anything else i need to check on while i'm here? >> no, not really. only 41 more. >> perfect. that's like a half day. come on. >> beautiful right. we can really delve into something special. such a beautiful day. >> pony ride. >> absolutely. now we're coming to the most fascination side of russia, the forest of birch. oh, what a place. >> all hail the maximum leader.

now let's dance. ♪ >> okay. thank you. >> well. whatever you think of this

guy, his dead effectless eyes, he want going anywhere. look at him he's the russian superman. the kgb middle manager desk jockey turned expression of greater russia's hopes and dreams. he lets no opportunity to take his shirt off pass him by. pose with a large gun? he's there. and no matter how transparentally autocratic, vengeful, oblivious, even the thin veneer of democracies, russians love him. they seem to feel about him like new yorkers used to feel about giuliani. he may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch. it's february 2014 and the sochi olympics are just coming up when i arrive in moscow. it's a different moscow every time i come here.

the most discotheque know thing i encountered in 2001, it's still going strong. in fact, these days, moscow has one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the world. but never before, it's imperial russia now. a one-man rule. all power imnates. every decision must consider this guy. >> russia is full of characters with murky pasts and schad -- shadowy connections. but one of them, i've called a friend for more than a decade.

>> tony. wow. >> my concern is back in the day, this place is famous for all the rooms were bugged. >> not anymore. i'm sorry. >> my long-time crony, he tries to be diplomatic about these things. he has to live here, right? >> given the new and lightened, liberalized, forward-thinking russia, they removed the listening desprieps. >> tell me a week from now, zamir, now i understand stereotypes sometimes send a bad message about russia. >> i have an open mind. it's great. >> listen, why don't we just taste awesome. >> oh, thank you.

>> welcome to russia. >> i'm trying to be kind of sober. united we stand. >> i prepared for you, russian tapas. small pancakes. this is beet root. and this is one is white fish. >> thank you. i'm hitting the caviar.

>> what is the perception of mr. putin these days? after 14 years he's in power. >> my perception? >> you really want to hear it? >> i'm not sure, but let's ais. >> former mid level manager in a large corporation. short, i think that's very important. short. who found himself master of the universe. like a lot of short people, if you piss him off, bad things happen to you. he likes to take his shirt off a lot. >> let's be serious. >> he strikes me as a businessman. a businessman with an ego. he's like donald trump. but shorter. >> i think my friend needs some kind of booze. to you, comrade. >> like this.

>> i'm serious about your one-week stay in russia. i want you to enjoy every meal. i hope you'll get something new positive to learn and share around the world. that's my mission. >> okay, new experience.

>> this is not new for me. i go way back with this. i plarched on the pentagon with my dad as a kid. >> seriously? >> yep. >> it's physical and brutal today. >> there is opposition to putin, but it's a mixed bag. if you do see a demonstration like this one, it's carefully planned and there are more cops than protesters. >> the main topic is to support the political prisonerners. they came to protest the re-election. >> the re-election results were, shall we say, dubious. >> some were arrested and put in prison.

and some of them are still there. >> divide and conquer? well, look who showed up today. everybody from human rights activists to right-wing nationalists who think putin has been too soft. >> putin is not right wing enough for them? >> no, he's like a liberal. he doesn't choose immigrant workers. >> i'm shocked they're in the same demonstration. the only thing in common is general unhappiness? >> that's it. >> that's it. ♪ >> bad things seem to happen to critics of vladimir putin. journalists, activists, even powerful oligarchs once

seemingly untouchable are now fair game if they displease the leader. so we were supposed to be dining at another restaurant this evening and when they heard that you would be joining me, we were uninvited. should i be concerned about having dinner with you? >> this is a country of corruption. if you have business, you are in a very unsafe situation. everybody can press you and destroy your business. that's it. this is a system. >> meet boris nemtsov. he was deputy prime minister under yeltsin and today is one of putin's most vocal critics. this restaurant was kind enough to take us in but the chef is a brit so maybe he has less reason to worry. >> first course, gentlemen? >> at yornik restaurant they are serving their own versions of dino-era russian classics. a modern riff on borscht, typically a hearty cabbage broth with meat, here's a puree with a

more elegant shall we say deconstructed presentation. critics of the government, critics of putin, bad things seem to happen to them. >> yes. unfortunately, existing power represent what i say russia old 19th century, not of 21st. >> critics of putin, beware. oligarch kolikofsky accused putin of corruption and spent ten years in prison and labor camps. alexander litvinenko accused state security services of organizing a coup to put putin in power. he was poisoned by a lethal dose of radioactive polonium and viktor yushchenko poisoned, disfigured and nearly killed by a toxic dose of dioxin. i'm not saying official russian bodies had anything to do with

it but it's mighty suspicious. i don't think you need to be a conspiracy theorist to say whoever did this very much wanted everyone to know who done it. >> everybody understands. >> of course. >> everybody is meant to understand. >> everybody understands. everybody understands everything in this country. >> when you're talking classic conspiracy theories and classically russian style paranoia, you want some classic russian food to go along with it. pelmini, minced meat dumplings served on a pillow of cabbage with sour cream. mm. very good. maybe the most extreme and visible example of how things seem to work here is the sochi olympics. >> if you look at the map of russian federation, it's difficult to find a sport without knowing guys on top. but putin did. >> it seems like a pretty obvious question, if you wanted

to hold a winter olympics in miami, presumably someone would say isn't it a little warm there. >> this is absolutely personal putin project. they spent more than $50 billion of dollars, which is the most expensive games in the history of mankind. >> $26,000 a seat for the curling stadium? to build? >> the road is 30 miles. price for that, $9 billion u.s. this is a road, right? it's three times expensive than american program flying to mars. >> and who got many of those contracts for the roads and stadiums and infrastructure? well, there's these guys. putin's childhood friends and judo partners, the rottenberg brothers, whose companies received contracts worth upwards of $7 billion. and putin's associate of 20 years, vladimir yakunin, who owns the state railroads. his company received $10 billion worth of contracts. >> it's very easy to imagine what's happened with this money. >> right.

you know who cares in russia? just about no one. this is a case of the binenko case. a known enemy of putin stricken with a bout of radioactive polonium. aren't you concerned? >> me, about myself? >> yeah. you're a pain in the ass. >> tony, i was born here 54 years ago. this is my country. the russian people are in trouble. russian court doesn't work. russian education decline every year. i believe that russia has a chance to be free. has a chance. it's difficult but we must do it. ♪ woman: this is not exactly what i expected. captain obvious: this is a creepy room.

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america, yeah. all of russia's eyes are upon you. bring honor to your clan. >> you know what, america, i will break you. i will break you. [ singing in russian ] >> forget about it. i'll bury you. i'll rip up your visa! no!

♪ o'er the land of the free >> just missed it, buddy. that was pretty close. >> i was actually out here all last night practicing. >> you must be kidding me. >> while zamir contemplates a suddenly grimmer future thanks to me, i head out to rublevka, a compound of luxury homes outside moscow, to meet alexander lebedev. at one time, alexander was doing great.

former officer of the intelligence services like putin, turned billionaire. he owned pieces of russia's most powerful energy companies, airlines and banks, and still publishes one of the only opposition newspapers left in russia. but running a newspaper that's been harshly critical of the ruler has cost him. he's been stripped of nearly everything. it can be a dangerous thing to do investigative journalism in this country. your own paper, five journalists, six lost their lives? >> yeah. probably the biggest number because there was no war in this country, so in peaceful times, to lose six journalists killed is quite a lot. >> six journalists murdered, one paper. presumably for their reporting on political corruption or human rights abuse. though pointing a finger directly at the government is

impossible, one can say that the climate here is such that what you say can certainly get you killed. you have at various stages made life difficult for yourself. business was very good for you, then you had to have an opinion. >> when you interact with the local bureaucracies and judicial system, it still leaves a lot to be desired, let's put it this way. >> lebedev is now a potato farmer. >> that's my production. that's my potato. >> the biggest producer in russia, true, but his billions are gone. he now lives the life of a mere millionaire. >> let's see how you like this one. >> very good. some freshly made potato chips that lebedev is very proud of. and his personal chef prepares scottish salmon, smoked on cherry tree sawdust served with avocado. mm. very good. lately, he is getting into slow food.

>> this is cold pressed cedar tree in siberia. >> cedar oil? but he has not slowed down his profile or kept his mouth shut. recently, in a russian talk show, he got in an argument over the financial crisis with another guest, a heated argument. he ended up smacking the guy. i saw the incident on television that got you in trouble. i found it very refreshing, actually, something that political discourse could use more of. the government took the opportunity to charge him with politically motivated hooliganism, a charge that could have resulted in a penalty of five years in prison. he is instead been convicted of battery. he is working off his sentence painting fences and shoveling snow. >> i mean, sitting on a bench and expecting to spend the next five years in prison with two small kids, it's not always, you know, very nice, but the guy said something very bad. he said those who don't have a billion go [ muted ] themselves. >> though his victim did not register an official complaint, the message i think was clear. >> the charges were pressed by the russian state which is funny because this is a private accusation. >> it's dangerous, very dangerous, to criticize or investigate or speculate. why?

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it's the kgb. they're blocking your signal. i'm sure that they are, believe it or not. i'm quite sure you've had someone on your tail the entire time you've been here. >> what's rock and roll supposed to be about other than cars and girls and aggression? about dissent. about rebellion, right? in russia, where everything is supposed to be just fine, that can be a dangerous position. travis link is an ex-pat american that manages this band, luna. ruben kazarian is luna's guitarist and song writer. >> it's very nice, we have elections, democracy, courts, but always doesn't work as it

should. so that prevents right now in russia to speak freely. formerly nothing but in reality, a lot of things. >> let's talk about mtv. rebel music as i understand it was an mtv music series whose fundamental principle was to celebrate bands who say difficult things in environments where there might be repercussions. and as i understand it, your band was chosen for one of seven episodes. >> correct. >> and in fact, one of your songs was used as the title track for the series. >> so i get a letter from the producer and essentially it says because of political pressure, the russia episode has been removed from the rebel music series. >> according to the producer, mtv russia pushed back on the content, she presumes because of the negative impact it would have on them and their ability to do business on a day-to-day basis in russia. mtv's official reason for removing luna from the series is

that they simply did not have enough time to air all the stories they filmed. >> this was a documentary series about musicians standing up and risking their lives in some cases to stand up against government abuse of power, government corruption, and yet, a foreign government was able to editorially control what american viewers see on their tv screens. that to me is a scandal of epic proportion. this entire documentary's gone. >> luna's song is the title track to the series, but their episode never happened. the rest of russia is very very different than moscow. here, you drive around it's like bentley, ferrari, maserati. you go to buy a pair of shoes, you pick up a bentley on the way out. you tour a lot in russia. what do you see? >> we see a lot of problems. we see the level of believing is very low. there is something in rock music that unites everybody.

it's something beyond politics. it's certain energy and this energy is the same in every country, in every city. we have rock music, we have common people. we're like you. ♪ >> i'm going to the hometown of president putin. st. petersburg. he was born there, started his career. >> the night train to st. petersburg is one of the great fun things to do in russia. roll on great steel wheels through the night, through dark forests of birch and snow.

out there in the dark, visible for a second or two at a time, the real russia, the one most russians live in. >> so tony, time to enjoy life. >> the gentle chicken meat. >> i need something gentle, tony. >> the seat cushion and ratatouille. may i propose a toast? to gentle chicken meats. pro tip -- if the word gentle is used on a menu, avoid those items and stick to theics. like blini with caviar and cold pickled herring and potatoes and soup of sturgeon, olives and lemon. is health care free anymore in this country? >> officially, it is free but if you want to get operation within a month, and you can't wait, you won't get it because long line of those. >> how about education? >> up to the high school, it's still free.

the quality's not best as it used to be. people used to get a lot of things for free. now it's coming to an end. >> you asked for capitalism, you got it, buddy. according to reaganomics it's the trickle-down theory. that means if i make lots and lots and lots and lots of money, money will somehow trickle down to you. you know, my masseur, my garage attendant, my aerobic therapist. they of course will be making money. i will be buying more things for various wives and prostitutes. in this way i don't exactly share the wealth but i trickle it down and if you don't like your job -- >> what can you do then? >> cleaning up for my dead prostitutes, you can leave your job at walmart and become a billionaire like me. or you go on a reality show and become really really rich. doing nothing. it's fantastic.

>> tony, i'm convinced. i think you know what you are doing in life, man. ♪ >> did you put on your jammies? >> uh-huh. >> i just want to state for the record, just because you were in the top bunk, that's no indication of any relationship that we may or may not have. >> you and me are very careful in public. if we bring up subject like this, there could be some different repercussions. tolerance never existed in russia. that's why when just recently people started to come out in russia, like lesbians and gays, they were either fired from their jobs or were given like hard time to exist. >> what about tchaikovsky?

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♪ that's the palace?

>> you remember what happened in october of 1917? >> everybody came charging through, charged up the steps and looted the palace. >> and he had to put on his female outfit to escape the revolutionary peasants. >> that wouldn't go over well these days. >> not anymore. >> recently in the run-up to the sochi olympics, attention has been drawn to a wave of rabidly homophobic remarks by public officials. images of gay and lesbian activists being beaten and harassed in the street, often with official or semi-official consent. and a new law which claims to forbid promoting homosexual propaganda to minors but which could be interpreted any way the authorities choose. what's happening here? what's going on? >> oh, my god. i don't know what's going on.

every day, i ask myself what's going on, what's going on. >> do you have to be afraid? >> no. i have nothing to lose. so i can be myself. i'm nobody in social system. >> artist and film maker xena robrek is a brave young woman. she's openly gay. lately, the actual hunting of gay people has been documented. violent skinhead gangs who contact gay men and women online, arrange meetings under false pretenses, then violently ambush them. there have been very few prosecutions. >> you can get killed for this. >> our local fixer, dasha, helps translate. >> she had a situation once where the skinheads attacked her on the street. not only once. >> this new law prohibits propaganda? >> amongst minors. [ speaking a foreign language ]

>> soviet propaganda, you can go to jail for anything. >> it means whatever they want it to mean. >> yes. how many gay families we have with kids, and those people are in maximum stress right now because their families might be hooligans. >> we rightly see this as outrageous. the russian public, however, it's very likely a vote getter. a cynical pandering to a powerful and enduring vein of deep-seated homophobia that goes way, way back. what do you think the source of this hatred is? >> it's not about russian church. it's about political structure. it's about power. we have two russias. >> okay. what are they? >> big like big bear.

not very sophisticated but instincts country. >> okay. >> and the other side is the country of intelligent people, thoughtful people. >> a lot of these political leaders, are they using the issue of gay rights to appeal to a larger audience? >> they try to play with bear. >> because usually what happens when you play with the bear is tomorrow or the next day or the next day, the bear eats you. >> yeah. >> are you hopeful? >> it's about responsibility. we should never give up. ♪ >> farm to table, in russia? organic? local?

why, yes. there are those who are trying. sergei is a very popular musician and leader of the band leningrad. it was banned in moscow purportedly for promoting alcoholism. >> cheers. >> this is sergei's wife, matilda. together they have opened this restaurant, kokoko, with the mission to bring genuinely local, quality russian food to diners. >> we opened this restaurant one year ago which will work only with local farmers and we are the first to do it. >> in all of russia. >> yes, in all of russia. >> traditional combination, rye bread and russian fish. >> chef igor's version of sushi. instead of rice, more traditional russian black bread with sprouts, mackerel, cod liver and salmon caviar. old school, but looks new school.

>> when i first came here 2001, the best restaurant in moscow was a nightmare of french, japanese ingredients, recipes from nowhere. >> everyone hated russia, wanted to be someone else. >> lightly smoked raw beef topped with quail egg. very interesting combination. very nice. what's the most popular thing? what do people want? >> the most popular is italian and japanese cuisine. >> sounds like a nightmare. >> cheers. >> that was good. ♪ before putin, before gorbachev, khruschev, stalin and lenin, there was this. imperial russia. mighty palaces spread across the empire where the very very few

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before putin, before gorbachev, khruschev, stalin and lenin, there was this. imperial russia. mighty palaces spread across the

empire where the very very few lived in unimaginable luxury. while their people worked and starved. didn't work out so well for paul, did it? >> not really. >> they choked the dude to death, right? >> actually strangled with a piece of cord. >> the czars of previous centuries were certainly living the good life. money, no object when it came to personal comfort or luxurious lodgings. and today's imperial powers seem not far behind. putin allegedly had a billion dollar palace built for him. we couldn't license the actual smuggled photo but our artist rendering looks like this. a putin spokesman dismissed all this, telling the "new york times" we have congress halls built for the kremlin but if you call all of them putin's palace, it is nothing but absurd. vodka. haven't tasted that before. so what would i be doing on my

outing if i were a czar, looking for kulats to impress? >> enjoying life. >> picking up some good speed here. >> oh, okay. >> some suggested that russia is, after all this time, coming full circle. a tiny, tiny minority in possession of nearly unlimited power and wealth. the idea of running up the steps and disemboweling royals, i can easily imagine myself doing that. it would not take much convincing. >> wow. that's a pleasant surprise. >> i would hurl them all into the sea tomorrow. after the revolution, in a blood-forced strategy designed to even things out, the government seized private residences, dividing them into little pieces and portioning them out to the masses who were

arriving from the countryside to serve the new industrialized soviet union. i never had any ideas of growing up in socialist wonderland. there was a brief period when i was a hippie and the idea of living in a commune, not attractive to me. >> i was born in a communal flat with three other families, sharing one john, one kitchen. >> no way. >> they would treat me when i had no food. >> no way. i share my toilet with no man. it's unchanged since soviet times. it's here that i see for the first time the glimpse of my friends in the mysterious past, growing new a home just like this one. in russia you dip your bread into this. >> so this was normal growing up?

>> i didn't drink booze until probably 22, but i'll show you how it works. >> those in charge of the services and residential were assigned x amount to plan together. >> that would mean the reason to create infrastructure, they should have a decent toilet or shower. >> so how's it going lately? better, worse? >> so putin changed the whole landscaping in the country. bring up the old soviet union

type of structure in the country. >> so what happens next? >> it never imagine in the wildest dreams that it could happen. s it can't go on like this for too long. yuri predicts it could be in a similar overnight collapsing situation. >> you're due for some major enno vagss. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu.

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. just another crisp morning in st. petersburg. ♪ >> ice fishing paradise. >> i wouldn't go out on that. not for $1 million, man. not now. not now. totally unsafe.

>> lessons of history. >> where are we? >> used to be a burial place. they were a little bit executed. >> a little bit? they were very executed. >> originally built to defend against the marauding swedes. god, i hate thoer marauding swedes, the peter and paul fortress was overrun during the revolution. so the 100-year anniversary of what is coming snup? >> great october socialist revolution. so i smell the disparity that

someone might storm the palace again. nothing change. >> every year without fail, this howitzer is fired to commemorate the re luvolution. >> ready to load. loaded. this is the moment. the moment of truth, tony. >> come up. one, two, four. >> sweet. >> destructive! >> congratulations. you are the hero of russia now. >> sweet.

>> you can't take it on the plane, though. they won't understand. >> not even carry-on? >> since the filming of this show, a number of things have happened. putin's sochi olympics, a blatant exercise of political muscle and a financial boondoggle the size unheard of in history went off as planned. russia won many gold medals, the most of any country in competition, which was really all that mattered. a few journalists complained about the bathrooms. but that is all but forgotten. more than $50 billion of mostly public money, gone. ukraine rose up and their pro putin president ran away. as if a foregone conclusion, russia in broad daylight has recently annexed crimea. and as i'm writing this, is massing tens of thousands of troop ops t troops on the border of ukraine.

the world has done nothing. it will do nothing. as vladimir well knew. he wins. again. some time ago something crawled or slithered or grew like a fungus. something that started small, got bigger, lurched like a swamp thing out of the mud and moist earth and humid nights of the delta. then it took over the world. so next time some smartass horrified by our ham-fisted foreign policy wonders out loud what good is america, well, you can always pipe up that the blues, rock and roll, r & b, and soul all came out of this place.