up next is sophie shevardnadze guys as sort of pulse of the kremlin the public just don't get to see and meet those whose unseen efforts keep the will standing in russia seat of power state in. from a bird's eye view oddly shaped trying for him by moscow's kremlin could be seen as the heart of. a small state within a state these red walls have been protecting moscow's kremlin for more than five centuries. to even idea of its size so we decided to actually go around it before going inside we must start right here at this hour time you watch.

the extent of the kremlin walls is over two kilometers and if you want to go around it you better go real fast because the winters in russia are really cold it's minus ten today. the first kremlin was built south of woods a couple of times before being rebuilt in white stone. three hundred years later the walls of a tower square faced with the famous red rake but if you actually pulled away the red brick you would see a wall as whites as a bridal gown and some of those walls are almost six meters thick. right here on the red square wasn't depend moats filled with water and together

with a ring of twenty towers it made the kremlin and inaccessible fortress known around the world. the why now the tar club worst to witness it took us twenty seven minutes to go around the kremlin walls but what was behind them well join me on a journey to the heart of the kremlin to a place is hidden from the tourists he's going to meet some real kremlin insiders although they may not be the usual news makers you see on t.v. . so that you're going to true kremlin scholar this man is practically saturated with kremlin history so good to death of the day that and finally we meet good to see you sir couldn't ask a gate is the major passage into the kremlin and traditionally it has always been

open for arriving visitors during the day since the time of ivan the terrible sars in the emperors used to when visiting moscow or anyone entering the gates. to all of the savior of smaller whose image can be seen above the gate. and tearing through game to enforce prohibition the legend has it that when napoleon passed through the. twelfth tour his famous by calling from his had confront the savior. in nine hundred forty five. union martial. both rules in one moment he entered dressed square three spassky again to see if the first victory day parade on horseback and wearing his service cap. so when did the i can appear here. has been here since the sixteenth century but

disappeared during the soviet era it was only a year ago that the stores discovered the icon under a layer of plaster while examining the mystery almost thanks to them it was saved. in the name of the father. and the holy spirit amen. this busking gate was open for passage until the late ninety's but motor transport to and from the kremlin disturbed tourists walking along the red square and the kremlin walls and with the new millennium came the decision to close the gate. now it opens only on special occasions during the ninth of may fixture day parade for example or on inauguration day to receive the presidential motorcade. the only other visitor to pass through the gate is a giant christmas tree hopefully or celebrations. of the how could you lead me

through those gates no but we can enter the kremlin through the private entrance a secret entrance for a closed circle is just around the corner. is very easy to get inside the kremlin together with you. as for me i've always wanted to get to the kremlin clock and especially to the bells it seems a child i always stood outside looking at the clock and i thought a magician lived there commandments the clock and also when the bells rang i was simply routines to the ground can i get inside with more to yes but you're not dressed warmly i'm of there is a strong wind up there i have this very cold i think you'll have to put on something warmer. this bosco tower was the heart of the kremlin's defensive line it was and to suppose that any offensive would come from the southeast and that the tower would be to first attacked as

a result house trifle and artillery units in the seventeenth century spot the first to bear of the two had eight eagle emblem of russia during soviet times they were all with one. the five pointed star. but the towers true jam has its chimes its clock face has a six meters diameter the rim numerals and clock hands are all gold plated a total of twenty eight kilograms of gold is needed just to coat them. inside this basket are right now we're going to meet a true tower so you can those that are of all of us how to keep titans tower oh sissoko. so good to meet you so one thirty clock appear in the tower because we see today has been here since they seem fifty two. clocks appeared on the spot during the time of zalmai harl romanov let me tell you more about them at the top of that

i'm following you. to reach the clock one has to climb nine floors of spiral stairs. hear the clock your stern steadily waking every fifteen minutes to signal the bells to strike every quarter hour for one big hate on the hours and. fifty children know the purpose of the bells ringing previously when few people had watches the chimes informed everyone of the toilet. previously the clock course operated manually but since nine hundred thirty seven three electric motors to go over everything else has been preserved in its original form. our clock is the oldest one in the. can you see the pointer at the end.

this point to regulates the speed of the clocks motion if the clock blocks behind it increases the speed if it's forced the point to slows it down so they do lag behind. well you never notice it because once it starts to pick up specialists quickly eliminate the problem acting like an ambulance so far we haven't noticed it but we're close to reeling gave us that's right. this is and then shouldn't bell ringing. for setting up melodies at the tower it's almost two and a half meters in diameter and what is a single it's the national anthem of russia. this . develops strikes the melody of russia's national anthem every six hours cables run from the drum below to the very top where the chime in the bell tower. well here are the bells yes we're in the belt. if you look up you'll see it still

has a wooden sealer. forty eight bells hang here in imperial times but were lost during the soviet era today the chime sings the russian anthem with ten bells and a few metal beats up here at ten stories of the ground it's always very windy. we've got to go now because the main bells and us are ringing and we are risking mccarrick death and also it's very cold so we're getting out of here. being from the noises of the bells just a few minutes later i found myself near the kremlin central square where people are preparing for especially so right now we're only cathedral square where

a giant fir tree is being decorated for new year celebrations these three stands between the palaces a warship and the palaces of the stars and can just tell you something one. hundred years old which basically means that it was born in the last star was still alive. one can see that this. christmas tree has won a very demanding seasonal beauty pageant. spend several months searching for the right candidate at least. displaying. is especially for this christmas tree. st. it's thirty or. twenty times my height and in no time is going to be wearing at the park. jewelry and decorations about two thousand pieces and one thousand five hundred

metres of garland that's like almost enough to surround the kremlin and. the trees decorations from top to bottom to begin with the large. it is a quarter of the size of. the kremlin towers. though they look over. at least one piece onto the tree and. true. so now we're going to talk to. decorate. the tree. i wonder how long. have you been decorating christmas trees. this is the first.

christmas trees that cathedral. christmas tree. to clear. by the way the total weight of the decorated christmas tree is thirty tons and four hundred kilos. well if this size of the tree is any indicator the presents under race also promised much.

the next point of my journey is the grand kremlin palace usually it is of anywhere important state ceremonies mostly dignitaries are invited here but in the past children were also received thousands of them came to celebrate. the tradition of arranging holidays for children in the kremlin dates back to more than fifty years the first reception was in the grand kremlin palace his largest hall st georges in one nine hundred fifty fool. zand christmas tree tracks directly up the stairs through the front door without much thought for the ancient interior over sixty meters deep st george's hall is the size of a football page a giant fir tree used to be mounted right here in this massively have the object is to be dragged across this park here for that was originally late in eight hundred

forty five. when it's scraped that chandelier each one weighing three tons by the way and it's tinkling produced an almost surreal eerie chime also large nails were hammered into this floor to fix this huge christmas tree they can't sue danced and sang in this hall where we're asked not to shuffle because it would ruin the floor nevertheless the interior was heavily damaged even i was asked to come in with soft indoor shoes and i tried my best. these wrongs honor the memory of heroes who received the order of st george for their courage and the. second generation. is also a fine but a fighter to preserve the host reconstruction still one has changed after the reconstruction but it will support the pocket has definitely changed because we did it with hard. to make it bright. it's very rare than two percent of the pocket survived since one thousand nine hundred eighty five when it was. this it percent

of the flooring was it plays during restoration in one thousand sixty eight thousand nine hundred sixty nine it took. to restore. the. children were moved to a new building in the early sixty's the kremlin palace of congress built on that. it's obvious that this building is from the soviet era and it stands in stark contrast with the kremlin's architectural character the palace used to be a key side for communist forums and now it's the most prestigious musical venue in this country and also a stage for the world's greatest artists show as an hour or elton john tina turner here they made they've all been here. right now underway in the state kremlin palace for performing for thousands of kids

. inside we have an appointment with a kremlin oldtimer children's writer alexander to get the script to the very first children party in one thousand and fifty through luton with i think with broken the soviet tradition of staging performances here at the kremlin before. the tree would light up then kids would be shown to play with a revolutionary theme park there. with them and change the plugs for what it was about a boy toy out of his current situation so in the story he sent him to a different time. when i came to the new year policy there was no coverage on the floor on all sorts of gone with the roof it turned out to the during the show some of the children had wet themselves on the carpet out of fear. that to be washed and hung out to draw off to bits.

they were your performances are more predictable but still barely colorful nevertheless. by tradition at the end of the show the main character of the new year celebrations makes his grand entrance how the. children always leave kremlin with gifts however the greatest drama is after the show when parents surround the new year straight to pick the children up who risk to disperse like in kremlin inner sanctum. so how did you like this show was it ok. all right so now it's about time to find out where one can eat in here kitchen. it is not on the fence the state.

has to meet you. talking about what's here. short let's go over there. where we. say if you. so this is where all. that is take place. so good.

that. i don't think i'm. very fond of. lobster salad. in the. mess. on a business trips so when someone in the countryside. also a traditional delicacy you security officers. are very

carefully checked before the presidential mouth. so when your. secret service i. make sure that. the people. there. was a lover of the. secretary of state. personally promoted by international receptions thanks to. cream sauce with parmesan cheese to go with ravioli i guess i can say that the

president are you going to have some. oh leaving this is so good. after lunch and there is an order perhaps in sars. i decided to acquaint myself with. the peace and quiet in the kremlin. a whole regiment of young soldiers live here guarding the kremlin and the president. berets. the presidential regiment is rehearsing a performance with weapons. are not only soldiers but also honor guards they protected. at the eternal flame. please show me some special tricks that i can teach you if you want all right let's do it like a pro commando is. but. let me show you the.

up to the shoulder. bend to the foot hold the carbine with your right time i'm not going to cut myself and my you won't cut yourself unfold it. almost now shoulder the web show lifted up your hold with your left. i'm holding it if you're going to be careful it should not lean on the left shoulder. this is the position in which we start the honor guard. young men between eighteen and twenty or selected across the country for the presidential regiment. one can see that they are. in perfect health background and professional appearance . as well the guards very handsome young man of similar hates are chosen. for their emergency situation when people break the existing rules for example if

people step over the chains we warn them with this kind of signal where the kid was tapping the rifle on the ground the public immediately understands what this noise means and don't go any further. the most frequent violators are young girls they always try to flirt with the guards. but this is to no avail the guards are not allowed to move never mind smile. so here is your signature move it is about we would raise the leg about seventy eighty degrees move the body forward and put the full foot on the ground just makes the food you step with and bend a little. quick march. doing it well you can join our company in a couple of months. to the rights. it's time for the guys to prepare for the

changing of the guard but i couldn't miss a chance to take a look at their uniform wardrobe. we wear ceremonial overcoats the overcoats are very warm with color of. course. when the temperatures twenty degrees below zero we were warmer uniform cold to because. it is made of. very warm fur it feels halted to even when it's minus twenty. four hour journey into the heart of kremlin is coming to an end and it's time for me to move behind the kremlin walls so i can make it for the changing of the cards. so the guards are changing every hour daily from eight am to eight pm these guys any weather. rain out. in the summer but the most hard part of course. there are

motionless no matter what but hey that's the price you pay to leave rent free inside the kremlin.

height fifty two meters. more than one thousand tons of. skin thickness thirty centimeters. the guinness record. commemorating the battle of stalingrad. the motherland called. on our team.

this is our teats de france heads to the polls in a runoff vote which will define whether nicolas sarkozy will be the latest. from his post by the crippling debt crisis. meanwhile the egyptian presidential campaign is barred by escalating violence since protests against the military from being peaceful that ended deadly clashes. in the week russia's north caucasus is brought by twin terror attacks in the republic of dagestan that left thirteen dead and more than one hundred injured. plus an anti-government rallies expected in moscow a day before putin returns to the kremlin and to be true preventive leaves we take a look at the legacy of the outgoing president.