
In our globalised world,
don't make the mistake of thinking

5
00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:20,200
everywhere is now the same.

6
00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,000
Each great city marches
to it's own tune.

7
00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,440
My own background is diplomacy,
cultivating networks.

8
00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:31,760
As an ambassador,
my job was to get to know

9
00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,400
some of the most
powerful people in the world,

10
00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:36,760
and find out what really
makes them tick.

11
00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:44,080
Crime, glamour, power
and influence, it'll all be there.

12
00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:48,280
In these six cities, I'll grapple
with the dark, Machiavellian heart

13
00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:54,120
of politics, I'll witness up close
the lives of the immensely rich.

14
00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:57,840
And I'll get into the minds of those
who really rule the roost.

15
00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,440
This is a journey to uncover
the networks of power.

16
00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,240
When I joined the Foreign Office,
my first posting was here

17
00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,640
to Moscow, home to the Kremlin,
from where the Soviet Politburo

18
00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:43,520
once controlled half of Europe.

19
00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,400
28 years later and I'm back in town,
I'm riding in from the airport

20
00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,360
in a venerable Soviet limo
called a Chaika,

21
00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,160
in the old days they used to dish
them out to high party officials.

22
00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,200
But who's in charge today?

23
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:00,720
That's what I'm here to find out.

24
00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,920
I'll be staying at the famous
Ukraina, which was once

25
00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,440
the world's tallest hotel,
built in the '50s

26
00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,080
at the behest of
the infamous Josef Stalin.

27
00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:15,720
I remember it as a cockroach-ridden
monstrosity

28
00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:18,960
that said pretty much everything
about Communist rule.

29
00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,640
But today, it looks as though
those Soviet bugs are long gone.

30
00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:30,440
Wow, what a change!
What an extraordinary place.

31
00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:35,920
All that's left of the hotel's
Communist past

32
00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,880
are a couple of statues, and the
magnificent mural in the main hall,

33
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,440
a celebration of the simple life
of the Soviet proletariat.

34
00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,440
The rest of the hotel is
an Aladdin's cave filled with

35
00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:53,720
a Russian oligarch's
favourite things.

36
00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:56,160
When I was a young diplomat,

37
00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:58,400
I used to live
just down the road from here.

38
00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,360
And every day when I went to work,
I'd pass this building,

39
00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:06,440
a Josef Stalin skyscraper,
an icon of Soviet Communist power.

40
00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:12,000
Today, well, it's part of
a luxury Western hotel chain.

41
00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,000
What would the old dictator think?

42
00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:21,080
Like the Ukraina, Moscow seems
to be a city transformed.

43
00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,600
The streets are filled
with trendy young people

44
00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:29,080
and some of the most beautiful
women I have ever seen.

45
00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,880
And what better way to begin
my stay here

46
00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,720
than meeting a beautiful woman.

47
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:38,520
Masha, hello!
Hello, nice to meet you.

48
00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:43,040
Masha Tsigal is one of the city's
most celebrated fashion designers.

49
00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,240
Her clothes are a big hit among
Moscow's new high society,

50
00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:50,200
with more billionaires than
any other city in the world.

51
00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:52,080
You can wear that
in the evening, or...

52
00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:53,960
Yeah, you can wear that
in the evening

53
00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:55,880
or going to a dinner party.

54
00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:58,080
Russian girls are very much
into dressing up,

55
00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,840
if you probably noticed this.
I've noticed this.

56
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,840
When I was here before, in the old
days of the old Soviet Union,

57
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,200
there weren't ladies
like that at all.

58
00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:08,320
They were hidden somewhere.

59
00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,880
Probably they are making them
somewhere,

60
00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:12,720
and they are using them
as their weapon.

61
00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,760
A secret weapon Russian weapon.
Secret weapon.

62
00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,000
I would like to be conquered
by that secret weapon. Yeah!

63
00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,280
Back in the USSR, the only
smart, educated women I met

64
00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:28,120
were KGB agents, who were under
strict orders to seduce me.

65
00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:32,480
But tell me how Moscow has changed?

66
00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:34,640
Oh, it's like two different worlds.

67
00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,920
You can party 24 hours,
you have the best restaurants.

68
00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:40,120
It became kind of really fashionable

69
00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:42,600
to be a fashion designer,
if I can say this.

70
00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,040
So you were fashionable just by
being a fashion designer? Yeah.

71
00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:47,840
Were you a celebrity?
Are you a celebrity?

72
00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,600
I'm a celebrity. Yes.
You are a celebrity? Yes.

73
00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:52,680
So that's very good.
I just like your honesty,

74
00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:55,400
because most people say "Oh, no,
I'm not a celebrity. No, no..."

75
00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,320
Yeah, but I'm not British to say
this. That is absolutely right.

76
00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:00,920
I'm a Russian girl, that's why
I'm pretty straightforward.

77
00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,120
Sounds good. OK.

78
00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,320
Charmed by Masha,
I set off on my quest

79
00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,720
to find Moscow's
networks of power.

80
00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:16,640
First stop - Red Square.

81
00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,800
The most famous symbol of power
in all of Russia.

82
00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,720
In Communist times, Red Square
hosted huge parades of missiles

83
00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:28,320
and tanks, but I could detect
a few changes.

84
00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:31,640
Nowhere is the clash between
ancient and modern in Moscow

85
00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:36,560
more vividly drawn than here
in the iconic Red Square.

86
00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,960
Over there the walls of
the ancient Kremlin fortress.

87
00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:42,280
Down there,
the Lenin Mausoleum where,

88
00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:46,240
if it takes your fancy,
you can go and pay your respects

89
00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:50,000
to the embalmed remains of the
founder of the Communist revolution.

90
00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:53,360
And over here,

91
00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,680
Lord help us, an ice rink.

92
00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,640
The rink, in all its end-of-the-pier
tackiness, would have given

93
00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,240
the old Politburo a fit of
the vapours, but it has brought

94
00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:12,080
something Red Square
always lacked - fun.

95
00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,840
It's the brainchild of the man
who runs GUM, which stands for -

96
00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,680
Main Universal Shop.

97
00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:22,520
Millionaire businessman
Mikhail Kusnirovich.

98
00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:32,360
Kusnirovich is Moscow's
king of retail,

99
00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,760
controlling the Russian franchises

100
00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,160
of some of the West's
biggest brands.

101
00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:40,760
This is unbelievably different.

102
00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,800
'He wanted to treat me
to one of GUM's specialities.'

103
00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:47,880
It's very good.

104
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:48,920
It's original.

105
00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:54,000
As a child?

106
00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,840
Yeah, as a child.
Just to the buy ice cream.

107
00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,920
When Kusnirovich started out, his
biggest customers were a handful

108
00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:06,240
of wealthy Russians who'd got rich
after the collapse of Communism.

109
00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:09,040
Vast chunks of the country's
state industries were sold off,

110
00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:11,640
frequently in murky deals.

111
00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,560
This put most of Russia's wealth
in the hands of a select few -

112
00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:17,720
the so-called oligarchs.

113
00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,240
In '91, we had the crash
of our country,

114
00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,280
not any more Soviet Union,
totally different.

115
00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:31,080
Our entrepreneurial idea was
to give something that

116
00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,760
we missed during the Soviet times.

117
00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:38,960
First of all,
I feel that we are miss free choice.

118
00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,920
You take your vanilla, I take
chocolate. You, know, it is freedom.

119
00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,680
Kusnirovich made the most of
Moscow's new freedom to shop,

120
00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,600
setting up his own clothing label.

121
00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:54,720
Bosco now sponsors
Russia's Olympic team.

122
00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:00,080
Do you sometimes wake up
in the night and think,

123
00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,360
"My goodness me,
what have I done?"

124
00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:10,400
Sometimes it has happened at night.
When I'm close, in my office.

125
00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,360
Go up, I'm alone, all this building.

126
00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,640
Not bad. Not bad, exactly!

127
00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:21,920
Not bad.

128
00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,680
Like the mega-rich the world over,
many oligarchs have retreated

129
00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:36,200
to gated communities, far from the
prying eyes of ordinary Muscovites.

130
00:08:39,560 --> 00:08:41,600
One of these communities
is Rublevka,

131
00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:45,160
a 40-minute drive from Red Square
on the outskirts of the city.

132
00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,800
The local shopping mall
is yet another temple

133
00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,400
to designer labels and fast cars.

134
00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,520
Back when I lived here,
it was a one-horse town,

135
00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:01,800
with a village store
and a petrol pump.

136
00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,800
Outside a local restaurant,
I met up with Dmitry Afanasiev,

137
00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:10,240
who runs one of Russia's
leading law firms,

138
00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,640
and has represented
a number of Moscow's oligarchs.

139
00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,920
He's the very model
of modern Russian man,

140
00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:20,080
has offices around the world,
and studied in the US.

141
00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:24,400
Dimitri returned home in 1999,

142
00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:28,440
to what people referred to
as the "Wild East".

143
00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:32,040
Within about 12 to 24 months,

144
00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:38,120
I had two of my friends killed
in contract killings,

145
00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:39,840
and I said,

146
00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,480
"this is going to be
quite an interesting challenge,"

147
00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:46,720
to do what I like to do,
which is uphold justice,

148
00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:51,240
and at the same time be successful
commercially and make a difference.

149
00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:54,840
Moscow can be a dangerous place
to do business,

150
00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,760
and a decade ago, few left home
without their bodyguards.

151
00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:03,680
At that time, there were two types
of law firms in Russia.

152
00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,920
The first type was basically
a bunch of solo practitioners

153
00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,240
who called themselves
Russian lawyers.

154
00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,320
They would state, "Give me 100,000.
I'll give it to the judge."

155
00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:15,720
And most of the time
keep it to themselves.

156
00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,840
When the Russian clients found out,
occasionally they shot them.

157
00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:20,800
Malpractice insurance Russian style.

158
00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,240
So we said, "Hey, there's
a great business opportunity."

159
00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:28,120
For starters if you don't steal money
from clients, you're a market leader.

160
00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,160
Second, if you actually know
how Russia works,

161
00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:33,480
you can describe it
in decent English,

162
00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:35,360
you're way ahead
of the competition.

163
00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,440
Moscow is a magnet for those
who want to get rich.

164
00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:46,040
Thousands flock here from
the former Soviet republics

165
00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,880
in the belief that the city's
dangerous streets
are paved with gold.

166
00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,400
To succeed here, like Afanasiev,

167
00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:56,800
you need a grasp of networking,
Moscow style.

168
00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,320
During the Soviet times,
people distrusted the Government,

169
00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:05,800
so the only network of support
they had was their friends,

170
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:11,240
and it was the kind of friends
that sometimes were willing to go
to jail for a friend if they had to,

171
00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:14,600
friendship to the extreme,
that's the Russian way of friendship.

172
00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:18,120
And then what happened is everything
tumbled and turned upside down.

173
00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,480
Communism became capitalism,
so in that big of a mess

174
00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,440
how do you distinguish
who you can rely on and who not?

175
00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,160
And the only thing that carried
through all these changes

176
00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:30,760
is that old network
of personal friends.

177
00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:33,880
Afanasiev's network of friends

178
00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:36,480
quickly became
a network of influence,

179
00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:40,640
extending beyond the oligarchs
to the very heart of power.

180
00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:45,520
The best way to build a success
in Russia is to help Russia.

181
00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:50,480
For instance, our law firm has
represented Russia as a country

182
00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,160
in some of the most important
cases internationally.

183
00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:57,240
We feel this is the way
we give back to Russia

184
00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,720
for the success that Russia gave us.

185
00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:06,360
So if there's one person
I ought to know here in Moscow,
who should it be?

186
00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:08,240
The President.

187
00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:10,600
And a good driver.

188
00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:14,720
And how do I get to see
the President?

189
00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:17,800
What's the key
to unlocking his door?

190
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,760
Think what you can do for Russia
and not what Russia can do for you

191
00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:24,920
and you'll get to see the President.

192
00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,440
And to get a good driver
what do I need to do?

193
00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:30,360
That's a more difficult question!

194
00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,760
Today, Moscow's most powerful man
is not an oligarch

195
00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:41,640
but the country's President,
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

196
00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,040
I knew that, with the best will
in the world,

197
00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,280
there wasn't much
I could do for Russia,

198
00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,360
so the likelihood
of a meeting was pretty remote.

199
00:12:50,480 --> 00:13:01,700
But how close could I get?

200
00:13:01,700 --> 00:13:06,140
On the surface, Moscow has come
a long way since I was last here.

201
00:13:06,300 --> 00:13:09,420
There are nice hotels,
comfy beds and no bugs.

202
00:13:09,580 --> 00:13:14,260
But power, on the other hand,
seems much as I remembered it.

203
00:13:14,420 --> 00:13:18,740
For hundreds of years, the focus
of power has been the Kremlin,

204
00:13:18,860 --> 00:13:22,140
occupied today by President Putin.

205
00:13:22,300 --> 00:13:26,020
He hails from the organisation that,
during the Cold War,

206
00:13:26,140 --> 00:13:28,980
was our biggest enemy. The KGB.

207
00:13:30,140 --> 00:13:33,220
When Putin first became President
in the year 2000,

208
00:13:33,380 --> 00:13:35,660
power was in the hands
of the oligarchs.

209
00:13:36,740 --> 00:13:39,220
He soon changed all that,

210
00:13:39,340 --> 00:13:41,420
returning it to the Russian state,

211
00:13:41,580 --> 00:13:44,020
but there was also
another group that benefited.

212
00:13:46,860 --> 00:13:50,980
Ordinary Muscovites refer to them
as Siloviki,

213
00:13:51,100 --> 00:13:53,900
literally "people of force",

214
00:13:54,100 --> 00:13:57,860
meaning former agents of the KGB,
the security services
and the military.

215
00:13:59,100 --> 00:14:01,820
Some of them are friends
of President Putin,

216
00:14:02,020 --> 00:14:06,780
who, like so many Russians,
seems to value personal loyalty
above all else.

217
00:14:07,820 --> 00:14:12,380
Touch of the cloak and daggers here.
I'm sitting in the back of a car
under a railway bridge,

218
00:14:12,540 --> 00:14:16,140
waiting for a former KGB
and Special Forces officer.

219
00:14:16,300 --> 00:14:18,780
I hope that he's going to
tell me everything

220
00:14:18,940 --> 00:14:22,180
about the role of the security
services in Putin's Moscow.

221
00:14:24,140 --> 00:14:29,100
For much of the 1980s, Anatoly
Yermolin was a KGB officer,

222
00:14:29,260 --> 00:14:32,980
part of an elite unit which operated
in countries like Afghanistan.

223
00:14:49,180 --> 00:14:54,660
In the privacy of my car, Anatoly
briefed me on his 2011 investigation

224
00:14:54,820 --> 00:14:58,780
into the number of Siloviki
who held positions of power.

225
00:15:43,780 --> 00:15:47,420
But you could argue,
you could argue, Anatoly,

226
00:15:47,580 --> 00:15:51,540
that any new leader,
when he comes to power,

227
00:15:51,700 --> 00:15:56,140
needs to have the comfort
and security of people around him

228
00:15:56,260 --> 00:15:58,180
with whom he is familiar?

229
00:16:18,860 --> 00:16:24,580
If I were a big businessman,
or if I wanted to start a business,

230
00:16:24,740 --> 00:16:29,100
then it would be impossible
for me to do this

231
00:16:29,260 --> 00:16:33,060
without having a good relationship
with these forces.

232
00:16:33,220 --> 00:16:36,540
I would have to have
some kind of understanding.

233
00:16:38,380 --> 00:16:43,100
One of those who is believed to have
fallen foul of Putin's network

234
00:16:43,260 --> 00:16:45,700
is the businessman
Mikhail Khodorkovsky,

235
00:16:45,860 --> 00:16:48,740
who Yermolin worked for
after leaving the KGB.

236
00:16:50,140 --> 00:16:52,180
Once Russia's richest man,

237
00:16:52,340 --> 00:16:56,820
Khodorkovsky was convicted of fraud
in 2005 and remains in prison

238
00:16:56,980 --> 00:17:00,420
after a trial many claim
was politically motivated.

239
00:17:27,060 --> 00:17:30,500
For the hard men in the Kremlin,
showing their strength

240
00:17:30,660 --> 00:17:32,660
has been an important
instrument of power.

241
00:17:32,820 --> 00:17:35,300
And while many may have smirked
at pictures of Putin

242
00:17:35,460 --> 00:17:38,300
throwing himself around
on a judo mat,

243
00:17:38,460 --> 00:17:42,780
it's part of a calculated ploy to
boost his image as a strong leader.

244
00:17:42,980 --> 00:17:49,020
Behind these walls sits
the most powerful man in Moscow -
President Putin.

245
00:17:49,180 --> 00:17:51,780
This is as close as I'm likely
to get to a leader

246
00:17:51,980 --> 00:17:58,100
whose authority
has always rested on a traditional
Russian respect for strength.

247
00:17:58,260 --> 00:18:02,340
That authority has come under
challenge for the very first time.

248
00:18:08,460 --> 00:18:13,420
My visit to Moscow coincided
with the aftermath of Russia's
presidential elections,

249
00:18:13,580 --> 00:18:17,500
which Putin had won amidst
allegations of vote-rigging.

250
00:18:20,300 --> 00:18:23,820
At first glance, this protest rally
looked to be an example

251
00:18:23,980 --> 00:18:28,220
of the new and more democratic
Russia, and to a degree it was.

252
00:18:28,420 --> 00:18:33,580
But as we drove through the streets,
I felt I was back
in the good old USSR.

253
00:18:33,740 --> 00:18:36,660
The last time I saw so many police
on the streets of Moscow

254
00:18:36,780 --> 00:18:39,380
was when Brezhnev died in the 1980s.

255
00:18:39,580 --> 00:18:43,540
Of course, in those days,
an anti-government protest
would have been unthinkable.

256
00:18:46,140 --> 00:18:51,300
Political opposition in Moscow
was once the preserve of dissidents
and the intelligentsia.

257
00:18:51,460 --> 00:18:54,940
But today, many protestors belong
to a burgeoning middle class

258
00:18:55,100 --> 00:18:57,940
who have prospered thanks
to Russia's growing economy.

259
00:18:58,060 --> 00:19:01,100
They have tablets and smartphones,

260
00:19:01,300 --> 00:19:04,700
and are part of an online community
which is already the biggest
in Europe.

261
00:19:06,460 --> 00:19:11,140
I had an appointment with a woman
who is the embodiment
of this new social phenomenon.

262
00:19:12,380 --> 00:19:18,460
Xenia Sokolova is the deputy editor
of a magazine which is
rather curiously called Snob.

263
00:19:25,140 --> 00:19:29,380
Outside Xenia's flat, security
service officers were on stand-by

264
00:19:29,540 --> 00:19:31,980
in response to the protest
around the corner.

265
00:19:41,180 --> 00:19:45,140
Many of Xenia's readers are part
of the wealthy urban class

266
00:19:45,260 --> 00:19:47,300
who have taken to the streets.

267
00:20:14,780 --> 00:20:18,180
'Although Xenia is a critic
of the Government,

268
00:20:18,380 --> 00:20:22,260
'I hoped she might suggest
someone close to the Kremlin
who would speak to me.'

269
00:20:22,420 --> 00:20:28,220
If I wanted to talk to people
in this magic circle around Putin

270
00:20:28,380 --> 00:20:31,660
could I go and talk to Putin?
Could I go and...?

271
00:20:41,100 --> 00:20:43,140
They are as closed
as the Politburo was?

272
00:20:59,260 --> 00:21:00,940
It was as I'd expected.

273
00:21:01,100 --> 00:21:05,140
A Kremlin insider seemed
frustratingly out of reach.

274
00:21:06,580 --> 00:21:10,060
But then Xenia pointed
a way through.

275
00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:33,460
I need a mentor, a navigator
to lead me through the...

276
00:21:33,620 --> 00:21:37,820
OK, I can be your navigator.
Can you be my navigator? Of course.

277
00:21:40,780 --> 00:21:44,460
By the time I left Xenia's flat,
she had not only given me

278
00:21:44,620 --> 00:21:47,740
an introduction
to a Government official

279
00:21:47,900 --> 00:21:50,500
she'd also arranged a meeting
with a young woman,

280
00:21:50,660 --> 00:22:02,320
beautiful of course, who was once
a family friend of Vladimir Putin.

281
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,920
Thanks to my new friend
Xenia Sokolova,

282
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:09,480
I've been invited to attend
a political talk show called Gosdep.

283
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,560
With guests from across
the political spectrum,

284
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,720
the programme was originally aired
on Russian MTV,

285
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,640
but was axed after just one episode.

286
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:23,640
The presenter, Xenia Sobchak,

287
00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:27,520
was recently voted one of the most
influential women in Russia.

288
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,600
Her father,
when Mayor of St Petersburg,

289
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,560
helped launch
Vladimir Putin's political career

290
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:36,760
and until recently
she was a family friend.

291
00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:39,560
(THEY DISPUTE IN RUSSIAN)

292
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:43,520
(APPLAUSE)

293
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,200
The programme's over,
she's doing a few pieces to camera.

294
00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:51,600
She's told us we have
only ten minutes.

295
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:55,080
So we'd better get in there
and grab her before she goes away.

296
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,120
(THEY TALK IN RUSSIAN)

297
00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:02,000
'My interview took place
while the director was teaching
the audience how to clap.'

298
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:08,920
Tell me, has this fantastic
discussion, which you controlled
brilliantly... Thank you.

299
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,680
Has it taken place in a democracy

300
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:15,720
or in an autocracy
or something in between?

301
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:20,440
Well, now unfortunately,
it has taken place in internet,

302
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:22,840
and due to this, I think, of course,

303
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,600
we're speaking about lack of
free press in Russia.

304
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:31,520
Because these kind of discussions
unfortunately you can't see
on Russian TV,

305
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,160
and for me as a journalist,
it's a huge problem.

306
00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:38,720
This programme used to be on MTV.

307
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:45,120
But since the first issue of this
programme has come out on air,

308
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:46,960
the programme was banned.

309
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,600
I can't work on federal TV,

310
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,400
and the kind of problems, political
problems they do there is...

311
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:55,000
You don't want to watch that.

312
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,760
Because the powers are controlling
those other sources?

313
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,320
Because they don't want people
to know different kind of views,
you know?

314
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,280
Like for me, for example,
I invite from both sides.

315
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,400
You had all kinds of people
there tonight. Yeah.

316
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:08,360
They don't agree among themselves.

317
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:10,840
I had people which are totally
pro-Kremlin,

318
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,560
and I'm also giving them
the right to speak and to discuss.

319
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,160
But when you, like, withdraw
one of the positions,

320
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,080
then you realise you live
in a kind of absolute world.

321
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,920
This is where I don't want to live.
I want my country to know
what's happening.

322
00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:32,040
Xenia is none too pleased
that Vladimir Putin will be Russia's
President for yet another term.

323
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:36,240
I've counted that in six years
I will be only 36

324
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,920
and then, of course,
I can do something.

325
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,400
Because more than six years
it cannot last.

326
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,240
Before the six-year period
is finished,
it will change fundamentally?

327
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,920
Well, it can't be 12 years. Come on.
It can't be 12 years?

328
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,440
Otherwise I will learn English better
and go to the States.

329
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,280
You know, 40 something?
No, I'm not ready.

330
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:02,080
So you would say
that power is shifting, moving?

331
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:06,800
Moving towards you
and people like you and away
from the traditional source?

332
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,160
Well, I don't think that the power
is moving towards me.

333
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:12,760
You're one of the most
influential women in Russia.

334
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,320
I don't know,
maybe this is your opinion...

335
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,040
'My suggestion that Xenia has power
seemed to make her nervous,

336
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:22,920
'a sign perhaps of Moscow's
current tensions.'

337
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:24,800
Well, I'm a bit shy,

338
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,760
because I'm afraid
that some kind of provocation
will happen right now.

339
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:33,760
You will hand up some dollars
out of your pocket. Me?

340
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,720
And then MTV comes out
and the federal channels.

341
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,520
"Look, she's also being paid
by American citizens!"

342
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:42,280
This is what they usually do.

343
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:47,680
Actually, even speaking English
in Russia now is a bit kind of,
you know, scary thing.

344
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,240
So talking to an Englishman
is dangerous these days?

345
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:52,800
Kind of, you know,
because the propaganda says

346
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,400
that all the people who don't agree
with the powers,

347
00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,840
they are paid by Americans.
So please give me my $100!

348
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,280
I mean, why do I work for free?!

349
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:10,240
Most of Russia's newspapers,
television, and radio

350
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,320
rarely dare express
any criticism of the Kremlin.

351
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:17,400
But there are a few exceptions.

352
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:23,360
Echo Of Moscow is the city's
most popular radio station,

353
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:25,840
with around a million listeners
a day.

354
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:30,040
I arrived as editor-in-chief
Alexei Venediktov

355
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,640
was discussing the week's events
on air.

356
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:36,720
While I waited, I decided
to admire the photos

357
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,400
of the great and the good
who have appeared on Echo.

358
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:44,080
Richard Gere, bringing enlightenment
to the Russian masses.

359
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:45,240
Ah!

360
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,400
The blessed Tony Blair.

361
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,640
(THEY GREET EACH OTHER IN RUSSIAN)

362
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,400
Venediktov himself has quizzed
many of the world's great leaders,

363
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:00,920
from the Clintons to Putin.

364
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:02,360
Putin.

365
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,600
Young? Young.

366
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:13,560
Before he was President?

367
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:19,720
Over the years, and many meetings,
Venediktov has got to know
the way Putin works.

368
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:22,720
What kind of a man is he?

369
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,240
(HE LAUGHS)

370
00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:26,880
Why have you survived?

371
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,280
But you must have an idea.

372
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:51,680
For them? For them.

373
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:22,320
After years relying on his chums
and the Siloviki from his KGB past,

374
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:26,640
Venediktov thinks Putin's
network of power is changing.

375
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:47,320
The irony is that of all the people
I've met in Moscow this week,

376
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:51,720
the one who seems to know
personally Putin the best

377
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,200
is the editor of
this radio station who,

378
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,680
uniquely among Moscow broadcasters,

379
00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:01,040
is allowed repeatedly
to get under Putin's skin.

380
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,720
(RUSSIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM)

381
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:10,680
Gorky Park lies a few miles
south of President Putin's
office in the Kremlin.

382
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:16,760
It's named after the literary
mouthpiece of the Russian
Revolution, Maxim Gorky.

383
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:19,800
Thanks to Xenia Sokolova,

384
00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:24,720
I was going to meet one of this new
breed of appointees I'd heard about.

385
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:29,000
Back in the old days
I used to bring the children here
to play on the swings.

386
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:31,240
I've got to say,
on a day like today,

387
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:33,960
it was the most depressing
experience on God's earth.

388
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:38,200
Now Sergei Kapkov has apparently
jazzed the whole place up.

389
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,320
First signs, not terribly promising,

390
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,480
but let's keep an open mind.
We'll see.

391
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,880
To make Gorky Park less depressing,

392
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,520
Sergei Kapkov has introduced
brightly coloured buildings,

393
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:57,760
even ice sculptures, all aimed
at making the place more welcoming.

394
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,960
A tough job
when the weather's this bad.

395
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:02,720
(THEY GREET EACH OTHER)

396
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,120
Having people like Kapkov on board
is good for President Putin,

397
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:08,800
as he has no history with the KGB.

398
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:54,000
Kapkov used to be Chelsea owner
Roman Abramovich's right hand man,

399
00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:57,680
and Abramovich provided
much of the cash for Gorky Park.

400
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:26,240
The oligarch's billions will
no doubt make Moscow look better.

401
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:32,160
But Kapkov is also trying to
bring about a cultural change
that is more than cosmetic.

402
00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:03,840
As I took a ride on Moscow's
magnificent metro,

403
00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:09,080
it occurred to me that throughout
Russian history there's been
a struggle between two groups.

404
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,560
The old guard,
grey and set in its ways,

405
00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,120
and the modernisers,
dynamic and demanding change.

406
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,320
But what's different
about Putin's Moscow

407
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:24,720
is that it's not always clear
which is which and who's who.

408
00:33:36,580 --> 00:33:40,980
Moscow is a city that desperately
wants to stand on an equal footing

409
00:33:41,100 --> 00:33:43,620
with the great western capitals.

410
00:33:44,780 --> 00:33:48,500
The last 12 years have seen
the emergence of a middle-class
opposition.

411
00:33:48,700 --> 00:33:54,060
But not all well-to-do Muscovites
think that Vladimir Putin
stands in the way of progress.

412
00:33:55,420 --> 00:33:59,580
Tina Kandelaki is a well-known
journalist and TV presenter,

413
00:33:59,740 --> 00:34:02,900
and one of Russia's
most popular celebrities.

414
00:34:04,660 --> 00:34:07,180
Good evening. You must be Tina.

415
00:34:07,340 --> 00:34:11,060
'Tina owns a fashionable restaurant
in the centre of town.

416
00:34:11,220 --> 00:34:13,220
'It serves food
from her native Georgia.'

417
00:34:19,100 --> 00:34:21,660
In Twitter I think that I'm fourth,
or something.

418
00:34:21,820 --> 00:34:24,940
I mean the first five persons
in the Russia, in the Twitter.

419
00:34:25,100 --> 00:34:28,220
Tina is one of many who prospered
during the economic boom

420
00:34:28,380 --> 00:34:30,500
that accompanied
Putin's first presidency.

421
00:34:30,660 --> 00:34:34,020
But when she first arrived in Moscow
in the 1990s,

422
00:34:34,140 --> 00:34:35,940
Tina had next to nothing.

423
00:35:05,060 --> 00:35:07,300
That's terrifying.

424
00:35:07,500 --> 00:35:12,700
So in a very short period of time
you have won for yourself
enormous success.

425
00:35:26,660 --> 00:35:29,820
Tina believes that Putin
is the only leader

426
00:35:29,980 --> 00:35:32,660
who can ensure
Moscow's future prosperity.

427
00:36:07,700 --> 00:36:11,420
In the end, my quest to meet
Vladimir Putin came to nothing,

428
00:36:13,140 --> 00:36:15,140
But I think I caught
a glimpse of him

429
00:36:15,300 --> 00:36:17,500
racing through the streets
in a convoy

430
00:36:17,660 --> 00:36:20,060
which no doubt
got him to work on time.

431
00:36:22,460 --> 00:36:23,940
Instead of the man himself,

432
00:36:24,100 --> 00:36:27,900
I did get an interview with one of
the Kremlin's favoured strategists.

433
00:36:32,140 --> 00:36:33,860
This is the Plekhanov University,

434
00:36:34,020 --> 00:36:36,980
one of Russia's most prestigious
academic institutions.

435
00:36:38,220 --> 00:36:41,500
As I walked through
its gloomy corridors

436
00:36:41,660 --> 00:36:43,740
I got a whiff
of the old Iron Curtain.

437
00:36:44,860 --> 00:36:48,420
Professor Markov's office
had the same kind of scent.

438
00:36:48,540 --> 00:36:50,900
Good afternoon.

439
00:36:51,020 --> 00:36:53,540
I'm interrupting?

440
00:36:53,740 --> 00:37:00,420
Yes. We are preparing for
the visiting of the minister of Egypt
to our university.

441
00:37:00,580 --> 00:37:06,060
They come to you to get you to
interpret the President's decision?

442
00:37:06,180 --> 00:37:08,780
That's part of my job. Yes.

443
00:37:08,980 --> 00:37:12,620
'Sergei Markov explained
the evolution of Putin's
network of power.'

444
00:37:32,860 --> 00:37:38,260
People say Putin surrounds himself
with people, personal friends,

445
00:37:38,420 --> 00:37:43,580
whom he's known since kindergarten,
since primary school,

446
00:37:43,700 --> 00:37:46,500
during his career in the KGB.

447
00:37:46,620 --> 00:37:50,020
Is that fair, unfair? It's true.

448
00:37:50,140 --> 00:37:51,620
It's true? It's true.

449
00:38:13,740 --> 00:38:17,700
Markov then went on to say something
which I found astonishing

450
00:38:17,860 --> 00:38:20,740
given his close ties
with Putin's regime.

451
00:38:48,740 --> 00:38:53,940
Markov thinks Putin will be able
to handle the challenges posed
by the new opposition.

452
00:39:04,980 --> 00:39:07,380
Is he capable of doing that?

453
00:39:14,140 --> 00:39:18,220
Are you optimistic
about the future of Moscow?

454
00:39:52,260 --> 00:39:54,620
Judging from the people I've met,

455
00:39:54,780 --> 00:39:57,860
Putin's supporters and opponents
seem to agree on one thing.

456
00:39:57,980 --> 00:40:00,900
He has to change the way he rules

457
00:40:01,100 --> 00:40:04,780
to satisfy the aspirations
of the very class
he has brought into being.

458
00:40:04,940 --> 00:40:08,780
Before leaving Moscow,
I decided to drop by Snob magazine

459
00:40:08,940 --> 00:40:13,100
and thank Xenia Sokolova,
the woman who had helped me so much

460
00:40:13,260 --> 00:40:16,100
in my exploration
of Moscow's networks of power.

461
00:40:16,260 --> 00:40:20,940
Hi. How are you? Nice to see you.
So this is the famous...

462
00:40:21,100 --> 00:40:24,180
'Just as I was getting optimistic
about Moscow's future,

463
00:40:24,340 --> 00:40:27,420
'Xenia told me about a friend
of hers who was found guilty

464
00:40:27,580 --> 00:40:30,940
'in a trial she believes
was politically motivated.

465
00:40:31,100 --> 00:40:34,340
'She seemed quite shaken
by what had happened.'

466
00:40:53,500 --> 00:40:54,860
Five years?

467
00:41:18,980 --> 00:41:24,900
So you think a period of repression
is now beginning? Yes.

468
00:41:25,020 --> 00:41:27,140
A counter-reaction? Yes.

469
00:41:27,340 --> 00:41:33,620
I've seen people,
some who are anti-Putin
and some who are pro-Putin...

470
00:41:33,780 --> 00:41:38,100
Yes. But they all seem
to say the same thing

471
00:41:38,260 --> 00:41:43,740
which is something has to change
in the next six years.

472
00:42:32,180 --> 00:42:37,100
When communism collapsed,
the world wondered what
the new Russia would become.

473
00:42:37,260 --> 00:42:41,580
Over 20 years later
and we still don't know the answer.

474
00:42:42,860 --> 00:42:46,260
The hopes and dreams which came
with the collapse of communism

475
00:42:46,420 --> 00:42:50,580
have not yet been realised,
but take a walk down the street

476
00:42:50,740 --> 00:42:53,420
and you can still feel
the wind of change.

477
00:42:54,820 --> 00:42:58,660
For someone like me
who's been away from Moscow
for almost 30 years,

478
00:42:58,820 --> 00:43:00,980
the city presents
an astonishing spectacle.

479
00:43:01,100 --> 00:43:04,380
Traffic jams, restaurants, bars,

480
00:43:04,540 --> 00:43:07,900
all in striking contrast to
the drabness of Soviet communism

481
00:43:08,060 --> 00:43:11,820
and serving a new and prosperous
urban class.

482
00:43:11,980 --> 00:43:15,300
But behind the glitter
lies still an ancient Russia

483
00:43:15,460 --> 00:43:18,860
where power rests in the hands
of a single leader

484
00:43:19,020 --> 00:43:21,820
and those most closely
beholden to him.

485
00:43:21,940 --> 00:43:24,260
And it will be here in Moscow

486
00:43:24,420 --> 00:43:26,940
that the struggle between
this network of power

487
00:43:27,100 --> 00:43:29,940
and the forces of modernity
will be won or lost.

488
00:43:40,180 --> 00:43:43,420
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

489
00:43:43,540 --> 00:43:46,580
E-mail accessibility@bskyb.com