SAMARIAN UNDERWORLDS

During the attack by Hitler's German army in the Second World War, the Volga city of Samara was chosen as a retreat for the USSR government. A labyrinth of bunkers and tunnels was commissioned to dug under the city, largely unexplored to this day. The Soviet leadership, foreign diplomats and even the Bolshoi Ballet found refuge here. Surrounded by top-secret supply facilities, including a mountain turned into a giant "refrigerator" by GULag prisoners, Samara has remained a mystery to this day. Today, digger Petr Yacubson sheds a light to the hidden tunnels and explores the command centre beneath a still-active military hospital. There was even a special area in the bunker for Stalin's daughter. The intrepid diver Dimitri, a Russian ex-elite-soldier with a prosthesis, explores the water-flooded bunkers near the Volga and braves every danger to uncover Samara's secrets.