>> on one breath. ♪ >> zamir: beautiful right? we can really indulge ourselves into something special. such a beautiful day. >> anthony: little pony ride. >> zamir: absolutely. now we're coming to your most beautiful destination site of russian legacy, the birches. >> anthony: ah, the forest of birch. >> zamir: ah, what a place. ♪ >> anthony: all hail the maximum leader. now, let's dance! ♪

>> zamir: okay! thank you. >> anthony: well. ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la ♪ >> anthony: whatever you think of this guy? his dead, affectless eyes, his smooth, pulled-tight like a

snare drum face-he ain't 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 large gun? he's there. and no matter how transparently autocratic, vengeful, oblivious to even a thin veneer of democracy, 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!" ♪ >> anthony: 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 '80s-style, go-go capitalist conspicuous consumption, see who can spend the most money, disco techno thing i encountered when i first came here back in 2001, it's still going strong.

♪ >> anthony: in fact, these days, moscow has one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the world. ♪ >> anthony: but as never before, it's imperial russia now, a one man rule. all power emanates, every decision must consider - this guy. ♪ >> anthony: russia is full of characters with murky pasts and shadowy connections. but one of them, i've called a friend for more than a decade. >> zamir: tony! >> anthony: oh, [ expletive ]. >> zamir: wow!

>> anthony: i guess i'm switching to vodka. zamir! how are you, brother? ♪ >> anthony: now, my concern is, you know, back in the day, this place was famous for all of the rooms were bugged? >> zamir: not anymore, i'm sorry. >> anthony: oh really? ah, i'm really sorry about that. >> zamir: the times changed. >> anthony: poor zamir, my long time crony. he tries, at least, to be diplomatic about these things. i mean, he's got to live here, right? he doesn't want prussic acid on his blintzes. given the new enlightened, the liberalized, forward- thinking russia, they removed the, uh, surveillance devices? >> zamir: uh, listen. as a born moscowite, i'm trying to be a good patriot, so i really want you to tell me frankly, in a week from now, "zamir, now i understand, why stereotypes sometimes send a bad message about russia." >> anthony: i have an open mind. everything's great! russia does anything they want! >> zamir: listen, why don't we just taste the awesome? >> anthony: let's get [ expletive ] up. >> zamir: oh. [ speaks russian ] thank you. the most gorgeous women are in russia.

welcome to russia. nasdarovje. ♪ >> zamir: i'm trying to be kind of sober. uned we stand. >> chef: i prepared today special for you: "russian tapas." >> zamir: russian tapas. >> chef: specially for vodka drinking. with the small pancakes, like blinis. >> anthony: nice. >> zamir and anthony: nice. >> chef: and uh, astrakhan caviar. looks like winter. salted cucumber with honey. and this is baltic sprats, smoked one with beet root. and this one is a muksun, this is a white -- whitefish. >> zamir: ooh! white fish from -- >> chef: whitefish frozen with malden salt and a little bit of pepper. and you can eat it raw. >> anthony: thank you, chef. >> chef: yeah. >> anthony: i'm hitting the caviar and the bellini. >> zair: oy, yoy, yoy. >> anthony: mmm. >> zamir: maybe some more vodka. thank you. and your smile makes it like -- feel like it's water. [ anthony burps ]

>> zamir: what do you think? what is the perception of mr. putin these days? after 14 years, he's in power, just think about, his personal -- >> anthony: my -- my perception? do you really want to hear it? >> zamir: i'm not sure, but let's see. >> anthony: a former mid-level manager in a large corporation. short. i think that's very important. short. [ zamir coughs ] >> anthony: who has found himself master of the universe. and 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. [ zamir laughing ] >> zamir: let's be serious, i mean, by the times -- >> anthony: he strikes me as a businessman. a businessman with an ego. >> zamir: he is. >> anthony: okay, so he's like donald trump, but shorter. >> zamir: i think my friend needs some -- some kind of booze. to you, comrade. like this, you know. >> anthony: you can have that one, i'll get the next one. >> zamir: ooh. [ clears throat ] i am serious about your one-week stay in russia. i want you to enjoy every minute of it. i hope you'll get something new positive to learn, and share around the world. that's my mission. ♪ [ woman speaks russian ] [ crowd chanting in russian ]

>> zamir: okay, tony, so your new experience, right? being part of the opposition rally. >> anthony: this is nothing new for me. blows against the empire, street-fighting man, that's me, i go way back. way back with this. i marched on the pentagon with my dad when i was a kid. >> zamir: seriously? >> anthony: yeah. >> zamir: so you're well prepared. it could be a little bit physical and brutal today. >> anthony: i don't know. all i know is if that dog goes aiming for my nut sack. my day as a dissident will be over quickly. [ zamir laughs ] >> anthony: there is opposition to putin. but it's a mixed bag. [ man shouting in russian ] >> anthony: and if you do see a demonstration, like this one, it is with permission, along a planned route, carefully managed, and the cops and security tend to outnumber the demonstrators. [ man shouting in russian ] >> zamir: phones and metal stuff goes up? the main topic of this rally is to support the political prisoners. last may, when they came to protest against putin's re-election, which allegedly was

a little bit rigged - >> anthony: we the election results were, shall we say, dubious. >> zamir: some of them were arrested and put in prison and some of them are still there. >> anthony: divide and conquer? well, look who's showed up today. [ crowd chanting in russian ] >> anthony: everybody from human rights activists, to ultra right wing nationalists who think putin's been too soft. putin is not right wing enough for them? >> zamir: no. he's like a liberal to them. he doesn't [ expletive ] the jews and immigrant workers. >> anthony: right. i'm sort of shocked that these guys are at the same demonstration. >> zamir: well, russians, they are not united around one political agenda. so -- >> anthony: the only thing that's uniting this group right now is general unhappiness with putin. >> zamir: that's it. ♪ >> anthony: 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? >> nemtsov: this is a country of corruption. and if you have business, you are in a very unsafe situation. everybody can press you and destroy your business. that's it. this is the system. >> anthony: 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. >> waiter: first course, gentlemen. >> zamir: ah. >> anthony: at yornik restaurant, they're serving their own versions of dino-era, russian classics. a modern riff on borscht, typically a chunky, hearty, beet and cabbage broth with chunks of meat; here it's a puree, with a more elegant, shall we say,

deconstructed presentation. ♪ >> anthony: critics of the government, critics of putin, bad things seem to happen to them. >> nemtsov: yes. unfortunately, existing power represent let i say russia of 19th century, not of 21st. >> anthony: critics of putin, beware. oligarch mikhail khodorkovsky accused putin of corruption, and wound up spending 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, the former ukranian president: 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 whodunit. everybody understands. and everybody is meant to understand. >> nemtsov: yeah of course. yeah everybody understands. everybody understands everything in this country. >> anthony: when you're talking classic conspiracy theories, and classically russian-style paranoia, you want some classic russian food to go along with it. pelmeni -- minced beef dumplings served on a pillow of cabbage with sour cream. mm, it's very good. maybe the most extreme invisible example of how things seem to work here is the sochi olympics. >> nemtsov: if you look at the map of russian federation, it's difficult to find a sport without snow and ice at all. but putin did. >> anthony: but it seems like a pretty obvious question. i mean, if we wanted to hold our winter olympics in miami, presumably someone would say,

"isn't it a little warm there?" >> nemtsov: this is absolutely personal putin project. >> anthony: right. >> nemtsov: they spent more than $50 billion, which is the most expensive games in the history of mankind. >> anthony: $26,000 a seat for the curling stadium? to build? >> zamir: per seat. >> nemtsov: putin rode from adler to krasnaya polyana, which is 30 miles. price for that, 9 billion u.s. dollars. this is a road right? it's three times expensive than american program flying to mars. >> anthony: 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 rotenberg brothers, whose companies received contracts worth upwards of $7 billion. and putin's associate of 20 years, vladimir yakunin, who also owns the state railroads. his company received $10 billion worth of contracts. >> nemtsov: it's very easy to imagine what's happened with this money. >> anthony: right. and you know who cares in russia?

just about no one. here's this is a case of uh, litvinenko case. a known enemy of putin, stricken with a bout of radioactive polonium. aren't you concerned? >> nemtsov: me? about myself? >> anthony: yeah! you're a pain in the ass. >> nemtsov: tony, i was born here 54 years ago. this is my country. russian people are in a big -- they're in big trouble. russian court doesn't work, russian education decline every year. and i believe that russia has a chance to be free. has a chance. it is difficult but we must do it. ♪

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>> anthony: america! [ exletive ] yeah. all of russia's eyes are upon you.

bring honor to your clan. >> zamir: you know what, american? i will break you! i will break you. [ singing in russian ] >> anthony: go. >> zamir: ah! russia, for you! forget about it! we'll bury you! i'll revoke your visa! no! russia does not surrender! ♪ oh, the land of the free >> zamir: ah. just missed it by -- i was pretty close. >> anthony: i was actually out here all last night. uh, practicing.

>> zamir: you must be kidding me. ♪ >> anthony: 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 the novaya gazeta, 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, what? five journalists? six? >> lebedev: yeah.

>> anthony: have lost their lives? >> lebedev: yeah, probably the biggest number, because there was no war in this country. so, in peaceful times, to lose six journalists killed, it's quite a lot. >> anthony: 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 and then you had to have an opinion. [ laughing ] >> lebedev: when you interact with the local bureaucracies and judicial system, it still leaves a lot to be desired. let's put it this way. >> anthony: lebedev is now a potato farmer. >> lebedev: that's my production, that's my potato. >> anthony: the biggest producer in russia, true-but his billions are gone and he now lives the life of a mere millionaire. >> lebedev: let's see how do you like this one? >> anthony: mm, 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. mmm! oh, it's very good. lately, lebedev is getting into slow food. >> lebedev: this is, uh, cold pressed cedar tree in siberia. >> anthony: oh, the cedar oil? ah. >> lebedev: from corn, from the cedar corn. >> anthony: but he has not slowed down his profile, or kept his mouth shut. recently, on 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. >> lebedev: that was silly of me. >> anthony: um, i found it very refreshing, actually, i think it's something that political discourse could use more of. the government took the opportunity to charge him with "politically motivated hooliganism," a charge that could've resulted in a penalty of five years in prison. he has instead been convicted of battery. he's working off his sentence painting fences, and shoveling snow. >> lebedev: i mean, sitting on a bench and expecting to spend 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 [ explicit ] yourself." >> anthony: though his victim did not register an official complaint, the message, i think, was clear. >> lebedev: the charges were pressed by the russian state, which is pretty funny, because this is a private accusation. >> anthony: it's dangerous. very dangerous. to criticize, or investigate, or speculate. why? why do you care? >> lebedev: do you really think you can defeat it? no. so what are you doing? i hope. hopefully, reason will prevail. . stella artois be legacy and an early morning mode.ode. and a partly sunny mode.

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now you can watch nbc's coverage of the rio olympic games live at home or on the go. ♪ >> travis: no it's the kgb. they're, they're blocking your signal. >> zach: well, i think they're just listening to it. i don't know if they're blocking it. >> travis: 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. >> anthony: 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 leake is an ex-pat american, who manages this band, louna. rouben kazariyan is louna's guitarist and songwriter. >> rouben: what we have now here is a façade and it's very nice. we have elections, democracy, courts, but all this doesn't work as it should. so, what prevents, right now in russia to speak freely? formally nothing, but in reality, a lot of things. >> anthony: let's talk about mtv. so rebel music, as i understand it, was an mtv television 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. >> travis: correct. >> anthony: and, in fact, one of your songs was used as the title track for the series.

>> travis: 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." >> anthony: 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 "louna" from the series, is that they simply did not have enough time to air all the stories they filmed. >> travis: 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 is gone. >> anthony: louna's song is the title track to the series. but their episode? never happened. the rest of russia is very, very

different than moscow. i mean here, you drive around, and it's like bentley, ferrari, maserati, you know, 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? >> rouben: we see a lot of problems. we see that the level of the living 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 are common people, we are alike here. ♪ >> zamir: we are going to the hometown of president putin -- st. petersburg. he was born there, started his

career. >> anthony: 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. >> zamir: so tony, time to enjoy life. >> anthony: ooh, the gentle chicken meat. >> zamir: [ laughing ] really? i did something gentle, tony. >> anthony: the sea crucian and ratatouille. >> zamir: ratatouille! [ laughs ] >> anthony: may i propose a toast? >> zamir: let's go for it. >> anthony: to gentle chicken meats. pro tip. if the word "gentle" is used on a menu, avoid those items and stick to the classics. like blini with caviar, and cold pickled herring and potatoes, and soyinka, a soup of sturgeon, salmon, olives, and lemon.

is healthcare free anymore in this country? >> zamir: well, officially they say it's free, but if you want to get operation within a month, and you can't wait, you won't get it, because there's a long line of those. >> anthony: right. how about education? >> zamir: up to the high school, it's still free. the quality is not best as it used to be. people used to get a lot of things for free. now, it's -- it's coming to an end. >> anthony: you asked for capitalism, you got it, buddy. according to reaganomics, this is the trickle down theory. okay? >> zamir: yeah. >> anthony: so that means that if i make lots and lots and lots and lots of money, that money will somehow trickle down to you. you know my masseur, my garage attendant, uh, my aromatherapist. 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, i trickle it down. and if you don't like your job -- >> zamir: what can you do then? >> anthony: mopping my

feces-spattered walls, cleaning up my dead prostitutes, you can leave your job at wal-mart and become a billionaire like me. or you make a porn film and then you go on a reality show and you become really, really rich. for doing nothing. it's fantastic. >> zamir: [ laughing ] tony, i am convinced. i think you know what you are doing in life man. >> anthony: did you put on your jammies? >> zamir: uh-huh. >> anthony: i just want to state for the record, uh, just 'cause you're in the top bunk, that's no indication of any relationship that we may or may not have. >> zamir: you and me have to be very careful when we're in

public, and if you bring up subjects like this, there could be some different repercussions. you know, 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. >> anthony: but what about tchaikovsky? >> zamir: they try not to acknowledge it by saying he was a great musician, so -- >> anthony: he was a great musician who liked to have sex with other men. >> zamir: that's what people are not meant to learn in school. ♪ is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the summer of audi sales event is here. get up to a $5,000 bonus

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♪ >> anthony: and that's, ah, the former winter palace? >> zamir: you remember what happened in october 1917? >> anthony: everybody came charging through, charged up the steps and looted the winter palace. >> zamir: right. and kerensky, who was in charge of interim government, had to put on his female outfit to escape the revolutionary peasants. >> anthony: that wouldn't go over well these days. >> zamir: right. not anymore.

>> anthony: 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 can be interpreted any way the authorities choose. what's happening here? what's going on? >> kseniia: oh my god. [ laughs ] i don't know what's going on. uh, every day, i ask myself, "what's going on?" "what's going on?" >> anthony: do you have to be afraid? >> kseniia: no, i have nothing to lose. so, ah, i can be myself. i am nobody in social system and i understand it. >> anthony: artist and filmmaker kseniia krabrykh, 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 few prosecutions. [ kseniia speaks russian ] >> dasha: even you can get killed for this. >> anthony: our local fixer, dasha, helps translate. kseniia had a situation once when the skinheads attacked her on the street. >> kseniia: not only once. >> dasha: not only once, you know. >> anthony: this new law, it prohibits propaganda? >> dasha: amongst minors. [ kseniia speaking russian ] >> dasha: it's like about anti-soviet propaganda. you can go to jail for anything. >> anthony: right. it means whatever they want it to mean.

>> dasha: yes. we look how many gay families we have with kids. and those people are in maximum stress right now because their families might be ruined. >> anthony: right. 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? >> kseniia: it's not about russian orthodox church. >> anthony: okay. >> kseniia: it's about uh, political structure. it's about power. we have two russias. >> anthony: okay. what are they? >> kseniia: big. like a big bear. >> dasha: not very sophisticated and based on instincts country. >> anthony: okay. [ kseniia speaking russian ] >> dasha: and the other side is the country of intelligent people, of thoughtful people. >> anthony: a lot of these political leaders, are they using the issue of gay rights to appeal to a larger audience? >> kseniia: they try to play with bear.

[ laughs ] >> anthony: right, because usually what happens when you play with the bear is, tomorrow or the next day or the next day, the bear eats you. >> kseniia: yeah. >> anthony: uh, are you hopeful? [ kseniia speaking russian ] >> dasha: it's about responsibility. [ kseniia speaking russian ] >> dasha: we, we should never give up. ♪ >> anthony: farm-to-table? in russia? organic? local? why, yes, there are those who are trying. sergei shnurov is a very popular musician and leader of the band, leningrad. leningrad was banned in moscow at one time, for purportedly, promoting alcoholism. cheers. [ rest of table speaks russian ]

>> anthony: this is sergei's wife matilda. together, they've opened this restaurant, cococo, with a mission to bring genuinely local, quality russian food to diners. >> matilda: we opened this restaurant one year ago, which will work only with local, seasonal farmers' food, and we are the first who did it. >> anthony: in all of russia? >> matilda: yes, in all of russia. [ waiter speaking russian ] >> matilda: a traditional combination of rye bread, and russian fish. >> anthony: chef igor grishekin's version of sushi. instead of rice, more traditional russian black bread with sprats, mackerel, cod liver and salmon caviar. old school, but looks new school. mmm. good. when i first came here, 2001. the best restaurant in moscow was a nightmare of french, japanese ingredients. recipes from nowhere. [ sergei speaking russian ] >> zamir: everyone hated russia. they wanted to be someone else. >> waiter: second course. >> zamir: wow.

>> anthony: pearl barley, lightly smoked raw beef, topped with quail egg. >> zamir: very interesting combination. mmm. >> anthony: very nice. what's the most popular thing? what do people want? >> matilda: the most popular is italian and japanese cuisine, and karaoke. >> zamir: karaoke. >> matilda: yes. >> anthony: it sounds like a nightmare. >> zamir: fusion, tony, that's the word. >> matilda: cheers. >> anthony: oh, that was good. dm and up to 4 lines. 16 gigs. all for only a hundred and fifty dollars. and no surprise overages. sweet. i know. and it's all on america's best network.

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>> anthony: before putin, before gorbachev, kruschev, stalin and lenin, there was this -- imperial russia. mighty palaces spread across the empire, where the very, very few lived in unimaginable luxury. >> zamir: that's paul. tsar paul. >> anthony: while their people worked and starved. it didn't work out so well for paul, did it? >> zamir: not really. >> anthony: they choked a dude to death, right? >> zamir: actually he was strangled with a piece of cord. >> anthony: 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." oh, vodka. haven't tasted that before. ooh. so what would i be doing on my outing if i were czar? looking for some kulaks to oppress, or --? >> zamir:hunting, you know, enjoying life. >> anthony: all right. we're picking up some good speed here. >> zamir: oh, okay! >> anthony: some have 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 could easily imagine myself doing that. it would not take much convincing. >> zamir: well, that's a pleasant surprise. >> anthony: i would hurl them all into the sea tomorrow. after the revolution, in a blunt force 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 swarming in from the countryside to serve the new, industrialized soviet union. i never had any dreams of growing up in socialist wonderland. like when i was -- a brief period where i was a hippie? the idea of living in a commune? not attractive to me. >> zamir: i was born in a communal flat with three other family. sharing one john, one kitchen. >> anthony: no way. >> zamir: they would feed me when i had no food. >> anthony: no way, i share my toilet with no man. >> zamir: take the first left please.

>> anthony: meet yuri. human rights activist, professor of journalism, one of twenty-six tenants living together in this communal apartment. an arrangement basically unchanged since soviet times. >> zamir: just in case you change your mind, and -- >> anthony: and it's here that i see, for the first time, a glimpse of my friend zamir's mysterious past, growing up in a home just like this one. >> zamir: in russia, normally people dip your bread into this and -- like this. >> anthony: so this was normal for you growing up? >> zamir: yeah. i would drink booze until probably 22, but i'll show you how it works. >> anthony: so who decided who moved into these places? [ yuri speaking russian ] >> zamir: so those who were in charge of the specific communal services and residential department would assign x amount of this to this plan, to that plan. >> anthony: did you get to choose your neighbors though?

no. i guess not. [ yuri speaking russian ] >> zamir: in the soviet union in present-day russia, there has never been a reason to create infrastructure to make people's life better. no one really cared about the people. and they should have decent toilet, or shower. >> anthony: so how's it going lately? better? worse? [ yuri speaking russian ] >> zamir: so, vladimir putin changed the whole landscaping in the country. first of all, he started to cramp down on the human rights, on the democratic rights. the most recent laws and changes in the constitution bring up the old soviet union type of structure in the country. >> anthony: so what happens next? [ yuri speaking russian ] >> zamir: the year before the soviet union collapsed, you would never believe in any wildest dreams that it could happen. nowadays, he thinks, it's a similar situation. it looks like a stable, you know people are busy, money made, you know rich cars.

but it can't go on like this for too long. so yuri predicts it could be in a similar, overnight, collapsing situation. so there is some hope. >> anthony: you're due for some major renovations. (alert from the mom's phone.) everyone loves the picture i posted of you. at&t reminds you it can wait. i don't want to lie down. i refuse to lie down.

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♪ >> anthony: just another crisp morning in st. petersburg.

>> zamir: neva river -- ice fishing paradise. >> anthony: yeah, i'm not going to -- i wouldn't go out on that. you'd have -- not for a million dollars, man. not now. >> zamir: not now! [ laughs ] >> anthony: not now. it's totally unstable. >> zamir: lessons of history. >> anthony: where are we? >> zamir: peter and paul's fortress, which used to be a burial place for the romanovs. who were a little bit executed, in, ah, 1917. >> anthony: a little bit. they were very executed. and, that's what they found. originally built to defend against the marauding swedes, god, i hate those marauding swedes, the peter and paul fortress was overrun by the bolsheviks during the revolution.

so the hundred-year anniversary of what is coming up? >> zamir: great october socialist revolution. in three years from now. >> anthony: almost, in three years. >> zamir: so, i smell with that, the disparity gap in society. very rich, and very poor. that someone might bring up the masses back to the winter palace and storm it again! like hundred years, nothing changed. >> anthony: every day at noon, without fail, this d-30, 122 millimeter howitzer is fired to commemorate the revolution. >> zamir: ready to load. loaded. very solemn moment. moment of truth, tony, for you. come up.

attention. one. two. four. >> anthony: sweet! >> zamir: enemy is destructed! [ officer speaking russian ] >> zamir: congratulations! you are the hero of russia now! >> anthony: sweet! >> zamir: you can't take it on the plane though, they won't understand. >> anthony: no. 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 of a 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 despotic, pro-putin president ran away. as if a foregone conclusion, russia, in broad daylight, has recently annexed the crimea, and as i'm writing this, is massing tens of thousands of troops on the border of ukraine. the world has done nothing. it will do nothing, as vladimir well knew. he wins. again. >> on the night, nemsov was killed, he was a tireless advocate of the people.

they have called for a investigation, the highest profile assassination during the tenure of president putin. the chances of such a thing actually happening, however, seem unlikely at best.