All language subtitles for The.Countess.And.The.Russian.Billionaire.2020.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-GINO

[sparse piano melody
and walking bass notes]

[narrator]
It was an idyllic life:

wealth beyond
anyone’s wildest dreams,

homes across the world,

a chateau in
the South of France.

Countess Alexandra Tolstoy,

an aristocratic English rose

living a fairy-tale.

The man of her dreams:

billionaire Sergei Pugachev,

an oligarch,

one of Russia’s richest men.

Yet it’s all
about to come crashing down.

Once a friend and ally
of Vladimir Putin,

Sergei has fallen foul
of the Russian president.

[Sergei]
A lot of people call me:

‘They want to kill you.
Be careful.’

[narrator]
He’s on the Kremlin’s hit list,

and enemies of the state can
find it hard to hide.

[explosion booms]

[narrator] So what happens
when Russia turns on you

in this dangerous
and murderous world?

[Ben Brown]
Some breaking news,

and a murder investigation
has been launched

into the death
of another Russian

on British soil.

[narrator]
What happens to the fairy-tale

[Sergei]

[narrator] ...and to the love?

[presenter]

[Alexandra] It’s a nightmare.

[crying] Sorry.

[sparse string and piano music]

[upbeat strummed music]

[narrator] This story begins
five years ago.

[Alexandra] Darling,
you want to have a scone?

[Ivan] Yes.

[Alexandra]
Do you want strawberry jam

or blackberry jam or raspberry?

[Ivan] Um, strawberry.

[narrator] It was supposed to be

the tale
of the Russian oligarch...

[Alexandra]
Do you want to go and sit down?

[narrator] ...Sergei Pugachev,

willing to take a stand
against Vladimir Putin,

and his partner,

the mother
of their three children,

Alexandra Tolstoy.

But the story
that unfolded was one

that neither of them
could have predicted.

[children's laughter,
footsteps, and chatter]

[narrator] Back then,
Alexandra and her three children

were living a life
of enviable luxury.

[footsteps clomping]
Catch me.

Now you have to catch me.

[Alexandra] We have a PA,

two drivers,
two housekeepers.

We have
our lovely English nanny,

who's a very old-fashioned,
kind of...

Downton Abbey-type
English nanny.

Then we have our Russian nanny.

And then every afternoon,

we have to have a French teacher
who comes for an hour

to do my son’s homework
because it’s in French [laughs]

and I don’t really speak French.

[woman speaking
in foreign language]

[Alexandra] So we moved here.

Just had our first baby,

but then we bought
the house next door.

I don’t know why I thought
we didn’t really need it.

But actually,

now I can’t really imagine

how we could have
all squeezed in.

[narrator] The family has
a globe-trotting lifestyle,

but it’s the Chelsea House
they call home.

[Alexandra] This is meant to be
the more formal part.

It’s quite unusual
because these were all

artists' studios,

so up here is our bedroom.

I absolutely love it
because it’s got

these huge windows.

It’s very unusual to have this
sort of lateral space in London.

Bryan Ferry is our neighbour,
just up the road.

We have this,
and then other one is

the children’s part, really.

Apparently,
Helena Bonham Carter lives

like that, where they have--

she has one house,

and her--her husband has

another house,
next to each other.

We have an adult house,

and they have
a children’s house. [laughs]

It’s really kind of
a fun way to live.

Oh, I'll show you
my handbag cupboard.

So my weakness is Chanel.
[laughs lightly]

[interviewer] It’s filed.

[Alexandra] Yeah, it’s filed!

That’s my amazing housekeeper.

I do love clothes,
I have to say.

They're Manolo Blahnik--

[interviewer] Oh, yeah!

[Alexandra] ...who, luckily,
is on the next-door street.

Sergei will freak out,
but, I mean, there are

[laughs] thousands and thousands
of pounds' worth in there.

Just hope my daughter grows up
with the same size feet as me.

[Alexandra] When I met Sergei,
it was electric,

absolutely electric and amazing,

and I fell so in love with him

and it was so romantic.

This very, very powerful person,

with me, he wanted to be

a completely different person.

[Sergei speaking Russian
in video]

[Alexandra]
I’d never felt such a connection

to someone, ever.

[Sergei speaking Russian
in video]

[Alexandra]
It was such a love affair.

[narrator]
When Alexandra met Sergei,

he was separated
from his first wife.

Now his divorce
has finally come through.

[Alexandra] So eight years later

and three children,
we are very keen

that we should get married.

I’d love to make it
as big a deal as possible,

and Sergei would like to make it
as small a deal [laughs]

as possible, probably.

But he does though,
he says that,

and then when we actually have
the party, he loves it.

[Alexandra] I’ve had a few,
and he loves them.

So hopefully, we will get
married in the South of France.

It’s so beautiful and...

amazing weather.

Yeah, so I think
in June would be great.

[moderate plucked
and accordion music]

[narrator]
But the man she plans to marry

isn’t just any old billionaire.

[Sergei in Russian]

[narrator] Sergei Pugachev
is reputed to be

number three
on the Kremlin’s hit list

and is living
a secret life in France.

Only a handful
of his closest aides

know his movements
at any one time.

[Sergei in Russian]

[muted trumpet melody]

[military boots marching]

[narrator] Sergei Pugachev
had amassed his vast fortune

in post-communist Russia.

He had a coalmine,

shipyards,

designer brands.

He even had his own bank.

[Luke] If you have a bank
in Russia in the 1990s,

you can take advantage

of all the capital pouring in
to the new Russia.

And then, uh,
life is very shiny indeed.

[narrator]
He was the archetypal oligarch.

[Oliver] Pugachev wasn’t
quite in the top 600 richest men

in the world, right?
But he was just outside.

That’s a serious achievement.

You know, if you think about

how many people
there are in the world,

he was in the top thousand.

Yeah, that’s--that's going some

for a boy from the Soviet Union.

[upbeat men's chorus
singing in Russian]

[narrator] Sergei’s huge wealth
has bought him a chateau

in the French Riviera

and a lifestyle
he could only have dreamed of

as the child
of a military family

from St. Petersburg.

[Sergei] This is cool.

It’s me.

It’s me.
It’s my first Rolls Royce.

My first.
[laughs]

[Sergei] I opened my first bank
in Soviet Union in 1991.

I gave a lot of loans
to government.

It was a lot of money.

It was millions, and people say,

‘Okay,
it was like Putin’s banker.’

[narrator] When Sergei
was making his first billions,

the man at the top was
Boris Yeltsin.

When it became clear
that he was on his way out,

Sergei and the other
oligarchs wanted

to protect their fortunes.

[Luke] The oligarchs wanted
to keep all of their assets,

and they wanted
someone they thought

they could kind of puppet.

They eventually lighted
on a rather charmless,

small,

not-very-well-known,

pale-faced

spy, or former spy,

called Vladimir
Vladimirovitch Putin,

who went from being
a kind of functionary

in the property department
to being the head

or the successor to the KGB,
the FSB,

to Prime Minister to President

in the scope of two years.

[Putin in Russian]

[Luke] It was a meteoric ascent,

and Sergei Pugachev was someone

who helped push Putin
up the stairs.

[Sergei]

[interviewer]
You went on holiday together?

[Sergei]

[narrator]
Sergei cemented his power

by becoming a senator
in the upper house

of the Russian parliament.

Before long, he’d become

one of Putin’s
most trusted advisers.

But then,

he fell in love.

[Sergei]
And maybe I will show you

something interesting.

[Sergei] I met her in 2008.

[interviewer]
So that’s the first photo

-of you two together?
-[Sergei] Yes.

[Sergei] So happy.

[Alexandra] And when
I first went to see Sergei

in Moscow,

he was...

one of the most important

and influential people

in the whole of Russia.

[saxophone waltz melody[

[Alexandra] It was, you know,
this James Bond kind of office,

where you go through,
uh, like, glass doors,

they snap behind you, and then
you go through the second ones,

and then, like,
guards with Kalashnikovs.

You are escorted to, like,

this special
metal-reinforced lift,

and you go up,
and it's a secret zone,

where no one else can enter,

and this was his daily life.

[narrator]
Alexandra had been hired

to help Sergei improve
his English.

[Sergei] She helped me to...

to speak in English,
just, like, practice,

not like...

like teacher.

She came to my office.

You know...

[narrator] But the appearance
of Countess Alexandra Tolstoy

on the scene
of Moscow’s ruling elite

did not impress everyone.

[Alexandra]
There’s a law in Russia

that says a senator
cannot marry a foreigner.

Sergei says
that many of these problems

that have arisen
with the Russian government

and Putin

are because he’s with me.

And Putin himself was--

has said to Sergei
at some point,

‘You are a traitor. Why are you
with this English person?’

[Sergei]

[Sergei]

[narrator]
When Sergei met Alexandra,

life was good.

Within a year of meeting,

they had a baby,

and before long,
another on the way

and were living a life of luxury

in Moscow,

London, and Paris.

[Alexandra] So from 2008 or 9,

it was...

incredible.
I used to go and stay

in the George V with my--

you know, my lovely little baby.

He’d give me his credit card.

I’d go down
the Avenue de Montaigne.

I’d go shopping.

[Alexandra]
I could do what I liked.

I had a private jet.

I just had to pack my suitcase,
and then I could go.

I remember doing up
our house in Moscow,

and I wanted these very
specific cast-iron radiators.

And I just put ten
on a private jet, and then--

you know, and I would never
have got them to Moscow.

[narrator]
Alexandra and Sergei moved

between an array of properties.

There was
the £12 million family home

they were renovating
in Battersea,

a 200-acre country estate
in Herefordshire,

and then in the Caribbean,

a beachfront villa costing
$40 million.

[Alexandra]
Sergei suddenly said,

‘Oh, let’s go to St. Barts
in the Carribean.'

Then when we were there,
he just went and walked

into an estate agency
and said,

‘I want to buy a house.’
[laughs lightly]

And then he bought
the best house on the island.

It was on the best beach.

It had a massive beachfront.

It was incredible.

[splash]

[Alexandra] I would go there
each spring for three months,

and we took with us
our housekeeper, nanny,

bodyguard, doctor.

All that money meant
that I didn’t have to work,

I didn’t have to clean,

that I could spend

as much time as possible
with my children.

-[Sergei] Hello.
-[Alexandra] Hello, my babies!

[Alexandra]
Of course I enjoyed it.

He just made me feel
incredibly protected and safe.

[narrator] But though
the good times rolled

around the world
for Sergei and Alexandra,

back in Russia,

the mood had long since changed.

[military boots marching]

[narrator]
Vladimir Putin had turned

against his former
oligarch allies.

[Vladimir Putin in Russian]

[narrator]
When President Putin summoned

the oligarchs to a meeting,

Sergei was
amongst those present.

But it was Mikhail Khodorkovsky,

the richest man in Russia,

who hit back
about state corruption.

Later, he’d pay the price,

sent to prison for ten years.

Within months,
the Russian government passed

a new law giving its agents

a license to kill
enemies of the state

anywhere in the world.

It wasn’t long
before Putin’s attentions

turned to Sergei

and his billions.

[Luke] Essentially,
there was a cooling.

Pugachev,
who was seeing Putin daily--

he was seeing him less often.

[Luke]
So they hadn’t fallen out,

but he was moving
to the edge of Putin’s circle.

And generally,
when that happens,

that--that doesn’t end well.

[Sergei]

[interviewer]
Could he have been threatened

by your success, do you think?

[Sergei] Yes, sure. Yeah.

[narrator] If Putin was growing
suspicious of Sergei,

he would soon have good reason.

In 2008,
Sergei’s bank hit problems,

and the Russian state
bailed it out

with a billion-dollar loan.

Two years later,
the bank still went under

with no sign
of what happened to the loan.

Sergei claims he’d sold
the bank many years earlier,

but Russia disagreed.

In court,

he was found liable
for the bank’s losses.

They said
the bailout money had gone

into a Swiss bank account

and then was moved around

until, eventually,

all one billion

simply vanished.

Sergei fled Russia.

[Oliver] If Pugachev
had stayed in Russia,

he would probably be jailed,

and he would be vulnerable.

[Oliver] Saying that Pugachev is
innocent or guilty,

it--it’s just irrelevant.

If he did do something,

that just made it easier
for the prosecutors.

If he didn’t do something,
they could’ve

invented it anyway.

-[loud thud]
-[Oliver] The Russian state is

best thought of
as a mafia organisation.

It's very good
at getting what it wants.

It’s very good
at harassing people.

It’s very good
at imprisoning people,

It’s very good
at killing people.

[Oliver]
So yeah, leaving the country is

a sensible survival strategy.

It’s not sufficient
because some people

outside the country
have been murdered,

but it’s sensible.

[narrator] In Nice,
Sergei’s chateau proves to be

the most luxurious of hideaways.

[cook] Would you like
steamed salmon?

-[Sergei] Smoked salmon.
-[cook] And not steamed?

[Sergei] Yeah, no.
Smoked. Thank you.

[narrator] But Sergei is now

an enemy of the Russian state

and claims he’s already had
his first taste of this.

He says he’s been visited

by Russia’s
Deposit Insurance Agency,

or DIA,

demanding repayment

for the billion-dollar loan.

[Sergei]

[interviewer]
And were you frightened?

[narrator]
The DIA deny this ever happened.

What’s certain is Sergei refused

to pay the money.

-[live marching band music]
-[synchronized footsteps]

[narrator]
Over the next few years,

enemies of the Russian state

would continue to fall.

[news anchor 1] This is
the affluent community

in Southern England.

It was here
that wealthy Russian exile

and whistle-blower
Alexander Perepilichny

dropped dead while jogging.

Traces of
an extremely toxic plant

in his stomach
appear to have been found.

[news anchor 2] Boris Berezovsky
died by hanging,

British police say.

The 67-year-old was found
dead in a locked bathroom

at his home at the weekend.

He was a one-time ally
of Vladimir Putin,

but in 2000,
he started to speak out

against the Russian president

and exiled himself in the UK.

[news anchor 3]
Boris Nemtsov was shot

four times in the back,

in the shadow of the Kremlin.

Mr. Nemtsov was due
to lead a rally

against Putin tomorrow.

Opposition figures point

to the Russian authorities
being involved.

[Oliver] The Russian government

kills people
if it can’t get to them

any other way.

There have been
a lot of business people

with Russian connections
whose deaths are...

mysterious.

[Oliver]
You shouldn’t infer from that

that everyone is
going to be a victim

of state-sponsored
assassination.

But if I had fallen out
with the Kremlin,

I would be nervous.

Once one assassination
has happened,

you start looking
over your shoulder all the time.

[narrator] By 2015,

Sergei is living
as a permanent exile,

dividing his time between France

and the family home in London.

[boys chatting]

[narrator]
But Russia’s DIA is closing in

and using the British courts

to pursue Sergei
and the missing billion dollars.

His passports have been seized,

his assets frozen worldwide,

and the family’s become aware

they’re being followed.

Surveillance footage shows

how closely
they're being watched.

[Alexandra]
That was my birthday,

and Sergei was buying me
some flowers

just off the King’s Road,

and two guys jumped out
of a car, like, harassed him.

[tense ambient tone]

[Alexandra]
He was with his bodyguard,

and his bodyguard pushed
them away,

and Sergei drove off.

And he called me, and he said,

'I’ve just been, like,
harassed by two people,

and I’m not coming to dinner.'

I called immediately Alexandra:

‘Be careful.

Be at home,

and stay there.

Don’t move.

We have to check what happened.’

[Sergei]
A lot of people called me:

'Look, you know that...

they want--
they want to kill you.

Be careful.’

It’s very, very...

uh, dangerous.

[Alexandra]
I came home that night, and...

Sergei did not come back
for three days,

and I didn’t hear from him,
and I didn’t know where he was.

[narrator] In fact,
the men following Sergei were

lawyers for Russia’s DIA,

trying to serve him
with court papers.

But it didn’t stop there.

[Alexandra] Then the next day,

I went to my boys’ sports day,

and a mother came up to me,
and she went

‘Oh my God,
I’m so sorry to hear about you.’

And I went, ‘What?’

She went, ‘Oh, did you not read
this article in the paper?’

[Alexandra] The police
discovered GPS trackers

on every single one of my cars

including the car
only, only used

by me and my children.

And...

they were saying that maybe
two of them were bombs.

[narrator] An investigation
by the Met Police confirmed

they weren’t bombs,
but they were

hidden trackers.

[narrator]
Sergei didn’t wait to find out.

Without his passport,

he needed to get
out of Britain quickly

and in secret.

[interviewer]
How did you leave the country?

How did you get away?

Mmm, somebody helped me.

[interviewer]
You are not saying?

No.

[narrator]
It’s the summer of 2015.

Sergei remains in hiding
at his chateau in Nice,

increasingly, his fortress

as well as his home.

[Sergei] It was my...

salon rouge for my guests,

for everybody, but right now,

it’s just my children’s,
yeah, room.

It’s different.

[interviewer] So this is the,
kind of, formal guest room?

[Sergei] It was. Yeah. Not now.

[narrator]
Sergei’s been summoned

to the High Court in London,

accused of leaving
the UK without permission.

And more than this,

he’s missing Alexandra
and the children

back in Britain.

[interviewer] Do you think
they're safe in London?

[Sergei] Nobody knows.

Nobody knows. It’s--

life is life, but it’s...

maybe we will fix it, but...

nobody knows when.

[interviewer] But you--well,
for the moment it’s a worry?

Of course, sure.

Of course.
Every time, every day.

[suspended ambient tone]

[moderate piano music]

[narrator] It’s autumn,

and Sergei’s heading for Paris

with a high-risk strategy.

He’s going head-to-head
with the Russian state

and suing them for the loss
of his business assets.

[news programme theme music]

[in Russian]

[news anchor in Russian]

[narrator]
Today Sergei will announce

his multibillion-dollar lawsuit
against the Russian state.

Alexandra’s come to support him
at the press conference.

[Alexandra]
I do feel very frightened for--

especially for Sergei’s safety

but also for mine
and the children

because...

there have been such
terrible cases of murder,

especially in London.

[Alexandra] I know a few days
ago he had a bad incident

in Paris, where...

he was driving a car,
and two cars tried to...

you know, squash his car.

[Alexandra]
But, you know, I chose him,

and...

I chose a very
riskful life, so...

And I love him, so...

it’s my choice.
[laughs lightly]

[narrator] Sergei’s hotel,
factories, and shipyards have

all been seized,

and he’s accused of stealing

from the bank he once owned,

but he's refusing to lay low.

[Sergei’s litigation advisor]
We are very pleased to announce

that Mr. Pugachev has
successfully

registered his claim
against the Russian Federation

for damages in excess
of ten billion US dollars.

[tense ambient tones]

[Sergei’s litigation advisor]
The regime now in Russia has

a history of intimidation.

When they want you,
they go for you,

and they don’t care
how they go for you.

[advisor] And you gotta
not lose your resolve,

and then you end up
with nothing.

But frankly,
they took almost everything,

so once you have nothing,
you fight for everything.

And Sergei will fight
for everything.

[advisor] And it’s more human
than people realise.

Alexandra’s being watched.
She knows it.

So...

Alexandra is stressed.

She's worried about Sergei.

What kind
of pressure is he under?

How are my children
taken care of?

You can’t talk a lot
about what’s going on,

but the children are saying,
‘Where’s Papa?’

Right?

[Alexandra] I don’t talk about
our arrangements on the phone.

I don’t even tell--I mean,
I’ll my friends where I am,

but you know, I’m very careful.

Even my parents,
I don’t tell too much.

[Alexandra] I have periods
of being terribly anxious,

but then--
and I’m not going to leave him,

so...

what can I do?

[crows cawing]

[narrator] Alexandra’s life
has moved a long way

from the one her parents
had envisaged for her,

from their family home
in the English countryside.

[introductory accordion notes]

[narrator] Her father is
Count Nikolai Tolstoy,

a distant cousin
of the author Leo Tolstoy.

The family have inherited
Russian titles.

[Nikolai] Here is where I work.

[narrator] Count Tolstoy is
an author and historian.

[Nikolai]
That’s the--a book I wrote

on the history of our family.

And in fact, there's--
oh look at that.

There you can see
they were all quite little.

There's Alexandra among them.

[Georgina]
She likes exciting things.

She likes adventure.

She doesn’t really go for--

necessarily for security.

I mean,
I always remember when she--

she begged and begged us
to go away to boarding school,

which was not
what we had planned at all,

especially for the girls.

And you know I said,
‘Why, why do you?’

and she said,
‘Why, I just love the adventure.

I just want to go.’

And...

she was, um...

yeah, she wasn’t always

very conforming at school,
but...

[laughs]

she certainly loved it at
Downham House, yes.

[narrator] Alexandra went

from an elite boarding school
to working

as a broker in the city

before embarking on a decade
of Russian adventures.

While Sergei was building
his empire,

Alexandra was
in another world entirely.

[horses' hooves clopping]

[narrator]
She started a travel business

and rode by horseback

through the former Soviet Union,

Turkmenistan,
Kyrgysztan, and beyond.

But then came love,

a handsome man on horseback:

Shamil,

a penniless cossack.

Salud.

[narrator] It was,
by any account,

an extraordinary match.

They even took part
in a documentary

about unlikely couples,
which featured them

in Shamil’s tiny flat
in Uzbekistan.

[Alexandra]
And this is the bathroom...

[Shamil speaking
in foreign language]

[Alexandra] ...which
Shamil says that he's washing.

[Shamil speaking
in foreign language]

[Alexandra] And...

this is the kitchen.

[up-tempo plucked music]

[Shamil speaking
in foreign language]

[Alexandra] Mm?
[Shamil laughs]

[Alexandra]
Uh, this is where we cook,

on this tiny little stove.

[narrator] Unfortunately,

it didn’t last.

A few years later,

when Alexandra and Shamil
were struggling

to make ends meet,

along came a knight
in shining armour.

[Alexandra] When I met Sergei,

I wasn’t happy in my marriage,

and I’d had a very,
very stressful time.

Sergei felt like
this saviour coming in.

I talked with him for hours
and hours on the phone.

I just didn’t want to be
with anyone else.

And I don’t think
that in my life

I’d ever felt that before.

[interviewer] Did you like him
when you met him?

[Nikolai] Yes, yes.

He was very modest.

There was nothing

Sir Philip Green
about him

[laughs lightly] remotely.

And I still picture him
with Alexei, the youngest,

wheeling out
his pushchair to the, um,

village shop to go and buy
some sweets or something.

There isn’t many people

of his wealth
that would do that.

[Georgina]
Well, I said to Alexandra

on the phone
before we’d even met him,

I said, ‘You know,

you're so used to your freedom.

You love riding.

Have you actually thought
what’s gonna happen, you know?

I can imagine
that somebody like that

is gonna be jealous,

that they’re going to want
to keep you in a gilded cage.

[Georgina]
You know, they’re so used to

having what they want

and getting what they want.’

And she said,
‘Oh, well, you know,

you don’t understand.
We're so in love.’

And...

I was--yeah,
I was really worried.

I thought...

'Do you really know
what you're doing?'

[ambient chords]

[narrator] It’s December 2015,

and Alexandra is
at home in Chelsea

when on the instructions
of the High Court,

three police officers arrive
late at night

looking for Sergei.

[Alexandra] They said, ‘We have

a search and arrest warrant
for Sergei Pugachev.

If you don’t let us in now,

we will knock the door down.’

[Alexandra]
So I was on my own, you know,

with the children and my nanny.

So I had to let them in.

So they literally looked

everywhere, every cupboard,
every bathroom, every room.

Even they looked,
um, under here.

[Alexandra] It used to be a
cellar, but it’s where we have

the boiler.

[Alexandra] Looked in cupboards
in the children’s room.

I was very, very upset
because my children were there,

and I don’t want them,

you know,
to hear anything like that.

It’s very traumatic.

It’s a method of intimidation,

just as it was when they put
GPS trackers on our cars.

It’s to frighten me
and to frighten my children...

to get at Sergei, and I--

It’s just really,
really unpleasant.

I’m a British citizen,
and I have done nothing.

[Oliver] The Russian
prosecution agency is--

it's like a--
the mob enforcement wing.

[Oliver] And they use
all the tools at their disposal,

whether those tools are legal
tools or extra-legal tools.

Whatever is the tool
for the moment,

they will use it.

[narrator] Two months on,

Russia is continuing to use

the High Court to pursue Sergei

and the missing billion dollars.

Alone in London,

Alexandra fears
she'll be caught up in the case,

so she's leaving the country
with the children.

[Alexandra] I'd love to see
the swimming costumes, I think.

[Alexandra]
It’s just so, so frightening

what’s happening to us,
and I feel so out of control.

[Alexandra] When I met Sergei,
I was a very relaxed person,

very, very happy,

very reckless and carefree,

and probably, you know,

my life has ended up
like this because of that.

[interviewer] Do you regret?

No, because I love
my children so much.

How could I regret it?
And I do--

of course, I love Sergei.

I do really love him,
and I feel like...

No, I don’t regret.
It’s more that I regret--

sometimes I look back,
and we've had a very,

very turbulent relationship,

and I feel

regret for my children
that it wasn’t,

sort of, more peaceful and calm.

Sometimes I just want to cry.
I feel like...

[Alexandra] And I think
some people look at me

and they think, ‘Oh, I'll bet
your life’s so easy,'

you know,
and 'Your lucky children,

they are so privileged.'

But they are not, you know.
The most...

privileged upbringing is

to live in a safe and
secure and happy...

family unit, which is together.

[narrator] Alexandra’s taken
the children out of school.

Their flight is booked.

They're leaving tonight.

[Alexandra]
Darling, shall we decide

what we’ve got
to pack from here?

[son angrily] Hmph!

[Alexandra] I’m a bit worried
about how much--

Oh my goodness.

[Alexandra] We're going
for six weeks, seven weeks.

I can’t say where we're going

because of security.

You know, it’s too dangerous
to say where we are going.

And we're going because...

we very much hope that Sergei
can be there with us.

Obviously, he can’t come here.

And...

also, I think Sergei,

he wants me
out of the country for a while.

[Alexandra] They don’t want me
to be called as a witness.

Sergei feels it’s, like,
a terrible invasion, and...

again, intimidation,

and he doesn’t want me
to be subjected to that.

And so far,
he’s been very protective of me,

and, you know, not...

telling me things
in order to protect me.

[Alexandra] I would rather
not go to court. [laughs]

And I don’t want to be
torn apart

in a sort of public way.

[Alexandra]
So he'll come for a bit,

or maybe the whole thing.
I don’t know.

But he doesn’t even tell me
on the telephone.

[somber solo piano music]

[Sergei on phone in Russian]

[child in Russian]

[Alexandra] And I feel really
sorry for Sergei because...

you know, he’s been
forcibly separated

from his own family.

Awful, because he adores--

you know, it’s not like
he’s not really into--

Maybe some men like that are
not really into their children,

but he is really,
really into his children.

Aw.

I have to be philosophical
and think that...

It can only get better.
[laughs lightly]

Well, hope so.

[narrator] In fact,

it would get so much worse.

Later that month,

the High Court sentences Sergei

to two years in prison
for leaving the country

without permission.

If he sets foot in the UK now,

he’ll go straight to jail.

Sergei never made it
to the secret location

to join Alexandra,

but she and the children
visit him regularly

at the chateau in France.

[up-tempo string bass rhythm]

[narrator] With Sergei
now permanently in hiding,

the threat from Russia hangs
over the couple.

[bass melody continues
with drums]

[narrator] It’s difficult
for them to move far

beyond the confines
of the chateau,

putting huge pressure
on their relationship.

[interviewer] Where do you think
you and Sergei

are at your happiest?

Sergei is happiest here.
[laughs]

-[Sergei laughs] No.
-Um...

[Sergei]

[Alexandra] No, but you are.
I think you are happiest here.

[Sergei]

[Alexandra laughs]

-[Sergei]
-[Alexandra] No, I'm happy here,

but it’s--

along with feeling very safe,

it feels quite isolated as well.

[Alexandra]
So I find it difficult then.

[Sergei] Yeah.

-[laughing] To be isolated?
-[Sergei] Yeah.

-[pool balls crash]
-[Sergei] Hmm.

[Alexandra] I think Sergei loves
the feeling of security,

and also he’s just
by nature quite a loner,

so he loves to be...

with his family alone,

feeling secure.
You know, he hasn’t been

out of the house for two weeks

he told me,
since I last came here,

and he doesn’t mind.

-[Sergei disappointed] Ugh.
-[Alexandra groans]

[Alexandra] I suppose
I just feel concerned about...

how our future
as a family works.

[narrator]
Alexandra and Sergei must decide

whether to uproot the family

to live all together in France.

[Sergei in Russian]

[interviewer] How does that feel

for you to be here
and the family to be in London?

Horrible, of course.

We have to be together.

[suspended string chords]

[Alexandra]
To be brutal, I can’t live here.

You know, and I’ve had to think
about it a lot.

I just would feel too

claustrophobic and enclosed

and isolated.

It’s about feeling isolated,
and I just--

I couldn’t do it.

[suspended ambient tones]

[Alexandra] I still find it,

the whole situation, very...

stressful, really,

because it’s still so undecided.

You know, Sergei wants us
to live here. I just...

don’t know if I can do that,
really.

And...

you know,
everything in life is--

you’re able to cope with,

and I think what it is,
if you have

an idea of what will happen--

but I just have no idea,

and I find that
very stressful...

[Alexandra] that I
can’t plan or predict or...

envisage what will happen.

[narrator] Alexandra left
the chateau abruptly

in the spring of 2016,

taking the children with her.

They would never return.

[birds chirping]

[narrator] Back in England,

Alexandra still seems shocked

at the events
at the chateau that spring

and the changes brought
for the whole family.

Sergei had one of his explosions

where he...

physically attacked me.

[Alexandra] He locked
the children in a room,

separate from me,
and he locked my passport

and the children’s passports
in his safe.

And he has a gun in his room.

[Alexandra] Something in me
just snapped that weekend.

I just said, 'I cannot ever,
ever do this again.'

I’m never--I said,
'I can come and visit,

but I’m n--'
because at that point,

I was wavering.
I felt guilty.

Should I come and
live there with him,

or should I not?

But that was...

the--just the end.

I knew we weren’t safe.

I just knew it.

[somber plucked music]

[Sergei in Russian]

[ambient tone swells
and recedes]

[narrator]
Over the next two years,

the death toll rises

for enemies
of the Russian state.

[moderate ambient music]

[explosion booms]

[narrator]
Relations between Britain

and Russia reach a new low.

Sergei Skripal,

a former Russian agent
who’d fled to the UK,

and his daughter Yulia

are poisoned
with a nerve agent,

Novichok,

in the Wiltshire city

of Salisbury.

Though the Skripals
eventually recover,

a local resident dies.

[Theresa May]
The two individuals

named by the police
and CPS

are officers

from the Russian military
intelligence service.

-[crowd murmurs]
-[May] We will not tolerate

such barbaric attacks

against our country.

[Sir Malcolm Rifkind]
I think he certainly allows

aspects
of his intelligence network

to take decisions

that in his view
will punish people

who have betrayed
the Russian Federation.

[Ben Brown] Some breaking news,

and a murder investigation

has been launched into the death

of another Russian
on British soil.

[narrator] By 2018,

some 40 Russians

who’ve fallen foul
of the Kremlin

have met untimely deaths.

[ambient music ends]

[narrator] In London,
Alexandra lives in fear,

but now she seems
to have two enemies:

the Russian state

and Sergei.

[interviewer] So this man,
how often is he there?

[Alexandra] Oh,
he’s there every day, all day,

and he’s been there for about...

six months, more?

He talks
really loudly in Russian.

But I do find it
very, very odd

because it’s also
the kind of style of person

who Sergei would get
to spy on us.

[interviewer] It would
be hard not to be...

paranoid, given--

[laughing] given everything
you’ve been through.

No, I’m very paranoid.

[Alexandra] I went
to the Russian government’s

lawyers here,

and I said--
I assumed it was them,

and I said, ‘Oh,
are you having me followed?’

And they said, ‘We have

information

that, uh, Sergei has been
having you followed.’

[interviewer] Why--
why would he do that though?

[Alexandra]
Because, I don’t know now,

but definitely there have been

long phases where he’s
absolutely hell-bent on revenge

that I wouldn’t...

go with him to France.

[plucked musical introduction]

[narrator]
Now, permanently separated

from Alexandra,
Sergei is consumed

by his multibillion-dollar
lawsuit

against the Russian state,

whatever the dangers.

[interviewer]
Are you on Putin’s hit list?

What number
do you think you are?

[Sergei] The--theoretically,
in newspapers,

number three,

[laughing] but who knows?

Honestly, I don’t know.

Maybe number one.

[Sergei]

[children having discussion]

[narrator] The children
haven’t seen their father

since they left France in 2016.

Alexandra says

Sergei’s cut her off
financially.

[toy swords clacking]

[Alexandra] Our relationship
is non-existent, I would say,

except...

he occasionally writes
very abusive emails.

He’s...

accused me of working
with the Russian government.

He’s accused me of being a--

-[interviewer] The government?
-Yeah,

he says I’m a KGB spy,

and--

[interviewer]
Why does he think that?

[Alexandra] Because I went
to the family court

and I sued for maintenance.

Obviously,
he never ever paid a penny

of any of that maintenance.

He completely cut us off.

[Alexandra] Okay,
did you both brush your teeth?

-[Alexei] Yes.
-[Alexandra] Good.

[narrator]
On the orders of the High Court,

the family home has been put
on the market.

And Alexandra’s been asked
to drop her claim

on Sergei’s fortune

in return for a deal.

[Ivan] Why can’t we just put
some butter?

[Alexandra] Because if you did,
it wouldn’t mix in, would it?

[Alexandra] So the Russian
government said to me,

‘Okay, if you agree to waive

your maintenance

and not claim your debt,

we will let you stay
in the house for one year.’

What was I meant to do?

I literally--
I either signed the agreement

or I left the house
the next day.

[narrator] But this deal
with his enemy has simply

fanned the flames for Sergei.

[Sergei in Russian]

[somber solo piano music]

[narrator] Alexandra’s parents
seem unsurprised

by the turn of events.

[interviewer] Should we have
any sympathy for Sergei?

[Georgina] Yeah, no,
I always feel sorry

for somebody who can’t,

you know,
see their own children,

but on the other hand, he--

he’s brought
the whole thing on himself.

It didn’t need to be like this.

You know, if he’d been
remotely compromising

about the thing,

it could have worked out.

You know, Alexandra did
always make it clear

that she couldn’t live
in France.

But she said
that she would take them there.

They could spend
their holidays there.

But I think he thought

by cutting
her off financially,

that she would be so desperate

that she would
end up going there.

And that hasn’t happened.

And I think that has really
surprised him, probably.

And it’s something that’s
never happened to him before.

He’s never had anybody

not capitulate to...

you know,

what he wanted.

[somber solo piano music]

[interviewer]
Do you think he still loves her?

Probably not.

-[interviewer] Probably not?
-[Georgiana hums]

Probably now,
he’d like to get revenge.

[narrator]
Alexandra’s supporting herself

and the children

by writing and reviving

her old travel business.

But the one-year deal
with Russia’s lawyers

is coming to an end,

and her time at the house

is running out.

[Alexandra]
The house is on the market,

and people come and visit
the whole time.

The Russian government,
they said,

'You can stay in there
as long as the house

doesn’t sell.'

So each month,
I sign a document saying

I promise to get out
by the 31st.

[interviewer] What’s
your worst fear at the moment?

That we have nowhere to live.

That we have no money.
I literally--

you know,
it’s really, really difficult.

[Alexandra] I’ve really tried
to shield children.

I’ve told them that...

the Russian government
has taken the house.

But they know that I don’t know

where we’ll live.

They know that...

um...

Yeah, it is really difficult.

It’s a nightmare.

[crying] Sorry.

[narrator]
An opportunity to make

some money had emerged

when Alexandra was approached
by Russian TV,

asking her to tell her story.

-[crowd applauding]
-[presenter in Russian]

[narrator] It was Channel One,

the premier channel
of state-owned television,

Putin’s channel.

Alexandra was paid

a five-figure sum
for her appearance.

She invited the presenter

to the family home.

[Alexandra in Russian]

[narrator] Inspired
by shows like Jerry Springer,

Let Them Talk invites
celebrity guests to come

before a studio audience
and a panel

who pick over
their personal lives

and then pass judgement.

[Alexandra] Before
the programme,

Sergei had been telling a lot

of untrue things
about me in the press,

that I worked for the KGB,

that I was only after his money,

that I kidnapped his children.

[Alexandra]
You know, terrible things.

So I wanted to do it.

[presenter in Russian]

[Alexandra in Russian]

[presenter]

[Alexandra]

[crowd applauding]

[presenter]

[narrator]
What Alexandra didn’t realise

was that she was walking
into a trap.

[Alexandra]

[presenter]

-[Alexandra]
-[snickering]

-[sound of disbelief]
-[male panelist]

[presenter]

[Alexandra]

[presenter]

[audience applauding]

[presenter]

[Sergei in Russian]

[presenter]

[Sergei]

[presenter]

-[sniffs]
-[Sergei]

[narrator] It was
a dramatic fall from grace

for the former golden couple,

the fairy-tale

over.

-[crowd cheering]
-[rink announcer] Your new...

champions!

[brass fanfare]

[narrator] Putin has now been
in power for 20 years,

now not just a president

but a celebrity
with adoring fans.

-[crowd cheering]
-[announcer speaking in Russian]

[narrator] Enemies of the state

have found it hard to survive.

[airy string
and balalaika music]

[pool balls clacking]

[narrator] Russia continues
to pursue Sergei

for the missing billion dollars.

But after five years,
Sergei’s lawsuit

for the loss of his assets has
finally reached

the international courtroom.

Sergei Pugachev
versus the Russian Federation.

-[thud]
-[balls clack]

[narrator] It’s now just weeks
until Sergei finds out

the result of his legal action.

Even if he wins,

it may take years

to get his money back.

[Luke] Sergei,

he’s in the South of France.

He told me he was down
to his last 70 million dollars.

But actually, 70 million dollars
doesn’t sound too bad.

[Luke] But generally,

if you’re an oligarch
and you fall from power,

you can guarantee you'll spend
the next 20 years

with your lawyers.

[narrator]
Sergei now lives alone,

a decision he feels
he was forced into

by the Russian state.

[Sergei in Russian]

[Sergei]

[narrator] Alone in the chateau,

Sergei has started to think

about life
beyond the court case.

[Alexandra] Come on, darling.

You okay?

[Sergei in Russian]

[interviewer] How is that
going to happen, do you think?

[translator]

[suspended string chords]

[Alexandra]
There's mud everywhere. [laughs]

[narrator] These days,
Alexandra and the children spend

whatever time they can
at her cottage in Oxfordshire.

She’s been advised by a lawyer

not to take
the children to France.

-[children laughing]
-[interviewer] What do you tell

the children?

[Alexandra] It’s imperative
you tell the truth.

Of course, they’ve asked me.

They’ve stopped asking now,
but they did ask,

‘Why does he never come here?’

So I told them,

‘Well, he has a prison sentence
here because...

he was in court,
and they told him,

"You can’t leave the country,"
and he did.

So he would go to prison
if he came here.’

And then they’ve said,
‘Well why can’t we go there?’

And I also told the truth.
I said,

‘It’s dangerous.' You know,
his life’s under threat.

[Alexandra]
Keep the logs a-burning now.

[sparse guitar chords]

[Alexandra] My hand on my heart,

I have never said to my children

one bad word about him.

I haven’t told them

ever that he treated me badly.

Nothing.

Um--

[interviewer]
They may see this film one day.

I know,
but I’m going to obviously be

very, very careful
about when they’re told.

Just say...

you know, 'He needs to sort out

this situation that he’s in,'

and 'It’s not your fault...

and maybe when you’re older,

you can go
and find him yourself.'

[narrator] Alexandra
has returned to her old life,

leading horse-riding expeditions
across Kyrgyzstan

and making regular trips
to Russia.

[Alexandra]
I love Russia so much,

and...

weirdly, my relationship

with the Russian government
is better [laughs lightly]

than it is with Sergei.

[narrator] She’s cast off
the oligarch wardrobe

and the life that went with it.

[interviewer] Do you remember
when you showed me

around through your place
in London in 2015,

and you showed me
your shoe cupboard

and your handbag cupboard?

[Alexandra] Actually,
do you know what? I hate

all those things now.
I just feel

they’re associated
with a life I didn’t like.

[Alexandra] I find them vulgar.

I find they're just

not me.

[Alexandra] You know,
as an adult, you can

lose yourself, and I really
didn’t believe that.

I never thought...

ever thought
I could lose myself.

But I'm 45. I'm not so old,

and, really, I have
a whole life ahead of me.

I can go back
to the things I love.

And this is who I am.

Sergei never, never

expected me
to be strong enough

to stay on my own.

He always thought I would be

so desperate to be
with his money and him

that I would follow him.

And actually,
I’ve come through it.

And I have
the strength to do it.

[closing theme music]