President Putin tries to crush the leading opposition figure, Alexei Navalny as Russians take to the streets in protest over pensions and local elections. And there are revelations about expensive watches and a secret and very opulent palace.

To understand how Vladimir Putin rules Russia Jonny Dymond is joined by:

Catherine Belton, author of ‘Putin’s People: How the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West'

Sergei Guriev, Professor of Economics at Sciences Po and co-author of 'Spin Dictators'

Vitaliy Shevchenko, Russia Editor, BBC Monitoring

Production coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
Sound engineer: Rod Farquhar
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Sandra Kanthal, Joe Kent
Series Editor: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Editor: Richard Knight Show less