Unknown Russia, hosted by award-winning Russian journalist Vadim Kondakov, explores extraordinary places and people in Russia rarely seen on mainstream television. Each episode takes the viewer on a literal journey of discovery. Visit Russia's westernmost border, in Kaliningrad, where a man has spent years without electricity, water, or family comforts in order to pursue his passion of painstakingly preserving an abandoned 19th-century fortress. Or travel to a virtual ghost town on the remote Kurile Islands in Russia's Far East, where residents say they have been all but forgotten on the mainland. Learn about the mysterious signal from space recorded at an astrophysical observatory deep in the North Caucasus, or find out whether it's possible to become a traffic cop when you're raised in a city of long-haul truckers. Unknown Russia reveals a side of this vast and fascinating country that's new even to Russians themselves.