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