Episode 3

The third and final leg of Simon's Russian journey takes him from the illegally annexed peninsula of Crimea to the historic Baltic city of St Petersburg. Crimea is part of neighbouring Ukraine but was annexed by Russia in 2014. President Putin's government is investing heavily in the illegally occupied territory - building a huge bridge linking Crimea to Russia. Simon meets the eccentric and fearless owner of a safari park who likes to get up close and personal with his pride of lions. The owner is struggling to get water to his park after a canal that supplied much of Crimea's water was shut off by the Ukraine. And it is not just the lions that are affected - the diminishing water supplies are now beginning to threaten a humanitarian crisis.

Travelling across Russia's vast western plains, Simon discovers depopulated villages and a rural community clinging on to existence and feeling abandoned by central government. At a small cottage hospital he meets an inspiring doctor trying to protect his clinic from closure. Arriving in Moscow, he meets a victim of Russia's draconian laws against protests.