蜜芽传媒

Is St Petersburg still the 'window on the west' as Peter the Great intended it or merely 'window-dressing' for the west in Putin's Russia? It may have all the gloss of a Western capital, but how deep does that really go?

"Personally I'm very happy that things have changed and communism is a thing of the past ...but don't be under any illusion that we've become a civilised country that shares your values, it'll be decades before that really happens here." Dr Andrey Kupachov.

Written and presented by Bridget Kendall.

Picture: The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg, Credit: Getty Images