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TV review: Extreme adventure travel in the mountains which divide Europe and Asia

Leveson Wood in the Caucasus mountains
Leveson Wood in the Caucasus mountains Leveson Wood in the Caucasus mountains

From Russia to Iran: Crossing The Wild Frontier, Channel 4, Sunday at 8pm

JUST as some people fear Belfast because of the killings of the Troubles, so the capital of Chechnya was expected to be a waste zone just eight years after its war ended.

The clash between Russia and Islamic separatists left Grozny with the unwanted title of the world's most destroyed city.

But then Leveson Wood brought us to Grozny and it was like a Las Vegas of the Caucasus. Putin has poured billions into it, building skyscrapers with plenty of neon.

Unfortunately for its citizens, while they have a shiny new city, they also have a Russian imposed dictator who recently said there were no attacks on homosexuals because "Chechen society does not have this phenomenon called non-traditional sexual orientation".

Wood, a former officer in the Parachute regiment, set out to walk and hitchhike from Russia, across the Caucasus mountains, through Chechnya, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and finally Iran.

It was a cross between the extreme adventure of Long Way Round and the survival skills of fellow army man, Bear Grylls.

In many respects From Russia to Iran was excellent television, but we could have done without some of the dramatics.

For instance, Leveson began his journey in a Russian military helicopter and got dropped off in a remote valley at the foot of the Caucasus mountains from where he had to walk to a village called Mezmay to meet his guide.

Presumably he could have just got a bus to Mezmay, like the locals.

Nevertheless, the scenery is magnificent, the company is good and Leveson's 2,600-mile trek across the frontier between Europe and Asia is proper adventure.

***

Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web, BBC 4, Monday at 10.30pm

THE ancient Silk Road which brought intoxicating goods from the east to the west crossed the Russian steppe and the Caucasus Mountains to reach the Medieval city states of Europe.

It was the name Ross Ulbricht, a US computer expert and serial entrepreneur, gave to his dark web marketplace for drugs.

Drugs, Death and the Dark Web is a brilliant, feature-length documentary telling the story of how Ulbricht ran the criminal empire from his San Francisco flat and the free wifi in his local library.

The story ended in May 2017 when Ulbricht's appeal failed and his full life sentence was confirmed.

A libertarian who believes governments should not tell people what to do, he started Silk Road in 2011 and by March 2012 he was administering $600,000 of sales a month. By the time the FBI caught up with him Ulbricht was estimated to be worth $104 million.

However, catching him was not easy. Using the hidden Tor network and bitcoin payments, the Silk Web was almost untraceable for the authorities.

Ulbricht's mistake was to court publicity and attract the attention of the government. Once there was political pressure to shut down Silk Road it was only a matter of time before Ulbricht was before a court.

Drugs, Death and the Dark Web interviewed his girlfriend, his flat mates, FBI agents, and the IRS agent who first came up with his name.

His friends believed that Ulbricht was incapable of ordering someone murdered - one of the most significant charges in the case against him - and that while he had made mistakes his intention was to free people from oppressive control.

But then human nature has a way of messing up utopia. Greed and ego got the better of Ulbricht's high-minded ideals and eventually he became just another drug dealer willing to kill to protect his turf.