technology innovation holding these developments around russia we've gone through huge earth coverage. thanks for joining us on how costly our here's a quick recap of your headlines to terrorist bomb blast rock security compounds in the syrian capital killing several civilians and police it comes just a day after the u.n. special envoy to the country called the unarmed reported back on his efforts to broker peace between the warring sides and. the belorussian man found guilty of last year's deadly metro bombing in minsk has reportedly been executed after the

president tonight him clemency his death sentence has been condemned by international human rights groups which questioned the legality of the trial. and then you will march in riga out commemorating those who fought on hitler saw it draws condemnation both from inside the country and abroad but gets the backing from a lot beyond leadership. in the u.s. identifies the soldier suspected of killing sixteen civilians in afghanistan however an afghan investigation claims he wasn't working alone. myself were back in the uni year olds as we guide you through the russian city of perm. but to our floyd east of moscow it will land you in a city called pub it's one of russia's most populous ministers capitals on the i'm just real and cultural center of the european urals. lying on the banks of the comma river it's home to almost one million people and as you take

a walk around it's easy to see that this is a russian city trying to create an impression. quickly make you name for itself in the contemporary art world and the generous local government grants means there's something colorful crunchy or just colossal around almost every color. and right here in the center of the city you can fill in the highlights of its contemporary art projects. that is fifty under loads making up a cyrillic letter. and the city's artistic pedigree has been further and haunts by the new contemporary art museum it's been open since two thousand and nine and houses of the rise even usual and striking exhibits. now among the paintings here are rather fond of this little sculpture.

quite impressive bunch of criminals that. i'm a head of perms public art program now you're believes that the changes are adding to the city's reputation. through today is in the vanguard of cultural and social issues which affects not only these particular region you much also the country as a whole this is very important. and it's not just professional artists that are being showcased here. now these six hundred snowmen are all part of a citywide project's designs get the people more involved in all out and they've all been made fun decorates it's. other local school kids. and freezing temperatures are no barrier to

a good time and icy playgrounds are filled with the young and the young at heart. i believe doing it all moves playing. well i had a stroll through perms windsor wonderlands but it seems to me that there's one. very important guy missing. alone j.m. was nice to me i'm glad to see you here in perm thank you very much it always hurts that you are quite an unusual father frost is a true yes i'm a real dyed in the wool father frost complete with a real beard. yes i do like to show you some of my winter tricks would

be brilliant. and it's clear from the beginning that love is no one response or. plays in general i hear you russians fittest all the frost's certainly wouldn't want to be on his milton list. so now i get to find out how my remote news coordinator does a sixty nine year old. probably not but we'll see yeah this is great for. me but it will. be. like keeping me here in a little help from. all the frosts. could.

apply me. here k. i didn't break anything. thankful that i hadn't done any permanent damage i left level to his acrobatics and headed back out into the streets it was time for a little souvenir hunting there are many things more strongly associated with russia and the bear and although you might not see too many running around the streets of perm but doesn't mean you can't find them if you know it and look. if you go down to one particular workshop you're sure of a big surprise. now these are the sort of pairs you really wouldn't mind letting him see and here in perth their maker is a bit of a superstar because sees the winner of a golden george equivalent. of a teddy bear arms. over his designs have been cleaning up in international

competition for several years now from her postcard bears to her jeans characters he's amassed an impressive collection of her over. some of natasha's there's a real antiques including one that's supposed to have a long to sonic list the second she used to be a domain can you turn to teddy when a scottish friend after some plans to make their clothing now she can put together a new furry friend in around ten hours she's a pretty good teacher too so i think she has kindly offered to show me the arts of making your own that's not going to see. if i can get this little guy to look a little bit more cuddly. culture a quick tutorial on stuffing my first began to look far more healthy and i was ready for something a little more delicate. all of that was easier said than done. no

fail. and then there was the question of how to get them in the right position and hold it with their. looks brittle when it's in calls because i'm promising. nine has. come quite tricky. but eventually after some minor brain surgery we were ready for the finishing touch. oh boy we're only according to the time since any when the eyes go in that the bear actually becomes a bear so. they would think it might not be an oscar winner i think is quite lovable. i was finally ready to explore some of the per region and i started in the southeast in the picture

a city of congo back in the eighteenth century congo was considered to be the capital of the urals and it was one of the most important stops along the trade route to siberia but it was a hundred years later with the birth of gets a favorite son but it really reached the tate a. meet alexei goodkind the man who became russia's most famous t.v. importer and. boy the older is going to tell me a little bit about his life champion hello jeanne our corner guru there in the title of the t. capital of the russian empire thanks to the merchant alex. his talent was responsible for the fact that t. was no longer an exotic about rich it was something accessible to all alex he was dumped at the pioneer edges carver of sorts. who claims achievements transformed congo and as old as museum is devoted to his life and work it seemed only right to

sample his wares well in this case i think we do need to have a cup in his honor so olga you know what shall we do to kill just another because of course james let's go get a grip of course. just below the main exhibition hall is a replica of the nineteenth century russian tea house burned although the brew itself became more affordable in options time not everyone was able to have bertie with all the trimmings. sugar was expensive so much so that ordinary people could not afford it. in this case they drank tea all gazing at the sugar. sugar was suspended from the ceiling. drinkers would just look at the sugar while sucking on the bottom its food their brains and to think in their tea was sweet some of all was also becoming more and more widespread and tea drinking part and

parcel of each meal covers like this one more places to take your time and whether you were a merchant striking the appeal or just friends enjoying allegedly discussion well it seems they have the royce idea to me back in the nineteenth century a fine couple an excellent company if you want is to can. t.v. age. well you are doing a bit here your question gave me the issue for leaving the show i think it was time to return to the present but down on the congo river far more ancient tradition was taking place. i arrived in time for the russian orthodox celebration of a picnic a festival commemorates jesus his baptism and dozens of people were gathering by a hole in the ice to observe the sanctifying of the waters where he.

asked. to see the crowd coming in here on mass with as many containers as they can carry because often the water's been blessed the russian orthodox people believe that it's become incorruptible and they'll take all this was at home with them to bless themselves their families and their houses. it was a bit of a scramble but at least for now whether or misstating drawing them i headed off to watch the festivals culmination and one of congress' most famous landmarks. this is got to be the region's natural highland it's i'm in the congo cave and it's the only ice cave in russia that's a quick a tourist expeditions and these beautiful crystals hang from the walls all around the caves ventilation system acts like

a natural freezer leaving the ice near its entrance never folds and stuff like tights and starwood might step right at ceilings and for us. amazingly beautiful but. it is enough slick rick. became was first documented back in the nineteenth century and it's been a going to tourist attraction for well over a hundred years. it can be pretty cramped in places but as you move further back the ice recedes and the landscape starts to change the whole cave extends almost six kilometers on the ground and this should give you an idea of some of the variations of the size of the cross just this one is massive compared to the polar cross that we saw right at the beginning and also it's much much warmer and probably about plus two here and back at the start was around minus twelve.

reaches a depth of almost sixty meters and it's here of the bottom that you find it's underground lakes and just for tonight a crowd of the faithful. so once the this is finished here everyone queues up for a quick splash of holy water and a blessing from the priest. and for the bravest believers that's the signal to take the plunge. three full dips into the lake to all of the holy trinity and wash away all their sins from the past year. now until the utmost respect for guys like this but. purely for health and safety reasons you understand i should not be immersing my whole body in this freezing

water so i think i'm going to try an epiphany light. and then maybe you'll take care of a parking fine something like that. i made my way out of the cave away from. the city maybe a beautifully preserved poems of the region's industrial past but i was ready to take a trip into the countryside to a place with a mysterious. have

in a place called. a first glance perhaps just another piece of poem region country sides but apparently you can have close encounters here with much more than just nature. version of area fifty one following sources eighteen encounters and unusual goings on have been reported here but i wanted to see if there was anything to it. the go to look for extra terrestrials around.

i believe. i've got the most experience. in the business strange things happen in the lab come it's supposed to have its own equivalents of the you triangle some even believe that it's a gateway to a parallel universe and valarie a nickel i believe they can prove what is not what it seems it's pretty tricky. but. this part is supposed to be the most. anomalous zone so something weird is going to happen it's very likely to happen right here. and nikolai has an instrument he thinks shows up discrepancies in the areas energy fields through the first. i have brought a few devices with me. but check this out this one is interesting because of the text things we can't normally see. there's

a pulsing signal. joyce going around. you got kind of like a pop pop pop pop pop. which gets a lot. when i move. most of the total very there is in for red radiation here it may affect the operation of appliances and even the human body when you take a photo sometimes fears appear. there is an anomaly here for sure we can hear it. there was certainly something strange afoot and the larry had yet more tales of the unexpected for me. several years ago i came across strange markings in the snow this is what they looked like. snow was only here in this place it seemed to have evaporated there was no snow here. so i saw two squares and something looking

like this. i haven't moved i think this was left by a u.f.o. . i barely noticed the i was passing but the sun had already started to set if i was going to see something in my leg it had to happen fast. so i've encountered parallel universes energy anomalies and even lots is in time but i still haven't found any of these pesky aliens so i must be some way to do it. take me to your leader. well i don't know what happened next i seem to have some strange unexplained memory loss aliens or no i needed to head north and the three hundred twenty kilometer drive or a switch teleportation will take me to one of the area's most populous cities and

a genuine industrial powerhouse this place is called sol accounts and it may be the most important city in the whole of the perm region they call it russia salt cellar and it's been supplying the vital mineral to the country for more than six hundred years. the city lies on the karma river and its name translates to salts of the common it's particularly famous for its potassium chloride which is refined and sold as fertilizer and a trip through the city shows how the process has changed over time. these buildings urge tribute to a boy of all ages they date back to the eighteen a.c.s. and then the oldest standing salt factory left in russia. all of this is original equipment and this borehole goes down to a depth of almost two hundred meters i found the down there the salt water had a concentration and they would pump it out and take it to the furnace house for the

next stage of the process. so it was obtained by of operation and one student boiled in this great big basin here it would have been pushed up the top ready for the next batch and then it would all been transported by hand and bags like this this one was supposed to be just for the ladies and i can tell you it's about fifty kilos. they made in those days. so this will give you a better idea of what he looks like this one was drilled in one thousand nine hundred sixty i was actually under another old factory the water still flowing and nowadays people basically come and use it to some sort of tonic pennies was to be very good for the skin. and the refreshing.

the times of most definitely changed. nowadays of course the soles production is a bit more sophisticated so alexander annoy are about like it's all of the past and so in the world. something a little bit dark sometimes to turn this on now we're going down about four hundred twenty five meters behind me the right to take about three minutes. away from that if i don't tell if. this is right nick showoff number four and i can sound around one point three million tonnes of all from it every month. as we moved on wood it was easy to make different legs present on the mines where. it's believed to have

a deposits of an ancient seat that flowed through this me. in around two hundred fifty million years ago and they have some seriously heavy equipment to collect them. this massive drilling machine is the softs workhorse it weighs about one hundred tons and excavates almost thirty metres down each seam every shift and i'm going to get the chance to put it into action right. likewise. there we get to see. them once it gets going it needs to be emptied pretty quickly. so our transport vehicle is coming up here to see the drilling to see. it in a second. that little is going to come down and we should see about a tug of war. going into the back here.

just gets everywhere you there's your mouth that. there's more supply along. the north as far as they're into again. we have. big guns are loaded up on the track now. to get into position. and then deal. with a good. marriage transported to the factory or a friday. this one is most around puts it's believed this mine contains enough salts to last another forty years and there are a story to make sure the production continues around the clock bucks for. alexander

and the boys the shift was nearly finished i can't get over this year and scale of this story and it's about twenty metres high and almost two hundred metres long it's like something out of a hollywood horror movie i keep thinking that something going to jump out at me from the shadows but just thinking about the scale of the work that must be required to fill this with war makes me tired so i think on that note it's probably time for a well earned cup of tea. and after the journey back to the capital perm i thought i deserved a point to eat to. one of my favorite things about travelling around russia is that it gives me a chance to try out all the different local cuisines and all the chilly winter day like today it's the perfect excuse to eat something hot of.

now this is a city off the oil and hops because palm is famous for its pointless i'm going to learn how to make one. hello. mr morse can we cook today i can teach you how to cook our at the cyclone to keep it better be great thanks very much. and i will. translate as you see paul is tiny supposedly to much to shore towns of daylight's their winter favorite here in perth. ok. ok let's see how good i am with a rolling pin. and then the contents is good and it so we've got minutes chicken breast with some with some young ones in there as well and a bit of cream that's going to make up awfully good. once each has a generous donor up the edges the seals and crimped into

a shape that reminded me of what. life west country roots hope here. used to working with the past in his recent speeches in the past and we can see three each one is handmade and has the reputation of being the best in the city the restaurant serves them to around fifty guests tonight. gets the best of it now frying them in lots of oil. which makes for just better. and also just a couple of minutes they're ready to replace it up and served with this special sauce appropriate poem treat it with all the good he gets his analysis ok so mustard a minute or. so of course the proof of the course of course if you really need to.

i think i'm going to be putting on the winter insulation movies. there's no doubt that if you're visiting russia the region has a great deal to offer a freud encompass all it's making an artistic statements natural highlights and an industrial center that's still going strong off to six hundred years. and save the lives care for the end there just in case.