1 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,360 At first glance this city is much like any other great capital, 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:13,280 but Moscow is even more about money and glitz than I'd imagined. 3 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,520 Arkady Novikov is at all the posh parties. 4 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,720 He was once turned down for a job in the kitchens at McDonald's. 5 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:33,800 Now he owns more than 100 chic restaurants, and knows everyone that matters. 6 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:35,960 He is, as they say, "The Man". 7 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,800 This bash is for Madonna, who's in town for a megaconcert. 8 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,920 In the scrum of minders and paparazzi, just a glimpse of the lady herself. 9 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,360 This city worships the rich and famous. 10 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:35,160 This is my first visit to Moscow since the collapse of communism. 11 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:41,120 No prizes for recognising this as Red Square. 12 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:46,040 St Basil's down there and here, the Kremlin, which for me 13 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:52,360 still is always associated with the Soviet Union, what President Reagan used to call "the evil empire". 14 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,480 This was the enemy, the threat in the nuclear age, and I still 15 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:01,320 have that sort of odd sensation when I'm standing here looking at it now. 16 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,200 On the outside, there's little change, 17 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:12,000 but behind the historic facade, it's a very different world. 18 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:26,440 The famous department store, Gum, used to be exceptionally gloomy, now look at it. 19 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:37,040 But my purpose on this trip is not to binge on bling, but to find out 20 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:43,160 how much has changed away from the capital of conspicuous consumption, 21 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,320 though I can't resist one last taste of it. 22 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:55,200 Arkady Novikov has invited me and my fluent-in-Russian producer, Teresa, to visit one of his restaurants. 23 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,480 Lots of beautiful girls he says, as you'll see. Lots of beautiful girls. 24 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,680 What sort of prices do you pay in this restaurant for a meal? 25 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,360 HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN 26 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,560 Mm-hm. Roughly 50 for a... 50. ..for a lunch, you know, for a good lunch. 27 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:17,080 The restaurants favoured by the "in crowd" are also said to be watering holes for the rich and wicked, 28 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:22,800 where they and the politicians scheme and scam, over some of the best food you can get anywhere. 29 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:24,920 Arkady will have none of it. 30 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,280 "Look around you", he insists, "they're really nice people, 31 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,800 "ordinary people, maybe it happens but it could happen anywhere. 32 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,680 "Every family has its black sheep", he says. 33 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:45,040 "For that matter you could find the same thing in western restaurants." 34 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,720 You've now got 100 restaurants, how long before you're at 200? 35 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,360 TERESA TRANSLATES 36 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,360 HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN 37 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:01,040 It's all up to God. 38 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:02,560 What's the secret? 39 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:09,640 You have to be professional and work a lot. 40 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:17,320 Arkady is a very rich man because he's touched a new Russian nerve. 41 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,960 Muscovites spend as if there's no tomorrow, 42 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:25,200 and the city is now the most expensive in the world. 43 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,400 An absurd sight! 44 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,200 The nation's capital has a real buzz. 45 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:36,320 However, I'm in search of another Russia beyond Moscow, 46 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,360 that Russia where the great majority live. 47 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:53,680 Moscow going south, I feel a bit like a schoolboy, I've got my money, 48 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,720 just go and try and get a ticket and hope that I get the right train. 49 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,160 I think it's platform nine or train nine. We'll see. 50 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:05,600 Is that right? 51 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,040 Great. 52 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,160 Spasiba. 53 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,040 I'm getting better. At least I can do "spasiba". 54 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,360 Some of these trains are more than a kilometre in length, and of course 55 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:22,440 my carriage has to be right at the end. 56 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,040 I've got a couple of minutes. 57 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:34,240 Phew, made it. 58 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:42,000 A tremendously good smell of food. 59 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,160 A little smell of food and a little bit of bodies as well. 60 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:00,520 I had a three-hour journey ahead of me. 61 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:02,040 Time for a good read... 62 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:05,360 ..or so I thought. 63 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:06,880 Book...? 64 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:08,880 Yeah, well I'm reading this book. 65 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,560 It's a very famous Russian book called... 66 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,000 Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. 67 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,200 Ahh. You know Tolstoy? Great man. 68 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,320 Tolstoy. Yeah, he's a great man. 69 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:25,320 It's one of the intriguing things about travelling by train 70 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,280 is that you do have these totally incomprehensible conversations. 71 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:32,160 Sometimes - I don't want to cast any aspersions - 72 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:37,680 with individuals who've had a drop or more of liquor. 73 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:39,560 'They're migrant workers. 74 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,760 'Moscow sucks them in and spits them out in their thousands of thousands. 75 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:45,280 'No wonder they drink.' 76 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:49,320 Very good. 77 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,960 'I needed help. Teresa to the rescue.' 78 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,920 That's his brother up here. 79 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:56,920 He's already drunk. Yes. 80 00:06:56,920 --> 00:06:59,840 Let him sleep, he says. Yeah. 81 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:02,120 'My new companion is a labourer. 82 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:07,800 'He comes from Ukraine, but his home town can't provide anything like the wages in Moscow. 83 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:12,640 'It may be tough in the capital, but there ARE compensations.' 84 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:17,960 There's lots of everything, lots of... Lots of everything. Sights, lots of attractions... 85 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,800 Mm-hm. He likes all those games, you know, you can have, 86 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:25,360 like firing rangers 87 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:30,000 and all those sort of like, amusement parks. Karaoke. 88 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,120 Karaoke. Do you do Karaoke? 89 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:37,520 Yeah, he does, yeah, easy-peasy. 90 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:39,640 He loves that kind of thing. 91 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,240 Very good to meet you. Very nice to talk to you, thank you. 92 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:48,240 I'll have one more. 93 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:50,360 One little bit more. 94 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:56,560 'Back to my book again.' 95 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,840 I'm re-reading my favourite of all novels. 96 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:09,200 I first read it over 40 years ago and I loved it then, and it's just as good today. 97 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,760 It has those famous opening words. 98 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:19,400 "Happy families are all alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". 99 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:24,000 It is, of course, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. 100 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,440 It is a sensational work of genius 101 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:32,560 and I'm going to soon be where he wrote this book, 102 00:08:32,560 --> 00:08:37,720 at his home, on his estate, a place called Yasnaya Polyana. 103 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:54,000 Yasnaya Polyana is a shrine to Russia's greatest writer. 104 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:03,160 Tolstoy is revered not only for his literary genius, 105 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,360 but because he saw into the very soul of the Russian people. 106 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:12,360 The Bolsheviks preserved his estate for the nation, 107 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:17,120 although he actually believed in anarchism, not communism. 108 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:18,880 You must be Alana, yes? 109 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:20,960 Alana. Alana, I'm Jonathan. 110 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:22,840 Hi. Hi. 111 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:24,440 These on first, yes? Yes. 112 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,440 That's very important that you have them. Of course. 113 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:32,160 Well, presumably you have a lot of people treading through the house. 114 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,880 Yeah, we have around 150,000 visitors a year. 115 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:38,240 150,000? Wow. 116 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,640 You can go round so many houses and it's sort of 117 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:57,120 nearly the same or there's other work, but this is exactly the same. 118 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,760 The shelving there, the desk and him sitting... 119 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:05,240 In this little... Right there, and that sofa's still there and even the photographs, still the same. 120 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:06,840 That's completely brilliant. 121 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:09,720 And by the way, the black couch on which he was born. 122 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,840 That was a family tradition, that all the children were to be born on this couch. 123 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,560 On the couch, he insisted, didn't he? All his children were born on the couch. 124 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:20,280 Yes, and some of his grandchildren even. 125 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:25,480 This is his bedroom? His bedroom, yes. How extraordinary. 126 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,320 And here is Tolstoy's famous blouse called Tolstovka. 127 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:30,440 Oh, yes. Can I touch it? 128 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:34,400 Well, actually people are not supposed to, but you can, I think. 129 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:40,720 So I'm breaking... So, that's the smock that we see him in so many times in those portraits. 130 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:49,680 Late in life, Tolstoy became even more renowned as a radical thinker than for his novels. 131 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:55,360 He was feared by the Czarist authorities, but he was held in awe and impossible to silence. 132 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,160 He was also an iconoclast. 133 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:05,600 Though his Christian faith was profound, he rejected the doctrines 134 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:10,240 of the Orthodox Church, for which mortal sin he was excommunicated. 135 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,680 Tolstoy believed the peasants to have a God-given nobility 136 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:20,520 and his descendant is recreating Yasnaya Polyana 137 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:24,600 according to principles he thinks the great man would have endorsed. 138 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,720 This is the kind of thing I absolutely love - 139 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,960 I think I've just had Tolstoyan fantasies ever since I was a child, 140 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,120 which is why Anna Karenina meant so much. 141 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,880 The key figure in Anna Karenina, based on Tolstoy's autobiographical Levin, 142 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:48,920 was actually someone who loved farming, he loved travelling, he loved thinking, 143 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:55,360 he loved communicating, he was a complex, difficult person and my sort of Tolstoyan fantasy 144 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,000 is that you can be a landed gentleman, 145 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,200 you can pretend you can work hard as a peasant at the same time, 146 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:08,040 but it really sort of gets me here, and coming here is exactly what I thought it would be like. 147 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,680 Tolstoy was buried in the heart of his estate. 148 00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:20,880 His quiet grave a memorial to a national hero, 149 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,280 whose dreams for Russia would soon turn to dust. 150 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,280 Tolstoy's romantic view of the peasants was widely shared. 151 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,240 When he wrote "the peasants are closer to God than we are", 152 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:43,320 intellectuals, writers and artists would nod their head in agreement, 153 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:45,880 but it was a rather rose-tinted view. 154 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:51,280 Chekhov wrote, perhaps rather more clinically, as behoves a doctor as well as a playwright, 155 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:55,280 "the peasants are coarse, dirty, drunk, quarrelsome 156 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:59,640 "and they live in mutual fear and suspicion all the time". 157 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:03,880 Whatever the truth, the story of the peasants is a thread that is 158 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:08,120 woven through the story of Russia, right up to the present day. 159 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:13,360 So, I'm on my way south now into the agricultural heartland of Mother Russia. 160 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:23,080 Our journey had started far to the north of Moscow. 161 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:28,120 Now pushing on from Yasnaya Polyana, we enter the vast Russian steppe... 162 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,960 the arable flatlands that surround the city of Voronezh. 163 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:43,440 The best way to sense the scale of this land is to see it from the air. 164 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:56,520 It's like this for as far as I can see, right away into the distant horizon. 165 00:13:56,520 --> 00:14:04,560 Huge fields, I can't judge the exact size, but I would say they're 60/70/100 acre fields with trees 166 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:09,840 acting as a windbrake to stop this valuable soil blowing away. 167 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:15,920 It just goes on and on and on. It makes East Anglia seem like a little pocket handkerchief, 168 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:19,240 and where I live in Devon like a little dot. 169 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:25,840 The soil below us here is some of the very best in the world. 170 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:27,720 "Black earth" they call it. 171 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,120 A 19th century famous Russian agronomist said, 172 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:37,280 "It's the Czar of soils, more valuable than oil, more precious than gold". 173 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,520 As soon as I was safely back on the ground, 174 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:50,040 I wanted more than anything else to find somewhere I could dig my fingers into this soil 175 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:51,560 and feel it for myself. 176 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:57,520 We came across a group of women picking potatoes. 177 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,120 What's fascinating about this is, this is a family plot, 178 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:06,120 the family plots like this, the small plots, 179 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:13,400 produce 95% of Russia's total demand for these basic crop potatoes, 180 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:18,040 and that's gone on throughout the centuries, and THIS... 181 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:23,080 this...this is the black earth in which it's done 182 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:28,160 and this is a metre depth of soil, this is fantastically rich. 183 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,840 It's what we saw from the sky but seeing it here... 184 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,280 ..it's great stuff. 185 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,280 You can understand why farmers love it. 186 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:42,920 How important for your family income are these potatoes? 187 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:45,040 TERESA TRANSLATES 188 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:48,000 WOMAN REPLIES IN RUSSIAN 189 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:49,520 Of course, of course it is. 190 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:59,960 Because...the more potatoes you can sell, then you can buy things for your children... 191 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:01,760 People live on it. 192 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,760 Soft life or hard life, is it? 193 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:17,040 What do you think? Do you think it's an easy life? It's hard! 194 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,560 I thought you might say that. I feel guilty. I think I ought to help. 195 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,720 Send us a combine harvester, that'll do it. 196 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:32,720 THEY LAUGH 197 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:40,040 She says not having your bottom up in the air like that. 198 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:46,800 It's true. All you see is bottom. Try it all day, try it for a whole day. 199 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:56,640 In many ways, Russia's peasants live much as they did a century ago. 200 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:02,320 Once more, theirs is a hand-to-mouth existence on the margins of the money economy. 201 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:11,480 Stalin set out to destroy peasant agriculture and replace it with massive farms known as collectives. 202 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:15,320 Food production on an industrial scale to nourish the workers 203 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,480 who laboured in the factories to build the Soviet Union. 204 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,040 The plan produced a nightmare. 205 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,720 The peasants were forced to surrender their farms to the state - 206 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,440 there was no choice and no compensation. 207 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:39,320 Those who dared refuse, often the most go-getting, were branded as kulaks. 208 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:43,280 They were shot or sent to hard-labour camps in Siberia, 209 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:48,760 and all the food, almost every grain of it, was requisitioned for the factories. 210 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:51,680 As a result, with the full knowledge of the Kremlin, 211 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:55,400 millions of peasants died in the man-made famine that followed. 212 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:07,080 Eventually, the collectives staggered into full production. 213 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:10,280 They were extremely inefficient and heavily subsidised 214 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,400 but they yielded just enough food to feed the urban masses 215 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:18,000 as well as the rural workers who harvested the crops on their behalf. 216 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,360 But when communism collapsed, so did the collectives. 217 00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:26,760 In some areas today, 218 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,120 Moscow's nouveaux riche are buying up the land. 219 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:33,560 In others, the collectives have been turned into co-operatives, 220 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:37,720 but without any state support many of them are virtually bankrupt. 221 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,560 Russia's peasants are poor but they're as stoical today 222 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:46,520 as they were in the time of Tolstoy, their tenacity quite remarkable. 223 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:52,600 As an old man, Tolstoy adored the fields and forests, 224 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:58,080 but as a young man he conceived a passion for the mountains and I wanted to follow him there. 225 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:03,480 Moscow was now a long way behind us as we headed south from Voronezh, 226 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:07,080 across the steppe towards the mountains of the Caucasus. 227 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:11,480 For generations, Russians in search of excitement and romance 228 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:15,320 have taken a similar route towards Pyatigorsk. 229 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:20,480 We've been travelling now for just about ten hours. 230 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:25,840 It's been an entirely uneventful journey through mile after mile 231 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:31,520 of endless farmlands like this and then suddenly 232 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,520 you see in the distance, looming out, the mountains. 233 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:48,240 Pyatigorsk is a spa town surrounded by mountains. 234 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,760 In the 19th century, it was a fashionable resort 235 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,960 where you could breathe the mountain air and refresh your jaded spirits. 236 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,960 Beyond the city, the Imperial army were struggling to subdue 237 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:13,320 the mountain tribes along what was then Russia's southern border. 238 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:17,360 As a young army officer, Tolstoy fought in that war, 239 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:22,280 exhilarated by the fighting but haunted by its brutality. 240 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:32,160 The more Tolstoy saw, the more he admired the enemy, 241 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,000 their bravery and their passion for independence, 242 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,920 the very qualities the Russians were trying to stamp out. 243 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:49,160 At that time, Pyatigorsk was filled with army officers on leave from the front, 244 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:53,720 a place of romantic intrigue and exotic danger. 245 00:20:54,680 --> 00:21:01,480 The great poet Lermontov wrote, "It is crowded with dancers, gamblers and brawlers. 246 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,800 "We are inflamed by women by day 247 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,400 "and by bedbugs by night." 248 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:12,200 It has somewhat altered. 249 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:16,960 We should have been on our way by now, 250 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:21,360 but how could I refuse an invitation to a wedding in the Caucasus? 251 00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:23,360 FOLK MUSIC PLAYS 252 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,600 The preparations start early in the morning. 253 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:33,120 A sheep is a wedding gift which will be slaughtered for the feast. 254 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,000 Everyone brings something. 255 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,840 By tradition, there's a court jester as well, fiercesome but funny. 256 00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:03,960 The women have grace, but it's the men who take the starring role. 257 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:08,120 Swordsmen strutting their stuff. 258 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:17,040 The same steps that their forefathers used in mortal combat only a few generations ago. 259 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:24,280 They made me try as well... thoroughly embarrassing. 260 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,760 The wedding is not only a celebration but a reminder that 261 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,640 these people have their roots in a warrior culture. 262 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:41,920 GUNSHOT 263 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,400 Not so long ago, my driver, on the left here, 264 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:48,120 crossed the mountains into Abkasia to fight alongside his brothers 265 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:52,240 in their struggle for independence, not from Russia, but Georgia. 266 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:05,120 Everyone in the village has known the bride since she was a baby, 267 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:09,600 but there's still a moment of suspense - her unveiling. 268 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,080 Tradition requires the bride to be kidnapped by the bridegroom 269 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:17,960 two weeks before their wedding. 270 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:22,920 After that there's a tit for tat and then a ransom, or at least I think that's what's happening. 271 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:30,720 The bridegroom's mother is being held captive by the bride's family 272 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:38,040 and the bridegroom's mother's son, who's not getting married but is the son, has to buy back his mother. 273 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:40,800 Got it? 274 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,520 As the sun begins to set, someone is still missing. 275 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,640 MAN SHOUTS OUT AND OTHERS REPLY 276 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,200 The man himself. 277 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,360 His first task is to apologise to the bride's family 278 00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:11,440 for kidnapping their daughter, but he still gets his comeuppance. 279 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,240 HE SHOUTS AT THE GROOM 280 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:21,000 Only now can the happy couple tie the knot. 281 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:25,560 An appropriate moment to leave them to it. 282 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,960 From the wedding in Kabardino-Balkaria, 283 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:40,280 we headed east through the Caucasus towards Daghestan and the Caspian Sea, 284 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:47,600 but on our way we paused to visit a bitter reminder of the Chechen war - Beslan. 285 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,560 To reach Beslan, we had to cross into North Ossetia, 286 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,120 the only Christian republic in the Russian Caucasus. 287 00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:00,840 The same route that was taken one morning in 2004 288 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,720 by terrorists fighting for Chechen independence. 289 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:09,880 It was September 1st, the start of the new school year. 290 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,000 Three days later, Beslan became a slaughterhouse. 291 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:28,320 The gunmen had seized more than 1,100 children, parents and teachers. 292 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:34,120 If the idea was to draw attention to the Chechen cause, 293 00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:37,120 it was a hideous error of judgement. 294 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:44,560 The gunmen had herded most of their hostages into the gymnasium. 295 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,720 On the third day, Russian troops stormed the building. 296 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:59,040 In a chaos of gun fire and bombs, 334 hostages died. 297 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:02,960 186 of them were children. 298 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:31,960 Even when you've seen the pictures and read about it, 299 00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:36,960 to come in here and actually see the place is... 300 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:40,760 It's completely heartbreaking. 301 00:26:50,360 --> 00:26:52,160 All these ruined lives. 302 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:13,080 Writing over 150 years ago about these struggles in the Caucasus, 303 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:19,920 Tolstoy said, "Is it possible that there is not room for all men on this beautiful Earth? 304 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,760 "Can it be that amidst this enchanting nature, 305 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:29,920 "feelings of hatred, vengeance and a desire to exterminate their fellow beings 306 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:34,160 "can endure in the souls of men?" 307 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,400 That was 150 years ago. 308 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:48,240 We drove on across the apparently endless steppe north of Beslan 309 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,400 en route to the Caspian Sea. 310 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:05,400 We've just crossed the border into Daghestan 311 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:10,600 and we're unloading from one vehicle into another all our gear because, 312 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:16,160 um, it's generally thought deemed wiser for us to rely on drivers in Daghestan 313 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:20,200 who know the territory and can make sure we don't get into any unnecessary trouble. 314 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,640 We're filming this in a surreptitious way because 315 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,080 we are concerned that the police authorities here, 316 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,480 if they know we're filming, would stop us doing it. 317 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,600 Although the republics of the Russian Caucasus belong to the Federation, 318 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,960 they all have their own borders and their own police 319 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,200 who can be a touch unpredictable. 320 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,840 Our contact in Daghestan is more than a baggage handler. 321 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:46,400 Khan is a clan leader who carries real clout in this sometimes lawless land. 322 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:05,520 Our first stop is a curious anomaly, 323 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:11,680 a village that's populated entirely by Chechens but just inside the Republic of Daghestan. 324 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,440 Khan is an elder, a "starshii". 325 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:28,440 So long, so long. 326 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,360 He enjoys automatic respect. 327 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,600 As I discovered the history of this village, 328 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:41,640 I began to realise why atrocities like Beslan can still happen. 329 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:43,880 HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN 330 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:51,160 'I found some old men who told me what happened to them here in the Second World War. 331 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,480 'The episode is indelibly etched in their memory. 332 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:05,480 'In the freezing winter of 1944, Russian soldiers entered the village 333 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:09,120 'and rounded up every man, woman and child. 334 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:14,000 'They were herded into cattle trucks and shipped off to Soviet Central Asia.' 335 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,400 There were, there were...the guns. 336 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,000 At gunpoint. Yeah. 337 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,920 'Every Chechen, the whole nation, was deported. 338 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,080 'They had no food, no water, no heating. 339 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,920 'One in every five of them died on the way.' 340 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:38,760 When someone died there was no equipment, nothing, to dig the grave 341 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:45,320 and they found anywhere, if they found wall, 342 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:53,080 then they'd take out some stones, put the dead body there and then cover it by stones. 343 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:58,000 'Stalin apparently thought the Chechens were collaborating with the Nazis. 344 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:03,360 'For this alleged betrayal, these old men, who were then children, were raised in exile. 345 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:05,560 'They dreamed of home. 346 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:09,320 'Three years after Stalin's death, they were reprieved 347 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:12,600 'and they returned, but they've never forgotten or forgiven, 348 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,120 'we can be sure, nor will their children or grandchildren.' 349 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:28,720 Not far from the Chechen village, we entered the flood plains that border the river Terek. 350 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,400 In the 19th century, the Terek formed a natural frontier 351 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:34,560 against the expanding Russian Empire 352 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:39,520 whose armies were driving south, determined to conquer the Caucasus once and for all. 353 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:50,680 At that time, the Russian front was spearheaded by a phalanx of shock troops 354 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,960 who were as famed as they were feared - the Cossacks. 355 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,120 THEY SING 356 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:03,800 Today, I'm going fishing with some of their descendants. 357 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,320 In some parts of the country, the Cossacks are a resurgent force, 358 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:17,400 xenophobic thugs who like giving Russia's minorities a rough time. 359 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:24,760 But here in Daghestan, the Terek Cossacks are themselves a minority, and they behave accordingly. 360 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,800 Placido Domingo of our time. 361 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:53,400 What they're just saying that when...when he's singing 362 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:56,880 then Placido Domingo can't compete with him. 363 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:04,960 It was on this front that Tolstoy fought alongside the Cossacks and he came to admire them, 364 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,680 not because they hated their enemies in the mountains beyond the river 365 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,360 but for their courage in battle against them. 366 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:13,240 You've got your gun, Petr. 367 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:19,280 'But when he really liked was another side of the Cossack character. 368 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:26,520 'Their simple life, their love of the outdoors and their glorious independence of spirit.' 369 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:29,400 What have you got there? 370 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,280 It's huge, can we take it out and look? 371 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:38,960 Can we take it out and look? 372 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,520 'Sorry to say, even Cossacks can be poachers. 373 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:43,560 'The principle ingredients for ukha, 374 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:47,400 Russia's famous fish soup, had being caught illegally with nets.' 375 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:50,040 Very alive. 376 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,560 'I soon discovered that our chef for the day 377 00:33:55,560 --> 00:34:00,520 'is not given to hiding his feelings, nor is political correctness his strong suit.' 378 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:04,160 Nikolai. Nikolai. 379 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:07,480 You enjoy doing this, yes? 380 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,280 And you're a proud Cossack, yes? 381 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:14,000 What is it to be a Cossack, what makes a Cossack different? 382 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:22,760 It means to be able to, like, run your cars. Your... 383 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:26,200 'My Cossack translator is getting lost for words.' 384 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:30,960 Do you have a big faith in Russia, in Mother Russia? 385 00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:33,000 < Yeah, absolutely. 386 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,800 He says when beer... The bear? 387 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:43,640 .bear, the bear, wakes up, then everything will be OK. 388 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:48,480 Because the bear resembles the Russia, the true Russia. 389 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:50,800 Tell me what you think is the true Russia. 390 00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:03,760 In a single phrase, like, Russia is the Russian people. 391 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,640 Spasiba. 392 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:07,280 Very, very much. 393 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:09,080 THEY LAUGH 394 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:19,080 'While Nikolai gets on with his cooking, his leader Petr goes shooting. 395 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:36,280 'Then we eat. 396 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,840 'We drink. 397 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:44,080 'And, inevitably, we sing.' 398 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,720 THEY SING 399 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:05,400 'It's many generations since their forebears fought against the Islamic tribes of the Caucasus, 400 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:10,880 'but I suspect even now they're nostalgic for that Holy War against the infidels.' 401 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:21,720 That war was fought in the mountains and the centre of resistance was here in Daghestan. 402 00:36:21,720 --> 00:36:26,880 For once, the disparate tribes of the Caucasus were united. 403 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:32,120 Their leader was Sheikh Shamil, whose spirit still hovers over the mountains. 404 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:36,480 For more than two decades, he outwitted the might of the Russian Empire. 405 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:43,640 But Shamil was outnumbered and outgunned. 406 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,120 His last stand was just outside this village, Gunib. 407 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:53,680 It is an extraordinary, romantic story. 408 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,680 Shamil on his white horse. 409 00:36:56,680 --> 00:37:00,720 25 years he leads the Caucasian people in an epic struggle 410 00:37:00,720 --> 00:37:04,400 against the Russian invaders, the Imperial Army, 411 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:07,960 and gradually the Imperial Army encircles him 412 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:12,240 until he finds himself - we're now some 6,000 feet up in the mountains - 413 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:19,760 he finds himself encircled, the noose around his neck, down to his last 400 men. 414 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,800 And his family, his son in particular, said, "You've got to surrender." 415 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:28,680 So he rode out down here with his retinue on his white horse. 416 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,640 All around him were Russian soldiers and they started to jeer him 417 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:35,040 and shout at him and shout "hoorah, hoorah" 418 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:39,560 and he went to turn back and said, "If that's how it's going to be, I won't surrender." 419 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:43,520 The order came up then from the Russian general to his troops, 420 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:48,480 "Silence", and there was absolute silence. 421 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:03,680 Shamil's extraordinary feat of resistance had made him famous all across Europe. 422 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:13,720 So great was his renown that even the Czar felt obliged to treat his prisoner with honour. 423 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:20,680 And today he remains a symbol of defiance in these mountain passes and beyond. 424 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:32,280 On our way down to the Caspian Sea, Khan stopped off to show me Daghestan's finest weekly market. 425 00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:40,080 It's quite a scene here, Khan. 426 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:45,360 Yeah, this is the biggest market in Daghestan. Amazing. 427 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:49,120 'Walking through this open air shopping mall, I began to appreciate 428 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:53,120 'Shamil's astonishing achievement in uniting the tribes of the Caucasus. 429 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:56,320 'They must speak at least a dozen languages in this market alone. 430 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:11,400 'There are 34 clans in Daghestan and even now blood feuds and vendettas between them, 431 00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:15,080 'not to mention kidnappings, tend to scare visitors away.' 432 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:21,240 When we were planning on coming here, 433 00:39:21,240 --> 00:39:23,840 there's a thing called a Foreign Office Advisory, 434 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:31,880 and we were told it's not safe to go to Daghestan because of robbery, kidnapping and even worse. 435 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:39,240 Well, right now you are in the most dangerous place in Daghestan! 436 00:39:39,240 --> 00:39:44,080 You can be kidnapped by the traders, 437 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:49,960 by these ladies. Well... And they business what they are doing is the most dangerous business. 438 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,240 'But Khan has no illusions. 439 00:39:57,240 --> 00:40:01,360 'He knows very well there are Islamist insurgents hiding in the mountains 440 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:07,200 'and he also knows that in this Muslim society, they will always find some support. 441 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:10,680 'He knows they're here and he wants them out.' 442 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:17,560 What is your attitude towards these people, cos they still exist underground, don't they? 443 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:24,960 Yes, they still exist but the tragic thing is that, um, 444 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:31,000 they do not represent not only any Daghestani village, 445 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,120 they do not represent any Daghestani hamlet. 446 00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:36,960 These people are out of Daghestan society. 447 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:41,480 You're a father, you've got a family. Do you fear them? 448 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:43,280 I'm afraid of them. 449 00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:51,320 My perception is that we should treat them as ordinary criminals not as a part of Daghestan society. 450 00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:01,200 In the distance, below the mountains to the east, is the Caspian Sea. 451 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:12,120 On its shores, the most southerly and the oldest city in Russia, Derbent. 452 00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:22,600 Derbent was first settled at least 5,000 years ago. 453 00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:31,080 The great fortress which overlooks the harbour was built by the Persians a mere 15 centuries ago 454 00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:33,920 to protect the city from invasion from the north 455 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:38,240 but its strategic location made it a magnet for the czars. 456 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:43,120 Here we are in the oldest city in Russia... That's right. 457 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:48,120 ..and somehow it hasn't been ruined. How's that? 458 00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:52,480 In 561, they built all these fortifications 459 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:59,280 and these walls up to the mountains goes approximately 70 miles. 460 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:05,080 It is compared with the great Chinese Wall, with Hadrian Wall, 461 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:09,000 and there are three fortifications and this is one of them. 462 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:16,800 'But Derbent was above all a city of traders and it survived because the merchants 463 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:21,560 'were ready to cut a deal with almost anyone to keep the peace.' 464 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:27,160 What they did was they ceremonially gave the key of city 465 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:32,720 and the historical manuscript called the "History of Derbent" 466 00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:36,480 and they said that, "You are winners, 467 00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:42,280 "this city belongs to you," and when Peter I came to Derbent... 468 00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:46,480 They gave him the keys. "Peter, we welcome you, you can have the keys. 469 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:49,960 "And you rule us". Yes. 470 00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:52,480 What does this tell us about the people of Derbent? 471 00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:59,720 It tells that in some way they came to philosophy that there is no reason to fight against anyone. 472 00:42:59,720 --> 00:43:07,080 The reason is to keep peaceful life and if someone want to rule us, 473 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:09,920 let him do it but why war? 474 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,880 And this is a very, you know, 475 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:20,480 it is very different story with this city comparing with the story of Daghestan. Absolutely. 476 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:22,880 MUEZZIN CALLS OUT 477 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:30,440 'Today, after long years in which the orthodox church and then the communist state held sway, 478 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:36,440 'Derbent is now free to celebrate its origins as one of Islam's most holy cities.' 479 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:39,120 This is the famous mosque, yes? Yeah. 480 00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:43,840 'Dzhuma mosque is the fourth most important site in all Islam.' 481 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:45,760 This mosque is... 482 00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:47,520 how old? 483 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:50,520 It was built in the early-8th century. 484 00:43:56,360 --> 00:44:02,280 It's in Persian on right side, and on left side it is in Arabic. 485 00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:08,480 HE READS OUT ..Means just enter this mosque with the belief. 486 00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:12,400 With belief. Can we go in? Yes, please. 487 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:24,400 Wow. 488 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:29,200 It's very beautiful. Very simple. 489 00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:35,480 'In the Soviet period, the mosque was turned into a prison and later a museum. 490 00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:41,320 'Today, it thrives as a place of worship for Sufi, Sunni and Shia Muslims alike.' 491 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:45,160 This is something very unusual. 492 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:48,040 Praying together. Praying together. 493 00:44:48,610 --> 00:44:52,130 In prospect, this journey across the largest country 494 00:44:52,130 --> 00:44:53,970 in the world was quite daunting 495 00:44:53,970 --> 00:44:57,330 but I feel now I understand a little bit more about Russia, 496 00:44:57,330 --> 00:45:01,930 its diversity and its richness and I've met some incredible people. 497 00:45:01,930 --> 00:45:04,410 Warm, friendly and welcoming. 498 00:45:04,410 --> 00:45:08,890 And that, plus more vodka than I ever thought I'd consume, 499 00:45:08,890 --> 00:45:12,250 fuels my enthusiasm for the next stage. 500 00:45:25,210 --> 00:45:28,250 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd. 501 00:45:28,250 --> 00:45:31,290 E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk