Episode 1 Russia on Four Wheels

'We are going on an incredible journey.

'Driving through the biggest

'and one of the most bewildering countries on Earth.'

This is so dangerous!

We're in the middle of a motorway.

'Taking two very different cars...'

It's a tank!

"CCCP". Built by Communists.

'..on two very different road trips.'

Which way? Does it matter?

'Three weeks and thousands of miles on the roads of Russia.'

'Almost 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union,

'Russia is a country transforming before our eyes.'

If ever there was an argument for Russia looking West, this is it.

'A whole new generation of Russians desire Western cars.'

SHE SCREAMS

'And the lifestyle that goes with them.'

It's about £100,000.

'But this is also a country where the old Soviet brands

'still hold great sway.'

Lada. Lada. Lada.

'And it's a country of old loyalties and proud traditions.'

Am I ready to hunt in Russia?

'Where Russia's Communist past still exerts a powerful pull.'

They've got all the toys out today!

'So can this former military superpower

'ever become a new economic power?'

'And if it could, what would that mean for Russia

'and the rest of the world?'

The city of Sochi on the Black Sea.

For the likes of President Putin and Russia's wealthy elite,

it is a favourite holiday haunt.

For most of the world, though, Sochi is now famous as the location of the

2014 Winter Olympics.

Put a bit more life in it, come on.

Hey, I love it!

The most expensive Olympic Games ever.

Oh, yeah. Look. Now we're talking.

They look like kind of, you know, spaceships just landing.

'It is all designed to present Russia to the world as ultra-modern,

'forward-thinking and very dynamic.'

Look at this, Anita.

-It's beautiful, isn't it?

-It is. It's really good.

I love the shape of these buildings.

Move over Torvill and Dean.

Oh, yeah.

-I can't stop!

-I'm not moving.

'The Russian Government has spent £30 billion

'on hosting the Games here.'

Coming your way, Anita!

'25 times what was spent in Vancouver at the last Winter Games.'

No! Seriously, no! I'm going to fall!

'And with an expected global TV audience of three billion people,

'they don't want any slip-ups.'

Oh!

-Oh...

-It's lovely.

-I like it. It's nice, isn't it?

-It's a really nice place.

-This is not what you expect of Russia, is it?

Not at all and it's not where you'd expect to have the Winter Olympics either.

What, sub-tropical paradise? I know. It's extraordinary.

You don't think of lemons, do you, growing down by the beach?

And the world's eyes are going to be on Russia.

-What a showcase.

-It's amazing.

-Hey. It's nice, isn't it?

It's really nice.

For us, Sochi is the starting point for two extraordinary journeys

to discover the real Russia

that lies far beyond this glamorous shop window.

I'll be seeking out this new and very modern Russia.

It'll take me more than 2,000 miles through Moscow,

St Petersburg and finally, if I make it,

to Murmansk high above the Arctic Circle.

Meanwhile I'll be exploring old Russia to discover

how its proud history and Communist past still shapes Russia today.

It's a journey that will lead me through the agricultural

and industrial heartlands into Asia

and right to the edge of the vast Siberian wilderness.

Is this it?

Two very different journeys in two very different cars.

I like it! What a monster.

-Monster!

-Isn't it?

-Russian monster.

-Russian monster. Yeah, exactly!

I'll be driving a classic UAZ-469

with the help of support driver Sasha and mechanic Yevgeny.

Yevgeny is best mechanic in the Sochi.

-Yevgeny's the best mechanic in Sochi?

-In Sochi.

-I'm glad to hear it.

It looks like we might need it with a car this old.

'It might have been made in the '70s, but that is nothing

'for a Soviet vehicle tough enough for the Red Army.'

-Quite an engine.

-It's very powerful. Look at this.

"CCCP."

USSR. USSR! Built by Communists.

That's what we need in Russia!

Built by Communists! HE LAUGHS

I tell you what, this is going to be a lot better than Anita's car,

I reckon.

'But I've been promised something rather special.'

Oh, my good God. What is that?!

Oh!

'The Kombat T-98 is a car fit for an oligarch.

'It's claimed to be one of the fastest

'and most luxurious armoured vehicles in the world.'

Hello there.

Hello.

-Sergei, pleased to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

It is...it's a tank!

'£100,000 buys a guarantee of safety from just about anything.'

Oh, my God!

I've never seen anything like it in my life!

Have you seen the thickness of these windows?

Who drives this car? Who owns this car?

Rich guys, a guy who know very good protection.

Right. OK. Rich guys who need protection.

-Can you give me names?

-I don't know names.

-I bet he does.

-It's top secret. Top secret.

-Top secret.

I mean, I'm excited. I'm also petrified.

Our cars had better be up to it,

because Russian roads are notoriously dangerous.

So dangerous that many Russians have installed dashcams to record

evidence of any trouble they might get caught up in.

With three weeks and nearly 5,000 miles of potential mayhem,

we set off tomorrow.

Up, up, up and away!

'Right now, though, with an afternoon to spare,

'there's a chance to explore Sochi's brand-new Olympic ski resort.'

-This is impressive.

-That is awesome. Everywhere you go they're building something, aren't they?

'The whole thing has been built from scratch to provide ski slopes,

'a ski jump and what's meant to be

'one of the safest bobsleigh runs in the world.'

'But all this construction has led to allegations of corruption.

'Stories of environmental damage and criticisms

'that Sochi has been turned into a giant building site

'with scant regard for local residents.'

Look at this! Tatyana, it's terrible!

So what actually happened?

So the house used to be here? And it's shifted all that way?

Tatyana Skiba and her neighbours believe that illegal dumping

from Olympic construction sites has caused a landslide

that has devastated their homes.

These big chunks of concrete?

'Residents believe the authorities have ignored their plight.

'The government, though, has said there is no evidence of corruption.'

So you're saying the Olympics has ruined your life?

Justin and I were already getting a taste of this country's

very stark contrasts and here in Sochi, amid the brand spanking new,

old Russia is never far away.

'Just a stone's throw from the shiny Olympic stadiums,

'there is a bizarre relic of one of Russia's most notorious figures.'

Wow, here we are. Stalin's villa.

The holiday home of one of the biggest mass murderers in history.

Whoo.

It's a bit creepy.

'Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from the mid 1920s

'until his death in 1953.

'He ruled with an iron grip,

'transforming a backward nation into a military superpower.'

'But under his rule millions died, many of them

'executed as enemies of the state.'

This is Stalin's office

and there is Uncle Joe himself.

He is such an important figure in Russian history

and he still casts a huge shadow over the country.

You know, this is the man who built the Soviet Union,

really made it the empire that it became.

But he is reckoned to have killed more people

than anyone else on Earth, including Hitler.

Millions were executed by him.

Millions died in the gulags and then of course millions died

when he tried to reorganise agriculture

and there was a huge famine.

'It appears that even in Olympic Sochi in 2014,

'Russia cannot escape its past.'

It's a bit naughty, but I'm going to try on Stalin's coat.

Makes me feel like a great dictator.

Departure day and I'm all set to go.

My four tonnes of blinged-up bulletproof steel

is ready to take on anything the Russian roads can throw at us.

I'm not quite sure about Justin's, though!

SHE LAUGHS

Ridiculous. HE LAUGHS

-Anita.

-Justin.

That vehicle is a disgrace.

Who do you think you are, Batman or something?

I'm in Russia now. I'm in Russia.

I need to make an impression and what better than Kombat?

-I think it's got bullet holes there.

-Armour plated.

-Maybe, but the bullets will have just ricocheted off.

-Seriously?

Seriously. It's armour plated.

This car is not for good people to drive, is it?

It's for badasses like me!

So this is an UAZ.

I like it. I have to say it's got character.

Jump in. ENGINE REVS

Oh, listen to that! Now rev that.

'Suddenly me and my old communist UAZ

'are feeling just a little inadequate.'

-I like that petrol smell, though.

-I know. There's something fresh...

And what about all these wires that are hanging out here?

-Yeah, you know, we'll just keep...

-Bit of colour.

-..access in case we need it, you know.

-Comrade.

-Yeah. Good luck. Be safe.

-I'll see you. Yeah, I will be.

-Seriously.

-Good luck.

See ya. Bye-bye.

-Dasvidaniya!

-Dasvidaniya!

Oh my...

Oh!

As I set off east to explore the traditional face of Russia,

I'm heading from Sochi towards my very first destination -

Stavropol and Russia's agricultural heartlands.

It feels great to be on the road at last.

It's a bit faster than I thought it was going to be.

She's running really nicely.

I mean, 37 years old,

but it's still a, you know, reasonable car to drive.

Here we go. Head out on the highway!

'But there was a problem.'

Jesus.

Ah, shit.

I don't believe it.

This is so dangerous!

We're in the middle of the motorway.

Yevgeny! Yevgeny!

It just lost power.

I was going along and it started going dudum, dudum, dudum.

We're, like, ten minutes out of Sochi, Yevgeny!

What have we bought, man?!

Yeah, that may be true!

We're supposed to go like 3,000 kilometres, 2,000 miles.

What is it?

Well done, Yevgeny.

'Thankfully a few minutes of tender loving care

'from Sochi's top mechanic...'

It feels good. In gear.

'..and we were going again.'

'While Justin was struggling just to get out of Sochi,

'my luxury tank was eating up the miles.'

Woo! I'm driving a tank!

We're going to be good friends, me and the Kombat.

Don't try and take me on, mate. I'll crush you.

I was aiming to travel 400 miles to the port city of Taganrog.

It was the first stop on my quest to discover a new capitalist Russia.

A vibrant city of entrepreneurs.

-Do you feel safe, Sergei?

-Yes, yes, yes.

-Yes.

-I feel safe.

-Good, good, good.

But as well as eating up the miles, I was also discovering that

my Kombat simply drinks fuel.

Here we go.

That's how many litres are going in.

A lot.

She's had a feed.

But with one of the world's biggest oil reserves,

petrol here is very cheap.

There we go.

The hours passed in oligarch-style luxury

before we finally entered the outskirts of Taganrog.

So this is Taganrog. This is an industrial city.

Five rivers meet here in Taganrog.

It's got a long history of trading, business

and there are actually 10,000 entrepreneurs in this city right now

and I'm off to meet one of them.

Millionaire Konstantin Savenko is one of the new Russian capitalists.

I am a businessman and I made myself.

The most for me is to be happy.

Seizing the opportunity of the end of Communism, Konstantin started

his own business in 1993, and it's clear he's now reaping the rewards.

And like rich people the world over,

the car of choice? A luxury German brand.

Konstantin, why do you drive a BMW and why not a Russian car?

Because I...

I have got enough money to.

-So this is your bakery?

-Yes. This is our small bakery.

Konstantin's mini empire includes 16 supermarkets,

as well as warehouses and factories.

All built around making bread.

Every day we do maybe 7,000 bread.

-Loaves of bread?

-Yes.

-7,000?

-Yes.

Thank you. Spasibo.

-Do I look like a baker?

-Nice.

-Would you employ me?

-Stay in Taganrog, please.

-Stay in Taganrog?

-Yes.

Mm-hmm.

This new Russia isn't only about the super rich oligarchs.

It's also about more every day millionaires, like Konstantin.

There we go. Look, I'm doing all right here.

I think I've got another career. Is there not much competition?

-Are there not big, big bread companies?

-Yes, yes, yes.

There are nearly 15 bakers in Taganrog.

We must do the best bread.

-Do you do the best bread?

-I think so.

This is the best bread.

Businesses like this are evidence that in the 25 years

after the fall of Communism Russia is transforming.

Meanwhile, I was heading well into old Russia.

300 miles to the east and deep inside the rich corn belt

of Stavropol Krai.

The countryside here seems completely timeless.

So we've come into this great plain

and they call this area the larder,

the bread basket of Russia, and just look at it.

These rich black fields stretching out to the blue horizon.

Spectacular.

Russia's countryside was the scene of the biggest social experiment

of the Communist era.

Millions of small private farms were taken over

and combined into huge collectives

under the single ownership of the state.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, shares in the collective farms

were given to the workers.

Now what's been happening ever since is that corporate interests

have been buying up those shares, creating vast private farms.

These enormous fields have slid from the sole ownership of the state

to the sole ownership of big business.

-Spasibo!

-Hey!

MAN SPEAKS RUSSIAN

Here we go.

Whoa, what a monster.

Ah, it's quite skilled. You have to line it up.

Yeah.

It's like a giant insect just devouring everything in its path.

The scale is simply staggering.

This one farm occupies 45,000 acres,

70 square miles, hundreds of times bigger than the average farm

in Britain.

So at the moment it's harvest time

and Pavel has 50 of these huge combine harvesters working every day.

50 combine harvesters.

A farm this size under Communism provided work for thousands

of people.

Today technology and corporate efficiencies

mean it now employs just 300.

Farm manager Pavel Petrovitch is a happy man.

So how profitable is it now?

But you employ fewer people and the profits now

just go to a few owners of the farm,

not to everybody who works on the farm.

Profits are clearly good.

But I can't help thinking that while the owners are doing well,

the changes haven't been so great for ordinary workers.

It just seems, you know, for the people in the Russian countryside,

whoever's in power, if it's the tsars, the Communists

and now capitalism,

the little farmers, the little guy in Russia, gets screwed.

Day two,

and Justin and I are getting well into our two road trips.

Jesus, he's undertaking.

Whoa, whoa, did you see that?

Gosh!

You've got to keep your wits about you.

Continuing my journey into new Russia, I'm heading 470 miles north

from Taganrog towards Gubkin.

An industrial town that sits on one of the most

concentrated iron ore reserves in the world.

And I appear to have arrived in the midst of some sort of celebration.

There seems to be some sort of street party going on.

It's only nine o'clock in the morning

and they're already out waving flags.

It turns out that this is Gubkin's day of the town...

Sorry, sir.

..and its 74th birthday.

For Russian towns, days like these are chances for everyone

to turn out and march around...

..get married...

..or simply just drink a lot.

Oh, what is that? Giving me vodka. It's too early for me.

HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN

Moonshine.

Phoar! Paint stripper.

It is 11 o'clock in the morning and everybody's boozing.

Gubkin's local businesses are also here.

Most important of all, the local mine, Metalloinvest,

which the whole town has come to rely on.

All these people, all these blue and white and red balloons,

they're marching for the company, for Metalloinvest.

I'm trying to imagine if anyone would do that back home.

Since I was in town, I thought it would be rude not to pay them

a visit, especially as the deposit of iron ore here

is so colossal that it even distorts the Earth's magnetic field.

Unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it.

This is Metalloinvest's mine.

More than three miles wide, it has more iron ore reserves

than anywhere else on the planet.

Woo!

That, just the biggest wheel I've ever seen in my life.

From up the top, they seem tiny, they're just little Tonka trucks.

Natural resources dominate Russian exports.

Vast mineral deposits.

The biggest reserve of natural gas on Earth.

The second largest of coal and the top exporter of oil

in the entire world.

Every single one of those scoops weighs 20 tonnes.

This is proper industrial heavy-duty machinery.

In terms of steel, a fifth of all Russia's iron ore

comes from right here.

Come on, you've got to get in with me.

I don't know what I'm doing.

Right, which is the accelerator?

No, don't touch that? Don't touch that, OK.

That's the accelerator, that's the break.

HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN

This is great. I'm driving a 180-tonne truck

and I'm getting lessons by someone in Russian.

Get out of the way, is all I'm saying.

-Are you ready?

-OK.

Here we go. Look at the size of this thing!

Oh, my lord, where's my wing mirror?

-Go, go, go, go.

-Go, go, go, go.

I'm going, I'm going.

Turn it?

Turn it? Leonard, you have to tell me what to do, mate.

OK.

Yahoo! I'm driving a flipping truck.

Oh, my God, this is as much fun as you think it is.

Today, Russia is heavily reliant on the export of its natural resources.

And how does it end up? Like this.

Iron briquettes. This is about 90% iron

and this is how it gets shipped all around the world

and it ends up as bridges, cars,

bits of motorways, kettles, fridge freezers.

In fact, there's almost definitely something in your house

that started life here.

The problem is, they probably weren't actually made in Russia.

90% of Russian exports to the United States

are minerals or other raw materials, and China is a fast-growing market.

It seems to me there's a great opportunity here.

If even a tiny fraction of those exports were refined

and manufactured into products here in Russia,

they'd have an economy that could be the envy of the world.

Meanwhile I'm continuing my journey into old Russia.

350 miles from Stavropol, I've reached the vast Volga River.

Over 2,000 miles long, it leads to the great city of Volgograd.

In places, the River Volga seems as powerful as the sea,

and it's known to stir the hearts of all true-thinking Russians.

Look at that, the Agronomi Volga, the mighty Volga River,

the mother river of Russia.

It's the largest river in Europe, not just in length,

but also in terms of the sheer volume of water it carries,

and it's got a powerful place in Russian culture,

a crucial artery of the nation.

The city of Volgograd stands at the heart of Russia's national identity

and steely character.

Formerly known as Stalingrad, this was the site of the bloodiest battle

in human history.

On a hill overlooking the city, a monument commemorates the victory

of the Soviet Red Army over Nazi forces in 1943.

Look at that. One of the biggest statues in the world, that is.

It's called The Motherland Calls

and is a call to battle for the people of Russia.

What it seems to be saying is, "You don't mess with Russia."

This is where the advance of Hitler's army was bought to a halt.

Against all the odds, the city stood firm against the Nazis.

In Britain we tend to remember our own battles,

but the Russian victory here at Stalingrad

turned the tide of the Second World War.

The German retreat began here.

Stalin ordered that his troops defend the city against the Nazi advance

to the last drop of blood.

Victory or death, he demanded.

And the Soviet Army followed his orders.

The human cost was unimaginable.

One and a half million people died here.

-Anatoly?

-Anatoly.

Zdravstvujte.

And, Vladimir?

-Vladimir.

-Yeah.

Anatoly Kozlov and Vladimir Torov

both fought in the battle of Stalingrad.

But it must have been terrifying fighting under those conditions.

Having fought for the Red Army and lived through the Cold War,

I wondered how life under Communism compared with the Russia of today.

It seems Anatoly and Vladimir have a slight difference of opinion

when it comes to life under the old Soviet regime.

It isn't only Red Army veterans that differ in their views

on Russia's Communist past.

Today a new generation, proud of the city's history, is campaigning

to change the city's name back to Stalingrad.

-Stalingrad?

-No.

No. Volgograd.

I was surprised how many people supported their cause,

despite Stalin's notorious reputation.

In the West, Stalin has a terrible reputation.

I mean, do you really want a city that bears the name

of a murderous tyrant?

So this is interesting.

He's not mentioning, obviously, the purges or the millions

of people who died during the collectivisation of agriculture.

What he's saying should be celebrated is Stalin's help

winning the Second World War.

He talks about the growth of the economy in that period.

So a very different picture of the world that he's got.

Fascinating. Anton, thank you very much.

Ow!

70 years ago, the Red Army gave everything to keep Germany

out of Russia.

But today there are places where Germans have been invited in

with tax breaks.

From Gubkin I've continued my journey to Kaluga.

Once the heart of one of Russia's poorest regions,

it's now been utterly transformed.

And all because foreign car manufacturers have been

setting up Russian bases here.

The very first to come to Kaluga was Volkswagen.

All of these cars are brand-new Volkswagens

fresh off the production line ready to be sold to Russians.

This plant is enormous.

It employs 6,000 people here in the town of Kaluga

and it's really changed this city.

It was in 2005 that the local government here had the foresight

to invite in foreign car producers,

Volkswagen being the first, and gave them quite generous tax breaks.

In return, Volkswagen bought in Western technology

and provided employment to around 6,000 local workers.

And the German invasion hasn't stopped at the gates

of the Volkswagen factory.

In the last six years, bar owner Kirill Okunev

has seen his bar change beyond all recognition.

Since Volkswagen came in there are so many plants and factories

building around who attract people.

A lot of foreigners come to our city and a lot of things going on.

It's not just my bar, you know, business makes business,

so there is a lot of activity going on.

Since Volkswagen came to Kaluga, other car manufacturers like Peugeot

have joined them.

All part of the commercial forces that are wrenching Russia away

from its Communist past.

I shared a drink with some Germans

who'd been here pretty much from the start.

So when you came here in 2008, how was it?

Was it like it is now?

Oh, no. That's far away from this.

The Russian very changed. Six years ago it was Soviet time.

Soviet time.

And I think now it's a new time, the beginning of a new culture.

New culture? Are the Germans changing Russia?

-I don't see it like that.

-Oh.

The Russians changed by their own.

In a small time, way by way or step by step.

Now it's not only the car industry setting up here.

Korean Samsung and Japanese Mitsubishi have moved in too,

making Kaluga an economic hotspot.

All starting with one German corporate invasion.

How do the locals feel about all these German companies

being here employing them?

We love them. I mean, hey.

-You love the Germans?

-I love Germans, I mean, er...

Why should we have a problem with Germans who come here

and invest in my country and they make my country grow?

I mean, why should they have complaints?

Economic success here in Kaluga has helped push the Second World War

firmly back into history.

Now this city is very much looking towards its future.

SONG: "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk

Fix the car!

Meanwhile, far to the east, I was having a night out of my own.

My Communist UAZ had broken down again,

and we were stuck outside a closed garage near Volgograd.

But we were determined not to let any of that dampen our spirits.

# I'm up all night to get lucky. #

Morning, and I was still in Volgograd.

With my car needing repairs, I decided to take the train.

Jeez, just minutes to go.

Seven and eight, apparently.

Oh, wow, this is fantastic.

Oh! Hey!

God, like a tsar. This is magnificent.

The plan was for this train to carry me 400 miles north, out of Volgograd

and on to the city of Samara where I'd meet up with my car again,

before driving on to Tolyatti, the heart of the Russian car industry.

-Hey. Is it fixed then?

-Yeah.

Looking good. It looks good. You've washed it.

Next day, and for once the sun was peeking out.

-Cabriolet.

-Yeah, let's get the cabriolet thing going.

So we chose to take advantage of my Communist car's stylish

convertible option.

SONG: "On The Road Again" by Canned Heat

# But I'm on the road again

# I'm on the road again

# Well, I'm so tired of crying, but I'm on... #

HE SINGS: # On the road again. I'm on the road again. #

Oh. Now it's started to rain.

That's the problem with the Cabriolet, isn't it?

Unfortunately my cool cruising was brought to a halt

by the Russian weather, just as I arrived in Tolyatti.

HE SINGS: # We're on the road again. #

Hey, hey!

Tolyatti is the birthplace of a little Russian car that in Britain

is the butt of jokes.

Out here, though, it is the object of affection

and almost obsessive loyalty.

Lada, Lada, Lada.

There's a Lada up there, and a Lada there.

There are just Ladas everywhere.

This place is the centre of the Russian car industry.

It's a city called Tolyatti and they call it the Russian Detroit,

and it is the home of the famous Lada,

and everywhere you look there are Ladas on the street.

Lada.

Rich Russians might desire fancy Western cars, but the home-grown Lada

still boasts a dominant market share here, selling more than twice as many

cars as any other brand.

This is actually one of the biggest factories in the world

and the biggest car plant in all of eastern Europe.

This place has made 27 million cars.

Lada was set up in the '60s to make an affordable people's car

for the Communist world. The Volkswagen of the Soviet Union.

Today it is still going strong.

When the cars come off the production line

they immediately test drive them

and they've told me that I can ride along.

Here we go.

Lada is one of the few major factories in Russia that managed to

survive the collapse of the Soviet Union

and the financial crisis of 2008.

There we go.

The 27 millionth and something Lada rolls off the production line.

There he goes.

It has been a tough couple of decades, though.

During the bleakest times Lada couldn't afford to pay some salaries,

but most of its employees continued to work for nothing.

Why do you think people were so loyal to Lada?

So what made you stick by the company?

Patriotism?

Everyone I met showed a loyalty that rival car manufacturers

around the world would give their eye teeth for.

And it's not only the factory workers.

Oh, my word. Look at this.

Some local enthusiasts have taken their love of Lada

to whole new heights.

Guys, I love your cars, but I don't like the weather.

So all of these cars are Ladas, yeah?

These were some seriously pimped up people's cars.

Oh!

HE LAUGHS

That is fantastic.

It's like a kind of Lamborghini Lada.

A sign that local loyalties are now being matched by individuality

and creative expression in post-Communist Russia.

Look at this bad boy. It's amazing.

Monster Lada.

I suppose it shows the car culture here in Russia is similar to

elsewhere in the word. You've got nutters who will do almost anything

to make their car stand out.

And it doesn't get much crazier than this beast.

Whoa! Oh, bucket seats!

This is proper boy-racer's Lada.

HE REVS THE ENGINE

It's like a gun going off. It's like somebody firing a gun.

It's fantastic.

He claims his Lada can do more than 200mph.

And he was keen to demonstrate his doughnuting prowess.

Woo. Whoa! Jesus, Max!

Oh!

Oh! HE LAUGHS

Oh, my God.

-Lada, eh?

-Lada.

Who would've known that a Lada could do that?

Ten days and nearly halfway through my trip into new Russia.

My oligarch tank continued to glide north.

1,200 miles from Sochi, and at last I was entering the outskirts

of the nation's capital.

After ten days on the road, I've finally arrived

in the Russian capital of Moscow.

The roads have opened up.

We've got five-lane avenues cutting through the centre of Moscow.

Big concrete Soviet blocks of buildings on either side.

During the Soviet era, Red Square was famous for its May Day parades,

with lavish displays of military hardware.

Today, though, even Red Square has turned on its Communist past

and fully embraced capitalism.

Once the GUM Department Store was famous for having empty shelves.

Today it's packed with every luxury brand imaginable.

Signs of an expanding wealthy middle class.

And Moscow also has more millionaires

than any other capital city.

This is what modern Russia's all about.

Its luxury, its opulence, its decadence.

Because there's an elite group of people here who've made

a heck of a lot of money

and if you've got it in Russia, you flaunt it.

Alisa Krylova is a former model from Siberia who came to Moscow

and won a few beauty contests before entering Russian high society.

I joined up with her for an every day shopping trip.

Wow.

So we're in a house of fur.

Your client has the same worry, rich people from government,

from celebrities.

And there's lots of people in Russia.

-A lot of. A lot.

-Yeah.

This is great fun. I'm having the time of my life.

But this is the privilege of an elite few.

This is the sort of life and the sort of haute couture

that the wealthiest people, not just in Russia,

but on the entire planet can afford.

Today the extreme rich still seem to exist in a world far removed

from real life.

A world in which, if you have to ask the price,

you probably can't afford it.

It feels very soft so I'm going to try it on.

-Five million roubles.

-Five million roubles?

It's about...200 euros.

It's about £100,000.

-£100,000?

-Yes.

Nice, yes?

Oh, my God.

-Leave, leave.

-Oh, my God, let's go!

-Let's just keep walking.

-Bye. Stop shooting.

It's not just the mega rich that like to splash out

on a bit of bling.

Consumer capitalism is a relatively new thing here.

So maybe it's not surprising that people are so keen to show off

everything they've got.

Far to the east, exploring old Russia, I was driving through

a very different world from that of Moscow and Russia's rich elite.

From Tolyatti I was heading towards the city of Perm

in the foothills of the Ural Mountains

and a place that struck terror into the hearts of many free-thinking

Russians during the Communist era.

It's getting very cold now

and I'm coming to a very sinister place.

Oh, here it is.

Perm-36 Gulag was one of a network of labour camps located in the most

remote and extreme regions of the country.

This prison camp remained open until 1989.

Now it is kept as a museum.

Many dissidents, human rights activists and journalists

who criticised the Soviet state were sent here for correction.

Tired, hungry and a bit unshaven, I felt a bit like an inmate myself.

It was a really brutal regime here.

There'd be four blokes on a bed like this.

The regulation was two square metres each.

And in winter, and it gets down to about minus 40 here,

there were no windows, they'd just board the windows up

with planks of wood.

Every day, without fail, started at 6am.

The diet was simple and monotonous, just porridge, kleb,

Russian bread,

maybe some thin soup and if you're lucky, a cup of tea.

After breakfast the prisoners faced a one-and-a-half-hour march

to the forest, then nine hours of hard labour logging,

before the long march home.

Viktor Pestov was sent to Perm-36 Gulag in 1978.

He was sentenced to five years forced labour.

Did people die while you were here at the camp?

What did you do to be sent here?

How do you feel walking in here?

How does it make you feel in your heart about the five years

of your life that you lost for handing out a few leaflets?

This is extraordinary because Viktor says, you know,

it was one of the few places in the Soviet Union at the time

where there was genuine free expression because, you know,

you were already in a prison camp, how much worse could it get?

So in a sense, you know, there was a sense that there was freedom

within the camp, which is really interesting.

The Gulag system epitomised an instinct of Russia's leaders

to repress any challenge to their authoritarian rule.

Vladimir Putin's presidency is often described as a managed democracy,

but Russia still remains a strictly controlled society.

In 2012, right here in Red Square, a group of feminist artists

staged a protest that drew global attention.

Pussy Riot was protesting about state suppression and gay rights,

directing their attack towards President Putin himself.

Their song was rather delicately titled

Putin's Pissed His Pants

and was the first of a number of protests which ultimately led

to serious trouble.

The world's eyes were drawn to the issue of human rights in Russia

when three members of an all-female artist collective,

Pussy Riot, were imprisoned and given what seems to us

like outrageous sentences for staging a peaceful protest,

and I've managed to arrange a meeting with one of them

in this cafe.

-Hi, Katya.

-Hi.

Lovely to see you. Thank you. Thank you for meeting me.

I want you to tell me what is it that you're actually standing against.

It was this performance in Moscow's Orthodox Cathedral

that finally prompted the authorities to act.

Russia is a deeply religious society and many people were offended.

Three members of the band were arrested and convicted

of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.

Katya's sentence was suspended on appeal.

Your protest drew the world's eyes to what's going on in terms of

human rights in Russia.

But has any of it made any difference?

For the first time on my journey I'm hearing the voice of dissent

and what a voice to hear from, you know,

one of the most famous human rights protestors on the planet today.

And the one thing that really has stuck in my mind from what she said

was that if they don't continue their protest,

their country is sleepwalking into a jail.

And from that, I take it she means that far from this country

moving towards democracy, it's actually going back towards

an autocracy where the state has a really tight grip on everything.

After 11 days on the road,

I thought it was a good time to catch up with Anita.

-Hi, Anita.

-Hello, Justin.

-How's it going?

-I'm great. I'm in the lap of luxury right now.

I've got a glass of fizz in front of me,

a slice of really, really dangerous chocolate cake.

-Yeah.

-And I'm in one of the most decadent shopping arcades

you'll find anywhere on the planet. How about you?

God, it sounds like the lap of luxury.

I tell you what, it could not be more different from where I am.

I'm in a punishment cell in one of the Gulags, you know,

the network of prison camps they used to have across Russia.

And it is a pretty nasty place, I tell you.

That's the way this show works, Justin.

Someone's got to take the rough, someone's got to take the smooth,

and it's, you know...

Well, you enjoy it, yeah. I've got some porridge waiting for me, yeah.

Good luck. Do svidaniya.

Good to speak to you. See you. Bye.

Next time, I'll be heading even further east...

Thousands and thousands of kilometres of Asian Russia.

..meeting some tough Russians and getting to play with their toys.

Before getting up close to some even bigger ones.

They've got all their toys out today.

While I'll be heading to Russia's gateway to the West...

One, two, three.

Here it goes. The bridge is going up.

..and then heading into the freezing north...

Mush, mush, mush! Here we go!

..towards a whole new economic frontier.

There it is, Sergei! The Arctic Circle.