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Police sirens pierce the air as the gates of the Octabrsca hotel swing open.

Seconds later, a motorcade tears out of the gates and onto the city streets.

In the center of the motorcade is an armored limousine with blacked out windows.

The pedestrians pay at no mind.

The Octabrsca is the hotel of the Soviet elite.

Buscovites are used to the motorcades that shuttle communist party big wigs in and out of its grounds.

But there's no party official inside that limo.

Its passenger is Robert Maxwell, the British tycoon whose sprawling media empire

makes him one of the richest and most powerful men on earth.

And today, he wants Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to bend to his will.

Twenty minutes later, inside the Kremlin, Maxwell hauls his 300 pound frame into the meeting room

for his private powwow with the leader of the USSR.

Gorbachev stands to greet the media baron.

The overhead lights reflect off the distinctive pink splat of a birthmark on the balding Soviet leaders forehead.

Good afternoon Robert.

Are you well rested after your overnight stay?

I am. The service at the Octabrsca always impresses.

Gorbachev gestures for Maxwell to sit.

So do you want to discuss opening newspapers in the Soviet Union?

Yes, but first there's another matter I want to discuss.

...