former senator and putin ally. you consider him a friend? absolutely. the senator is a gun enthusiast and he s a big proponent of the right to bear arms. reporter: that s why for the first time this year, when american gun lovers went to russia to compete in a shooting match, the senator was right there, sharing a table with team russia at the medal ceremony. he s a regular at nra meetings, tweeting pictures with the former nra president. they were introduced by klein preston. other christian conservatives are having the same change of heart, inviting a delegation from the russian orthodox church to the first ever christian persecution summit this spring, organized by another putin fan, evangelist franklin graham. the two met in 2015.
ally. reporter: you consider him a friend? absolutely. he s a gun enthusiast and a big pr proponent of the right to bear arms. reporter: that s why for the first time this year when american gun lovers went to russia to compete in a shooting match, tortion was right there. he s a regular at nra meetings with the president. other christian conservatives are having the same change of heart, inviting a delegation from the russian orthodox church to the first ever christian persecution summit this spring organized by another putin fan, evangelist franklin graham. they met in to 15. i think he s an honest person, a direct person. so he s going to do what s right
accident? translator: this could not have been an accident. someone planned this. but unfortunately i do not remember the details. he is lucky to be alive. is this what happens to lawyers in this country if they push too far? translator: many things happen. when the state starts covering up for fraudsters, anything is possible. do you think this is a campaign organized by the kremlin? there s no doubt about it. of course. i mean if there seems to be an extremely high mortality rate for some reason among independent journalists and political opponents of mr. putin in the last 17 years. everybody when they hear of the russian mafia they think of guys with gold teeth and leather jackets. but now russia is the mafia and putin is the boss.
prison. he needed a man he could trust to return to the prime minister, struck a deal. [speaking foreign language]. on new years eve just in time, he took to the air waves to resign. naming vladimir putin in his place. on his very first day in office, president putin signed a degree granting boris immunity to save his own skin, he struck a bargain that sealed the fate of the nation. optimism that followed the collapse of the soviet union, the hope of a democratic and open russia was replaced with putin s russia. he quickly sure rounded himself with loyalests and cracked down on descent. the stage was set for russia to become a criminal state. next up from hamburg, what happens when the power of the state is placed in the hands of criminals. stay with us. ike the people who own them,
earlier this year, he was still frail. doctors say he was lucky to survive poisoning. what s remarkable is this is the second time doctors managed to bring him back from death s door. of course i knew straightaway what it was because this was the second time in two years this happened. and it began almost identically in the same way. and within six hours all of my major organs shut down one after another. who do you think was responsible? i can only presume this was done by people with at least with connections to the russian special services. the second poisoning happened while kei morts so was touring russia, screening a documentary on his friend, boris nemtsov. the most popular opposition leader since putin came to power was also the most prominent supporter of the act. the magnitsky act directed against groups and abusers. and another victim. on the night of february 27th, 2015, nemtsov was walking home from dinner with his girlfriend,