0:00:00 > 0:00:04through southern Russia, the Urals and Siberia to explore how deep
0:00:04 > 0:00:09Russia's rejection of the West now runs.
0:00:09 > 0:00:15Under Vladimir Putin, a tragic feeling has surged. To many
0:00:15 > 0:00:20Russians, he is the strong man who stood up to the West.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28This country once embraced Western-style freedoms and
0:00:28 > 0:00:33democracy. Now there is increasing talk of Russian values and a Russian
0:00:33 > 0:00:38ways. Here in the frozen heart of Siberia, it feels an extremely long
0:00:38 > 0:00:44way from Europe in every sense. But politics aside, in some ways, west
0:00:44 > 0:00:50and east now feel more similar than ever.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01As Vladimir Putin stands for a fourth term as president, I have
0:01:01 > 0:01:04been travelling around the country to see how deep Russia's rejection
0:01:04 > 0:01:07of the West now runs.
0:01:20 > 0:01:28It stands as silent testimony to a brutal past. A time of paranoia and
0:01:28 > 0:01:37total Power. This is the only part of Stalin's do about survived. But
0:01:37 > 0:01:44this was a prison camp -- Gulag that survived. This was a prison camp
0:01:44 > 0:01:48into the 1980s, where Serbia Russia sent its political opponents. Now
0:01:48 > 0:01:53there is a fight for its history, with those who dig too deep branded
0:01:53 > 0:01:59enemy agents of the West. -- Soviet Russia. This man found at the Museum
0:01:59 > 0:02:07over 20 years ago, recovering the stories of those held prisoner. But
0:02:07 > 0:02:12Perm 36 has now been taken over by the authorities. Victor's
0:02:12 > 0:02:16organisation was labelled a foreign agent. He says the focus of the
0:02:16 > 0:02:20museum then started to shift. TRANSLATION: Before there was you
0:02:20 > 0:02:25public interest in the history of the Gulag. Now that interest has
0:02:25 > 0:02:30died and the dominant idea now is that the Gulag was necessary for the
0:02:30 > 0:02:39country and the economy and for discipline and order.The physical
0:02:39 > 0:02:44reminders have been preserved, but staff admit there were moves here
0:02:44 > 0:02:50that seemed to justify all this, even a plan to add the memoirs of
0:02:50 > 0:02:56prison guards.Dress? Russia is trying to build a more powerful
0:02:56 > 0:03:01state, so perhaps there is a policy dictated from above that says we
0:03:01 > 0:03:04don't need to remember all the bad things, let's just remember the good
0:03:04 > 0:03:10things.These days Russia sees threats to its power in unlikely
0:03:10 > 0:03:21places. This place here is the only gay club in Perm, and we have been
0:03:21 > 0:03:27invited to meet the local drag queen who is performing. Every weekend,
0:03:27 > 0:03:33Ruslan is transformed. A factory worker by day, I night he becomes
0:03:33 > 0:03:43whoever he wants. The painstaking makeover takes several hours. The
0:03:43 > 0:03:47crowd in this basement club are out and proud, but beyond these walls
0:03:47 > 0:03:54many conceal their sexuality. Ruslan accepts his double life as a Russian
0:03:54 > 0:04:00reality. Gay pride has become a slur here, gay rights seen as a concept
0:04:00 > 0:04:08imposed by the West.TRANSLATION: If gay people are and not forced to
0:04:08 > 0:04:13talk about it openly or are out in company -- out in public, we are
0:04:13 > 0:04:18fine. Russia's borders are open. If you want to hold hands with your
0:04:18 > 0:04:21boyfriend in the street and kiss and have everyone clapped, then go for
0:04:21 > 0:04:32it. Buy a ticket and travel.But at Perm's only LGBT support group, they
0:04:32 > 0:04:38are too nervous to even put a sign on the door. Under Vladimir Putin it
0:04:38 > 0:04:41has become a crime to promote homosexuality to the young, and
0:04:41 > 0:04:45police have raided this group twice to check out their activity. When we
0:04:45 > 0:04:55came they were discussing famous gay figures from history. On other days,
0:04:55 > 0:05:00Masha provides counselling and support. We met up again at the flat
0:05:00 > 0:05:03she and Nadia share with their pets. Masha does not mention her sexuality
0:05:03 > 0:05:09at work. A child psychologist, she is worried he would be accused of
0:05:09 > 0:05:13gay and the gander. Nadia tells me everyone has heard of the new law
0:05:13 > 0:05:18and it has made the climate here much worse. -- a propaganda.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22TRANSLATION: They found an enemy and that is it. There are a lot of
0:05:22 > 0:05:26problems here but if you can blame the gaze for everything there is
0:05:26 > 0:05:30money to sort anything else out. It has always been the way in Russia.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34-- big
0:05:37 > 0:05:41in some corners, Russia looks increasingly conservative.Like
0:05:41 > 0:05:49many, Igor discovered religion when the atheist Soviet Union fell apart.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53Deep in the countryside he and his family live what they now call a
0:05:53 > 0:06:00traditional life. The couple say they are children of perestroika.
0:06:00 > 0:06:06But along with new freedoms, Igor says the 1990s wrought a cascade of
0:06:06 > 0:06:09corrupting influences from the rest and he -- from the West and he
0:06:09 > 0:06:14regrets that.TRANSLATION: Unfortunately society is moving away
0:06:14 > 0:06:18from Christian values. This is happening slowly but surely. There
0:06:18 > 0:06:23is a rejection of traditional family relationships and fewer people are
0:06:23 > 0:06:28having children. But we are resisting this.The local church
0:06:28 > 0:06:33became a cheese factory in soppy at times. It is now open to worship
0:06:33 > 0:06:38again. -- Soviet times. And Igor says the congregation has been
0:06:38 > 0:06:42growing, partly through bigger families. So they are collecting
0:06:42 > 0:06:47funds to restore the rest of the building, one small piece in Russia
0:06:47 > 0:06:57a snack orthodox revival. -- Russia's orthodox revival. Far away
0:06:57 > 0:07:01in Rostov, we found Cossacks riding into battle, or at least a
0:07:01 > 0:07:06constructive one. They are another force now enjoying a revival. The
0:07:06 > 0:07:12Cossacks see themselves as born warriors. Defenders of Russia's
0:07:12 > 0:07:18borders the centuries. These days their brand of patriotism is on the
0:07:18 > 0:07:25rise. This battle of the civil war is now being replayed. The Cossacks
0:07:25 > 0:07:31taking on the red Army. It is part of the historical re-enactment, but
0:07:31 > 0:07:42it also about patriotic action here. Many of these people are young
0:07:42 > 0:07:54student at Cossack schools. Vitaly is a tutor, and is playing a key
0:07:54 > 0:07:58person in the battle.Cossacks want to serve their country and their
0:07:58 > 0:08:04land, I think this is important, too raise our children as defenders.The
0:08:04 > 0:08:07boy said they want to become offices in the Russian army one day, they
0:08:07 > 0:08:11said loving their country is the most important thing. So what do
0:08:11 > 0:08:14they make of the hostility now between Russia and the West?
0:08:14 > 0:08:18TRANSLATION: I had never thought about it. To me what happens in my
0:08:18 > 0:08:23own country is more important.And what about all the new Cold War
0:08:23 > 0:08:28talk?TRANSLATION: We don't really have any negative thoughts about the
0:08:28 > 0:08:37West.But when conflicts came to eastern Ukraine, other Cossacks were
0:08:37 > 0:08:43among those who joined the fight. For them it was about protecting
0:08:43 > 0:08:52fellow Russian speakers, and land that many here treat as their own.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57The border is just a short drive away. We can't take a camera any
0:08:57 > 0:09:01further down here, but this is a road that leads directly to eastern
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Ukraine, where officially there is a ceasefire now. But in actuality are
0:09:05 > 0:09:09fighting still goes on almost every day. And it is from here that Russia
0:09:09 > 0:09:12has been supporting and supplying that conflict right from the very
0:09:12 > 0:09:19start. Russians who died fighting in Ukraine are remembered here as
0:09:19 > 0:09:23heroes. The Kremlin still denies sending serving soldiers, despite
0:09:23 > 0:09:29the evidence. But the war was a breaking point in relations with the
0:09:29 > 0:09:36West. I tried asking a passing woman about the conflict. She agreed many
0:09:36 > 0:09:42locals did go to Ukraine, but I don't want to talk, she said,
0:09:42 > 0:09:48especially to the BBC. Alexandr, though, did agree to meet. He went
0:09:48 > 0:09:54to fight in Ukraine himself and helped many other volunteers are. He
0:09:54 > 0:09:58insists there was a coup in Kiev, backed by the West. View is that
0:09:58 > 0:10:06sound radical are now mainstream here.Dress? Volunteer fighters felt
0:10:06 > 0:10:09they had to take part in the war, because if they didn't then there
0:10:09 > 0:10:14towns would be next. Ukraine is just the beginning. We know how things
0:10:14 > 0:10:20will progress. We remember Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the West that
0:10:20 > 0:10:28wants to divide up our country.It is chilling talk, at the signals
0:10:28 > 0:10:33come from the very top. Since flooding and Putin was last
0:10:33 > 0:10:37collected six years ago, Russia has been painting the West as an enemy.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42A force that won the Cold War and then rubbed Russia's face in it. Now
0:10:42 > 0:10:49Moscow is pushing back. And yet all of this is happening when Russia
0:10:49 > 0:10:54looks more western than ever even here a long way from the capital.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59Foreign brands and tastes are now part of life, even as politics drive
0:10:59 > 0:11:10east and west apart. That growing gulf worries some here. Maria is the
0:11:10 > 0:11:13creative force behind this business, one of a cluster of fashionable new
0:11:13 > 0:11:19places in Rostov. She is full of energy and optimism about her brand,
0:11:19 > 0:11:24with plans to expand sales to the West. She is deeply pessimistic
0:11:24 > 0:11:28about the politics of Vladimir Putin. And how his message is pushed
0:11:28 > 0:11:34by Russia's powerful state-run media.TRANSLATION: Instead of
0:11:34 > 0:11:38talking about problems we have inside the country, they talk about
0:11:38 > 0:11:42how we are surrounded by enemies who all want the West -- worse for us.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46It is really scary because it leaves everything out, and then people
0:11:46 > 0:11:49think you need to push back. Otherwise we will be overrun and
0:11:49 > 0:11:56destroyed.Maria tells me the hostility could be reversed, though,
0:11:56 > 0:12:05and quickly, if the message changed. In the meantime, this is her latest,
0:12:05 > 0:12:10the bar she opened recently across the road. She and her friends don't
0:12:10 > 0:12:14see the West as an enemy. To them it is somewhere to trade with and
0:12:14 > 0:12:19travel to. For Maria, it is also representing the democratic values
0:12:19 > 0:12:27she thinks Russia has lost.To flesh we are Europeans, we have a European
0:12:27 > 0:12:32mentality. We are also Russians but in Europe. I like to think that
0:12:32 > 0:12:38Russians share European values somewhere inside themselves.Today's
0:12:38 > 0:12:46Russia though is steering a path away from Europe. With no sign it
0:12:46 > 0:12:52plans to turn back.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58As Russia's relations with the West have entered a deep freeze, the
0:12:58 > 0:13:03climate at home has changed too. The 1990s brought a burst of new
0:13:03 > 0:13:08freedoms, a move towards Western-style democracy. But slowly,
0:13:08 > 0:13:15controls have been reimposed. Our journey to explore that broadcast
0:13:15 > 0:13:27next to Siberia and to TV2. Three years ago Patel was forced to stop
0:13:27 > 0:13:32broadcasting. Since we have been here the cat has even been removed.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37TV2 want to buy this entire building. Since the channel has been
0:13:37 > 0:13:40taken on air, there is just a handful of people working here, so
0:13:40 > 0:13:44we have come along to see what the newsroom is like these days.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55This place was
0:13:55 > 0:13:59This place was Viktor's light for a 20 years. Now this independent TV
0:13:59 > 0:14:08Channel is just a lot of expensive equipment gathering gust.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Officially, TV2 was shut down over a licence dispute. But Viktor does not
0:14:12 > 0:14:20buy that. The channel's reports are annoyed officials in Tomsk. The team
0:14:20 > 0:14:26found that was their job. But reining in the free press was one of
0:14:26 > 0:14:32Vladimir Putin's first moves as president. TV2 was one of the last
0:14:32 > 0:14:35survivors. TRANSLATION:Is obvious that we were
0:14:35 > 0:14:42no threat here in Tomsk. But the authorities are constantly afraid of
0:14:42 > 0:14:45revolution or losing control. They want to control everything, but that
0:14:45 > 0:14:55is impossible. And they don't trust anyone.Back home, Viktor and his
0:14:55 > 0:14:59wife showed me how other media have been tamed. When there were protests
0:14:59 > 0:15:10against closing TV2, Tomsk says state-run channels ignore them.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15TRANSLATION:That is you how free they are. If there is an order not
0:15:15 > 0:15:20to show something, they won't.Most disturbing for this couple is how
0:15:20 > 0:15:27quickly the new reality has been accepted. Here in the frozen heart
0:15:27 > 0:15:32of Siberia, it feels an extremely long way from Europe in every sense.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36But politically speaking, Tomsk was a relatively liberal city in Russian
0:15:36 > 0:15:42terms for many years. But all of that has been changing. On the
0:15:42 > 0:15:49streets, though, nobody seemed too bothered by that. -- seems.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53TRANSLATION:TV2 has a right to exist, of course, but I am a
0:15:53 > 0:15:59supporter of Vladimir Putin. I will vote for him.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02TRANSLATION:I am for Vladimir Putin. Everyone is happy with them.
0:16:02 > 0:16:08Why do we need anyone else. There is no wars. He managed to agree with
0:16:08 > 0:16:19everyone. He does everything right. I like at all.Those are close to
0:16:19 > 0:16:28the President, life can be tough. Last year, Xenia's car was covered
0:16:28 > 0:16:32in paint and the tyres slashed. Men entered the building in the dead of
0:16:32 > 0:16:39night and sealed up her flat. Taking me back to the scene, Xenia is sure
0:16:39 > 0:16:44that she was targeted as an activist for Alexey Nizami. Mr Fitton
0:16:44 > 0:16:52greatest critic has been barred from running for office. -- Mr Putin. But
0:16:52 > 0:16:56she think it was a warning. TRANSLATION:It was clearly to
0:16:56 > 0:16:59frighten us and to put other supporters off, so that others think
0:16:59 > 0:17:03twice before going to a rally for Alexei Navalny, if this is how it
0:17:03 > 0:17:12can end.Undeterred, Xenia still runs a Alexei Navalny's offers here
0:17:12 > 0:17:16in Tomsk. She was eight when Vladimir Putin came to power. Now
0:17:16 > 0:17:2226, she thinks it is well past time for a change. So her team are
0:17:22 > 0:17:27helping train monitors for the election will stop Xenia calls it a
0:17:27 > 0:17:32fake vote in any case, and as Vladimir Putin's last term brought
0:17:32 > 0:17:38war and sanctions, she is worried what the next might hold.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42TRANSLATION:I want Russia to continue as part of Western
0:17:42 > 0:17:46civilisation, and not closed off behind a wall. Yes, we want to be
0:17:46 > 0:17:51seen as equals. We want to protect our interests, but we do not want to
0:17:51 > 0:18:00be seen as North Korea. We don't want to be isolated.That seems to
0:18:00 > 0:18:05be the direction the country is heading in, though. We travelled
0:18:05 > 0:18:08north to St Petersburg to investigate claims that Russia's
0:18:08 > 0:18:17information war is now targeting the West, too. From here, the Kremlin
0:18:17 > 0:18:21has been accused of using the Internet to manipulate opinion at
0:18:21 > 0:18:31home and abroad. And this building has become notorious as Russia's
0:18:31 > 0:18:36troll factory. It is mostly empty now. The signs as it is up for rent.
0:18:36 > 0:18:42But an investigation in the United States -based Mustafi at operated as
0:18:42 > 0:18:52an online army designed to sow discord in America. Ludmila shows me
0:18:52 > 0:18:58a fake character she helped to create. She took information and
0:18:58 > 0:19:02leaked it from inside the troll factory. Her own focus was on
0:19:02 > 0:19:10Russian content, but she says that they worked in shifts posting up to
0:19:10 > 0:19:1380 times a day. TRANSLATION:I would say thousands
0:19:13 > 0:19:19of posts appearing on every news story, right before my eyes. If a
0:19:19 > 0:19:24troll spoke about America or Ukraine, it had to be negative. If
0:19:24 > 0:19:29it was Putin's or Russia's military, it was positive. They got written
0:19:29 > 0:19:32instructions of what to present and the conclusion is that people should
0:19:32 > 0:19:39draw.Ludmila thinks that very few trolls are driven by patriotism. She
0:19:39 > 0:19:46tells me it is about the money, and, if a new boss instructed them to
0:19:46 > 0:19:50criticise Putin, they would. And it seems the trolls are still
0:19:50 > 0:19:57operating. We have been told that the troll factory has mooted this
0:19:57 > 0:20:03premises. I am coming to see if any of these people in the smoking
0:20:03 > 0:20:10shelter opposite work there and what they can tell me. The man tells me
0:20:10 > 0:20:14he has seen here and he does not like what they do. Inside, I managed
0:20:14 > 0:20:18to speak to the director of one firm named in the US indictment, but he
0:20:18 > 0:20:34would not comment on camera its work. 2000 kilometres away Perm as
0:20:34 > 0:20:41weathered all the twists and turns since the soviet Union fell apart.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44It was the home to Soviet factories for decades and closed to
0:20:44 > 0:20:50foreigners. Then a dry day transformation. -- then it tried a
0:20:50 > 0:20:54transformation. Perm was to become a capital of culture not just for
0:20:54 > 0:20:59Russia but the world. It began with investment in public art. This giant
0:20:59 > 0:21:04structure is a reminder of the cultural Revolution here in Perm. A
0:21:04 > 0:21:08hugely ambitious project to open the city to the world and rebranded
0:21:08 > 0:21:12through art as a modern and progressive place but that
0:21:12 > 0:21:17experiment ended abruptly, and there are now signs that Perm, like
0:21:17 > 0:21:22Russia, is moving in the opposite direction. The contemporary arts
0:21:22 > 0:21:28Museum has survived, but its founder and the mastermind of Perm's
0:21:28 > 0:21:34decimation was sacked. The shows he curated were deliberate. He said
0:21:34 > 0:21:42there were times that Perm felt like New York. Now there are limits to
0:21:42 > 0:21:45what she can do here. TRANSLATION:The fact that the
0:21:45 > 0:21:49museum is vulnerable makes a self censor. The most important thing is
0:21:49 > 0:21:57for us to maintain our institution. We don't lower the bar and lower our
0:21:57 > 0:22:06artistic repetition. We just lower that average. That is the price.In
0:22:06 > 0:22:12Perm, as across this country, the political tide has turned. Vladimir
0:22:12 > 0:22:17Putin's vision now is of a Russia that is strong and assertive,
0:22:17 > 0:22:24rejecting the West that is hostile and subversive being part of that.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28On our journey, we found many Russians who don't share that view.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33But no one who expects change here any time soon.