Despite his critical gaze, Andrei Nekrasov was keen to help us present Russia in its truest light, in all its multi-coloured shades, complexity and diversity.

Andrei Nekrasov has made his speciality trying to interpret his homeland and in some cases zoom in on some of the worst scandals of its contemporary history.

You cannot apply a western template to understanding Russia, so we embarked on this project with as open minds as possible.

We travelled around the country for the best part of a year meeting and filming with a variety of Russians, in order to gain a deeper perception of Russia today.