Putin, Russia and the West . Movie - Western propaganda .

Vladimir Putin, after eight years as President of Russia and four more as Prime Minister, is stubbornly holding onto power. He has announced his intention to return as President and declared his United Russia party the winner in parliamentary elections that have widely been seen as fraudulent, causing mass protests in Moscow and elsewhere with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets.

But just how did this consummate political operator with a background in the KGB become a valued ally of the West? And when did his policies start to provoke deep concern in Washington and London? Putin, Russia & the West tells the inside story, with contributions from Putin's top colleagues and the Western statesmen who have clashed with him.

This is a four-part series from Norma Percy and the team at Brook Lapping behind the multi-award-winning documentaries The Death of Yugoslavia, The Second Russian Revolution and Iran & the West.

The first film, Taking Control, starts with George W Bush meeting Putin in June 2001 and declaring how he looked Putin in the eye and 'got a sense of his soul'. Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice recall their reactions to the discussions that happened behind closed doors, with Putin delivering a prophetic warning about Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban. Three months later, 9/11 happened.

Following the terrorist attacks, Putin quickly aligned Russia with the West, to the surprise of many in the Kremlin. The US and Russia had opposed each other for decades, but the world had now changed. Sergei Ivanov, Russian's Defence Minister, tells how offers from Taliban to join forces with Russia against America were rejected with strong language.

But at home Putin was becoming increasingly authoritarian. Mikhail Kasyanov, then Russia's Prime Minister, recalls a meeting with Putin and the country's top businessmen, where 'all the oligarchs present almost hid under the table in fear.' The film also tells the story of how Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, challenged Putin and ended up in prison.

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[anonymous24604632]

@Skypilotbaby poor boy, you have been heavily brainwashed. read serious history monographs and analyze pure facts and you will see that Russia has saved the world from Nazi terror.

[Flankymanga]

@DefaultPosition i see it differrent.... if you have watched it... haven't Khodorkovsky looked like a innocent victim to you? There was not a single word about how Khodorkovsky established Yukos... his tax evasion and money laundering... and what more... murder. He payed for several assasinations!!! Yet the movie was how Putin have sent 'innocent' Khodorkovsky to jail after being offended by him publicly...?! Thats laughable...

[TheAeroflotbitch]

western logic: weak Russia (Gorbachew,Elzin) is democratic,lovely country.....STRONG RUSSIA (Putin) is Evil Empire ?....well, .....fuck you.

[TheAeroflotbitch]

the "West" is bunch of warmongers,greedy bankers and stupid sheeps also known as americans

[TheAeroflotbitch]

protest slogans in English????..WTF...they are not real protesters...its Lybia/Syria like bullshit

[alpehyl]

Was Russia so fantastically democratic in the 90's? if so then I'm against democracy. A clan of criminals stole the country's wealth, Yeltsin's thugs attacked the parliament. Putin is far from perfect, but he has made life better for most Russians.

[CraigKramer]

Putin is simply masterful. Big respect to him.

[lotus1065]

wow, translation from russian into english is not precise< and meaning isometimes s not correct

i feel sorry for people who didn't get all information from this documentary

any documentary MUST be translated word to word, and bbc sure knows that, but prefire to change meanings and achive there own propaganda

long live mother russia, god bless you! amen!

[lyudmila97]

Putin in 2012! Otherwise - end of civilization as we know it! America and UK must be stopped from murdering other countries!

[TheMoo1231]

Brainwashed fucks! Putin isn't bad it's just propaganda because he stands up to the new world order and Isreal/US crimes!

[TheYurij86]

morandi angels