1 00:00:09,700 --> 00:00:12,500 Russia is about to elect a new president. 2 00:00:12,500 --> 00:00:14,500 There's no doubt who it's going to be. 3 00:00:15,980 --> 00:00:19,940 The same man who has ruled unchecked for the last 18 years. 4 00:00:22,020 --> 00:00:24,220 Now it's classical one-man dictatorship. 5 00:00:25,460 --> 00:00:27,540 That's what always happens with dictators. 6 00:00:27,540 --> 00:00:30,300 You look at Hitler and Stalin, it's always, you know, 7 00:00:30,300 --> 00:00:32,100 step-by-step, step-by-step. 8 00:00:32,100 --> 00:00:36,820 The real Vladimir Putin remains an enigma. 9 00:00:36,820 --> 00:00:39,940 So who is the world's most powerful and feared leader? 10 00:00:42,660 --> 00:00:45,980 We talk to the presidents he has threatened... 11 00:00:45,980 --> 00:00:50,100 He said, "Your friends are making lots of nice promises to you, 12 00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:51,940 "but they never deliver. 13 00:00:51,940 --> 00:00:54,740 "I don't promise you anything nice, but I always deliver." 14 00:00:55,940 --> 00:00:59,780 ..the Western leaders whose vulnerability he has exploited... 15 00:00:59,780 --> 00:01:02,660 Putin has invented new kinds of warfare, 16 00:01:02,660 --> 00:01:06,580 which Western countries are still struggling to come to terms with. 17 00:01:07,660 --> 00:01:10,860 What is called this full-spectrum capability. 18 00:01:12,220 --> 00:01:14,620 ..and the inner circle of intimates 19 00:01:14,620 --> 00:01:16,620 who made him president in the first place. 20 00:01:30,860 --> 00:01:32,580 Vladimir Putin's psyche 21 00:01:32,580 --> 00:01:35,980 has been forged on the anvil of absolute power. 22 00:01:35,980 --> 00:01:38,900 The consequences for the future of the world are nothing 23 00:01:38,900 --> 00:01:40,420 if not significant. 24 00:01:40,420 --> 00:01:45,180 It's not IF Putin would attack, it's only when and where. 25 00:02:01,260 --> 00:02:03,700 You could take the view that Putin's had long enough, 26 00:02:03,700 --> 00:02:05,620 it's time for somebody else. 27 00:02:05,620 --> 00:02:10,180 Really a time for a change is the root of what you should be saying. 28 00:02:10,180 --> 00:02:14,740 Ksenia Sobchak is one of eight Russian presidential candidates. 29 00:02:14,740 --> 00:02:19,100 Vladimir Putin has been a family friend for decades. 30 00:02:19,100 --> 00:02:22,660 One important goal is to speak to the world, 31 00:02:22,660 --> 00:02:27,740 to make them understand that Russia is not Putin. 32 00:02:27,740 --> 00:02:31,460 She's meeting Lord Bell, one-time Thatcher confidante, 33 00:02:31,460 --> 00:02:33,380 for some strategic advice. 34 00:02:33,380 --> 00:02:34,940 You're a woman, for a start. 35 00:02:34,940 --> 00:02:37,420 That gives you an immediate advantage over Putin 36 00:02:37,420 --> 00:02:39,940 and every other contestant. A young woman. 37 00:02:39,940 --> 00:02:41,460 It wasn't true of Thatcher. 38 00:02:41,460 --> 00:02:44,340 Thatcher had never thought of herself as a woman. 39 00:02:44,340 --> 00:02:45,420 THEY LAUGH 40 00:02:45,420 --> 00:02:48,060 She thought of herself as a politician... That's true. 41 00:02:48,060 --> 00:02:50,940 I actually met her in Saint Petersburg, you know. 42 00:02:50,940 --> 00:02:52,820 I know you worked with her... 43 00:02:52,820 --> 00:02:56,620 But Sobchak knows her family friend all too well. 44 00:02:56,620 --> 00:02:59,020 He isn't going to allow her to win. 45 00:02:59,020 --> 00:03:00,460 ..after elections, 46 00:03:00,460 --> 00:03:03,100 I hope it will be a big result to understand 47 00:03:03,100 --> 00:03:07,380 that chances of winning are quite minimal right now, shall we say. 48 00:03:07,380 --> 00:03:09,780 But... But never say that, though, will you? 49 00:03:09,780 --> 00:03:11,620 Yes, I am saying it. 50 00:03:11,620 --> 00:03:14,060 You should always tell people you're going to win. 51 00:03:14,060 --> 00:03:15,780 You want people to vote for you... 52 00:03:15,780 --> 00:03:18,900 But in Russia, you know, people know that Putin will win. 53 00:03:18,900 --> 00:03:22,580 He created the system that allows only him to win, 54 00:03:22,580 --> 00:03:24,820 so the system is unfair. 55 00:03:48,180 --> 00:03:51,580 There were no hints of the future Tsar back in the '70s. 56 00:03:51,580 --> 00:03:54,300 Born to poor parents in a tough suburb, 57 00:03:54,300 --> 00:03:59,100 he fought his way to university and then a lowly KGB post. 58 00:03:59,100 --> 00:04:02,660 But that only lasted as long as the Soviet Union. 59 00:04:48,540 --> 00:04:50,140 In the chaos of the time, 60 00:04:50,140 --> 00:04:53,420 Mayor Anatoly Sobchak needed a tough guy - 61 00:04:53,420 --> 00:04:56,740 and the KGB officer fitted the role perfectly. 62 00:05:00,100 --> 00:05:03,820 From being a grey-faced KGB agent, just a servant 63 00:05:03,820 --> 00:05:07,140 of the state, he becomes a personality, 64 00:05:07,140 --> 00:05:09,940 and so the ego starts to grow. 65 00:05:11,500 --> 00:05:13,700 Struggling to understand the unfolding enigma 66 00:05:13,700 --> 00:05:17,940 of Vladimir Putin, successive world leaders have turned 67 00:05:17,940 --> 00:05:22,820 to one man for answers, a respected authority on power and the mind. 68 00:05:22,820 --> 00:05:26,180 The human brain has a single reward network, 69 00:05:26,180 --> 00:05:32,300 a single feel-good network that gets switched on whenever we feel, 70 00:05:32,300 --> 00:05:37,060 paid a compliment, whenever we have sex, whenever we take cocaine 71 00:05:37,060 --> 00:05:39,900 and whenever we have power and great success. 72 00:05:41,020 --> 00:05:44,340 What happens is you get a surge of intense pleasure 73 00:05:44,340 --> 00:05:47,060 and satisfaction from the stimulus, 74 00:05:47,060 --> 00:05:50,180 but as you repeat that at a higher level, the brain needs more 75 00:05:50,180 --> 00:05:52,980 and more to achieve the same effect. That's called tolerance. 76 00:05:54,540 --> 00:05:56,820 It's an insatiable appetite. 77 00:05:56,820 --> 00:06:01,180 I don't think Putin was born to be an emperor. 78 00:06:01,180 --> 00:06:06,420 His brain was PROFOUNDLY changed by the power he managed to get. 79 00:06:08,460 --> 00:06:10,620 CHEERING AND MUSIC 80 00:06:15,860 --> 00:06:20,620 In the late 1990s post-Soviet Russia was on the brink of collapse. 81 00:06:20,620 --> 00:06:22,780 A drunk president, gang warfare, 82 00:06:22,780 --> 00:06:27,380 robber baron businessmen, openly contemptuous of the rule of law. 83 00:06:27,380 --> 00:06:30,900 Kremlin insiders knew the country needed a saviour. 84 00:06:30,900 --> 00:06:31,900 Any saviour. 85 00:06:53,140 --> 00:06:57,660 The obvious successor to Yeltsin was Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, 86 00:06:57,660 --> 00:07:01,180 charismatic, eloquent and principled. 87 00:07:01,180 --> 00:07:04,580 But Yeltsin hated him, after he opposed the Chechen war. 88 00:07:06,180 --> 00:07:08,460 And there was somebody else. 89 00:07:08,460 --> 00:07:12,300 In 1996, Vladimir Putin had come to Moscow 90 00:07:12,300 --> 00:07:16,460 to work in the administration, keeping a low profile. 91 00:07:39,500 --> 00:07:41,580 POLICE SIREN 92 00:07:54,180 --> 00:07:57,540 Gleb Pavlovsky was Boris Yeltsin's spin doctor, 93 00:07:57,540 --> 00:08:00,340 and he was tasked with preparing the succession. 94 00:08:44,540 --> 00:08:47,860 APPLAUSE AND CHEERING 95 00:08:54,300 --> 00:08:57,860 Now he's locked in a bitter legal conflict with Putin's government, 96 00:08:57,860 --> 00:08:59,860 but back in the '90s, 97 00:08:59,860 --> 00:09:03,860 his old dacha neighbour was also a Kremlin insider. 98 00:10:12,780 --> 00:10:15,580 APPLAUSE AND CHEERING 99 00:10:21,660 --> 00:10:26,380 If you're made president, that's one big, big rush. 100 00:10:28,300 --> 00:10:35,860 That is an enormous biological hit to the reward network. 101 00:10:37,860 --> 00:10:41,740 Suddenly, you're no longer just subject to the corporatist 102 00:10:41,740 --> 00:10:44,740 ideology of the communist regime. 103 00:10:44,740 --> 00:10:46,220 That regime is dead. 104 00:10:46,220 --> 00:10:50,300 You're now in charge of a new regime. 105 00:10:50,300 --> 00:10:54,340 That is a rush to the brain. 106 00:10:56,020 --> 00:10:58,740 You have not been brought up with the notion 107 00:10:58,740 --> 00:11:01,420 that there are constraints in power. 108 00:11:01,420 --> 00:11:03,300 You know, you've been brought up in a system, 109 00:11:03,300 --> 00:11:05,220 there's no democracy to it. 110 00:11:05,220 --> 00:11:08,580 That ideology has gone, the communist ideology has gone, 111 00:11:08,580 --> 00:11:10,300 so he's left without an ideology. 112 00:11:11,740 --> 00:11:13,980 The ideology he's witnessed in Saint Petersburg 113 00:11:13,980 --> 00:11:17,220 and around him is an ideology of power. 114 00:11:17,220 --> 00:11:18,500 Of power and money. 115 00:11:32,540 --> 00:11:34,660 Putin asked me at that time, 116 00:11:34,660 --> 00:11:39,860 just two days after he became Acting President, he called for me 117 00:11:39,860 --> 00:11:42,580 and offered me position of Prime Minister. 118 00:11:42,580 --> 00:11:45,700 I listed my conditions, 119 00:11:45,700 --> 00:11:51,180 those conditions were just very simple, just like 10, 15 120 00:11:51,180 --> 00:11:56,300 reforms, which I understood and were absolutely sure Russia badly needed. 121 00:11:56,300 --> 00:11:57,860 And he accepted it. 122 00:11:57,860 --> 00:12:04,420 And the only clamour from his side was just, "Don't step on his field." 123 00:12:05,660 --> 00:12:06,940 On presidential field. 124 00:12:09,100 --> 00:12:10,500 Erm, I... 125 00:12:10,500 --> 00:12:13,220 ..decided to accept this. 126 00:12:13,220 --> 00:12:14,540 CAMERAS CLICK 127 00:12:17,220 --> 00:12:19,660 Mr Putin implemented his promises. 128 00:12:19,660 --> 00:12:21,940 He supported all the reforms. 129 00:12:21,940 --> 00:12:23,820 Except one. 130 00:12:23,820 --> 00:12:26,660 Except the reform of gas sector. 131 00:12:32,180 --> 00:12:33,740 APPLAUSE 132 00:12:33,740 --> 00:12:36,380 I first met him early in the year 2000. 133 00:12:36,380 --> 00:12:39,220 He was very much the apprentice leader. 134 00:12:39,220 --> 00:12:42,260 He had been surprised to find himself President of Russia. 135 00:12:42,260 --> 00:12:43,740 When he became president, 136 00:12:43,740 --> 00:12:46,460 everybody in Moscow was saying "Who is this man?" 137 00:12:46,460 --> 00:12:50,140 He had no political background, he'd hardly ever made a political speech. 138 00:12:50,140 --> 00:12:51,940 He was quite nervous. 139 00:12:51,940 --> 00:12:54,140 But also very sharp. 140 00:12:56,300 --> 00:13:00,860 He selected Tony Blair as the first foreign leader that he wished 141 00:13:00,860 --> 00:13:04,060 to meet, because at the time Tony Blair was the pre-eminent 142 00:13:04,060 --> 00:13:07,180 leader in Europe, he was at the height of his popularity 143 00:13:07,180 --> 00:13:10,300 and, in a sense, one felt that Putin was trying 144 00:13:10,300 --> 00:13:14,260 to learn from Tony Blair how to be a political leader. 145 00:13:17,180 --> 00:13:20,300 My impression of this was that he was a guy who was in charge, 146 00:13:20,300 --> 00:13:22,260 who was comfortable in his skin. 147 00:13:23,820 --> 00:13:27,820 And, of course, Tony Blair was the same. 148 00:13:27,820 --> 00:13:31,020 So there was a lot of testosterone around. 149 00:13:31,020 --> 00:13:33,540 You know, Tony, one of the reasons why he was 150 00:13:33,540 --> 00:13:36,860 so successful was he has a very strong sense of who he is 151 00:13:36,860 --> 00:13:40,380 and who he was and also he likes himself and he likes his body. 152 00:13:40,380 --> 00:13:43,220 I mean, neither will thank me for saying this, 153 00:13:43,220 --> 00:13:47,220 but they are actually remarkably similar in many ways. 154 00:13:50,900 --> 00:13:53,860 Putin said, "I want to make Russia a strong state again and I want 155 00:13:53,860 --> 00:13:55,740 "to reconnect it with the West," 156 00:13:55,740 --> 00:13:58,340 and he spent a lot of the next three to four years 157 00:13:58,340 --> 00:14:03,300 trying to get a seat at the top table of world and Western leaders. 158 00:14:03,300 --> 00:14:05,260 Question to President Bush - 159 00:14:05,260 --> 00:14:07,460 is this a man that Americans can trust? 160 00:14:07,460 --> 00:14:09,700 I'll answer the question. I looked the man in the eye, 161 00:14:09,700 --> 00:14:14,300 I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. 162 00:14:14,300 --> 00:14:15,660 I was able to... 163 00:14:15,660 --> 00:14:19,140 ..erm, get a sense of his soul. 164 00:14:19,140 --> 00:14:22,180 The sight of their president back on the world stage, 165 00:14:22,180 --> 00:14:26,340 his team's success in stabilising the country's battered economy 166 00:14:26,340 --> 00:14:29,460 led to soaring personal approval ratings. 167 00:14:29,460 --> 00:14:33,140 But also a desire for personal compensation. 168 00:16:01,300 --> 00:16:05,740 I never dreamed to become the member of the government, 169 00:16:05,740 --> 00:16:09,380 and actually I was Deputy Minister of Transport, 170 00:16:09,380 --> 00:16:11,620 and that was just coincidentally. 171 00:16:13,460 --> 00:16:15,460 TYPEWRITER CLICKS IN BACKGROUND 172 00:16:18,460 --> 00:16:20,780 INTERVIEWER: You know, the lazy argument in the West 173 00:16:20,780 --> 00:16:22,380 is that you only got these posts 174 00:16:22,380 --> 00:16:25,260 because you were a neighbour of Vladimir Putin. 175 00:16:25,260 --> 00:16:27,020 Er, quite contrary. 176 00:16:28,460 --> 00:16:29,580 Er... 177 00:16:29,580 --> 00:16:31,500 Quite contrary. 178 00:16:31,500 --> 00:16:34,340 At that time he was already in Moscow 179 00:16:34,340 --> 00:16:39,660 and that was a pure invitation 180 00:16:39,660 --> 00:16:41,900 from the Ministry of Transport. 181 00:16:43,460 --> 00:16:45,300 INAUDIBLE 182 00:16:49,020 --> 00:16:51,980 It wasn't only a reward for a job well done. 183 00:16:51,980 --> 00:16:54,300 Ministers' rising compensation 184 00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:57,140 was a reflection of others' vast wealth. 185 00:16:58,620 --> 00:17:01,100 At that time, 46%... 186 00:17:02,420 --> 00:17:05,180 ..of entire GDP... 187 00:17:05,180 --> 00:17:07,460 ..of Russian Federation 188 00:17:07,460 --> 00:17:10,740 was produced by companies, 189 00:17:10,740 --> 00:17:12,980 privatised companies, 190 00:17:12,980 --> 00:17:17,820 which actually belong to eight families 191 00:17:17,820 --> 00:17:19,580 in Russian Federation. 192 00:17:21,020 --> 00:17:22,700 It is not known. 193 00:17:22,700 --> 00:17:26,020 You are the first to whom I am telling this openly. 194 00:17:26,020 --> 00:17:30,860 And what is the danger of an economy that is controlled by eight people? 195 00:17:30,860 --> 00:17:33,780 Same like all over the world. 196 00:17:33,780 --> 00:17:35,420 Inequality. 197 00:17:35,420 --> 00:17:37,700 Just inequality. 198 00:17:38,820 --> 00:17:42,980 Putin now trained his sights on those eight men, the oligarchs. 199 00:17:42,980 --> 00:17:45,780 They'd been gifted their companies and huge wealth 200 00:17:45,780 --> 00:17:49,340 by the Yeltsin administration, in a chaotic auction, 201 00:17:49,340 --> 00:17:51,940 in return for political support. 202 00:17:57,220 --> 00:18:02,900 Early in 2003, the President engineered a gladiatorial clash. 203 00:18:02,900 --> 00:18:06,020 On the one side, the man who ruled Russia. 204 00:18:06,020 --> 00:18:09,180 On the other, the men who owned half of it. 205 00:18:09,180 --> 00:18:12,700 The chosen topic of conversation, corruption. 206 00:18:12,700 --> 00:18:14,860 A double-edged sword. 207 00:18:38,340 --> 00:18:41,580 Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the spokesman for the oligarchs, 208 00:18:41,580 --> 00:18:44,140 the fourth richest man in the world, 209 00:18:44,140 --> 00:18:47,620 suspected by the Kremlin of wanting to turn wealth 210 00:18:47,620 --> 00:18:49,260 into political influence. 211 00:19:15,460 --> 00:19:17,860 I didn't pay much attention at that time, 212 00:19:17,860 --> 00:19:20,540 because, just, it was announced that there would be meeting 213 00:19:20,540 --> 00:19:23,380 devoted to, er, corruption 214 00:19:23,380 --> 00:19:27,020 and the oligarchs' team, erm... 215 00:19:27,020 --> 00:19:30,020 ..offered to Mikhail Khodorkovsky 216 00:19:30,020 --> 00:19:33,140 to make a presentation on their behalf. 217 00:20:10,140 --> 00:20:14,340 And then Putin, he explode a little bit and saying how all of you, 218 00:20:14,340 --> 00:20:17,620 and you particular, Khodorkovsky, got your wealth. 219 00:20:30,340 --> 00:20:31,860 I arranged this meeting. 220 00:20:31,860 --> 00:20:33,460 You arranged it? Yes. 221 00:20:33,460 --> 00:20:35,180 What?! Yeah. 222 00:21:06,220 --> 00:21:07,940 MIKHAIL BREATHES HEAVILY AND SIGHS 223 00:21:07,940 --> 00:21:09,060 LAUGHTER 224 00:21:56,540 --> 00:22:00,180 Khodorkovsky's fatal mistake was that he chose a massive oil deal 225 00:22:00,180 --> 00:22:03,420 as his major example of corruption. 226 00:22:03,420 --> 00:22:07,780 A deal which it turned out his president knew everything about. 227 00:22:07,780 --> 00:22:12,220 Mr Putin started to explain me, in the many, many details, 228 00:22:12,220 --> 00:22:15,420 he knew everything in details, that was...brought me to the 229 00:22:15,420 --> 00:22:18,620 understanding there's something wrong, started to appear... 230 00:22:19,780 --> 00:22:23,740 That he knew about the terms of this transaction. 231 00:23:44,660 --> 00:23:47,660 Putin was as good as his private word. 232 00:23:49,060 --> 00:23:52,940 Khodorkovsky was slammed in jail and his vast business sold off, 233 00:23:52,940 --> 00:23:55,260 first to a vodka bar in Siberia, 234 00:23:55,260 --> 00:23:57,220 and then to a company controlled 235 00:23:57,220 --> 00:23:59,500 by one of the President's closest allies. 236 00:24:02,700 --> 00:24:04,180 This was a turning point, 237 00:24:04,180 --> 00:24:09,380 because Yukos was the poster child for the Russian oil industry. 238 00:24:09,380 --> 00:24:12,460 It was very well regarded in the West, 239 00:24:12,460 --> 00:24:16,900 and you thought, you are damaging Russia's image 240 00:24:16,900 --> 00:24:18,460 in the Western business world. 241 00:24:18,460 --> 00:24:21,180 You're damaging the chances of getting more investment in. 242 00:24:21,180 --> 00:24:25,340 So it seemed like a pretty high-risk policy, but for Putin, 243 00:24:25,340 --> 00:24:28,300 zapping Khodorkovsky was so important 244 00:24:28,300 --> 00:24:31,700 that the economic considerations took second place. 245 00:24:31,700 --> 00:24:36,060 The West may not have liked it, but ordinary Russians did. 246 00:24:36,060 --> 00:24:38,340 They were delighted to see their president 247 00:24:38,340 --> 00:24:40,580 taking on the hated oligarchs. 248 00:24:42,660 --> 00:24:46,180 And it wasn't the only sign of a new-found personal confidence. 249 00:24:47,580 --> 00:24:51,780 Russia and Belarus were negotiating a gas deal and talks broke down. 250 00:24:54,500 --> 00:24:56,860 I instructed Gazprom, continue to supply. 251 00:24:56,860 --> 00:25:00,100 It's February, minus 25 in Minsk, 252 00:25:00,100 --> 00:25:03,300 continue to supply, then later we negotiate. 253 00:25:03,300 --> 00:25:06,620 And next morning just Prime Minister of Poland calling me, 254 00:25:06,620 --> 00:25:08,180 Prime Minister of Lithuania... 255 00:25:08,180 --> 00:25:10,820 Governor of Kaliningrad Region. 256 00:25:10,820 --> 00:25:12,700 "What's going on? We have no gas." 257 00:25:14,780 --> 00:25:18,020 Because just they were on the same line, on the same pipeline. 258 00:25:19,860 --> 00:25:21,860 President of Gazprom, he said - 259 00:25:21,860 --> 00:25:25,220 "Putin instructed me to cut supplies." 260 00:25:26,380 --> 00:25:27,900 Then we were shouting to each other. 261 00:25:27,900 --> 00:25:29,580 HE LAUGHS So what did you say? 262 00:25:29,580 --> 00:25:33,140 He said he didn't respect Lukashenko, didn't respect me. 263 00:25:33,140 --> 00:25:37,580 I, Putin, asked him personally just to accept this price and he didn't. 264 00:25:37,580 --> 00:25:40,180 He didn't sign the contract. He didn't respect me. 265 00:25:41,580 --> 00:25:43,300 Two weeks after, I was fired. 266 00:25:45,420 --> 00:25:48,460 The whole Cabinet was fired just two weeks prior to elections. 267 00:25:48,460 --> 00:25:49,540 HE LAUGHS 268 00:25:51,220 --> 00:25:55,580 Stability at home, his vast country once again at peace 269 00:25:55,580 --> 00:25:59,060 and a Cabinet under his direct control. 270 00:25:59,060 --> 00:26:02,900 It looks like the new president has single-handedly reversed 271 00:26:02,900 --> 00:26:05,380 the years of decline. 272 00:26:13,140 --> 00:26:16,180 One of the features of unlimited power 273 00:26:16,180 --> 00:26:20,420 is the acquired narcissism that occurs. 274 00:26:23,020 --> 00:26:26,900 And the acquired narcissism leads to, you know, 275 00:26:26,900 --> 00:26:30,340 a really...enormously inflated ego. 276 00:26:31,780 --> 00:26:34,460 You know, you're teaching cranes to fly, 277 00:26:34,460 --> 00:26:38,180 or you're fighting bears, you're wrestling tigers. 278 00:26:38,180 --> 00:26:42,140 You're just the smartest, cleverest, strongest, 279 00:26:42,140 --> 00:26:45,820 best-looking guy in the world! 280 00:26:45,820 --> 00:26:47,300 HE LAUGHS 281 00:26:48,860 --> 00:26:51,580 And, you know, if you inflate an ego enough, 282 00:26:51,580 --> 00:26:56,860 then the vulnerability of it increases proportionately. 283 00:26:59,580 --> 00:27:02,260 SHOUTING AND CHANTING 284 00:27:12,820 --> 00:27:16,420 Then trouble broke out where he least expected it... 285 00:27:16,420 --> 00:27:17,780 Georgia. 286 00:27:17,780 --> 00:27:20,180 Revolutions swept away his allies 287 00:27:20,180 --> 00:27:23,820 and a coltish reformer took power, Mikheil Saakashvili. 288 00:27:26,020 --> 00:27:29,260 My first contact with Vladimir Putin 289 00:27:29,260 --> 00:27:32,740 was during my first official visit to Moscow. 290 00:27:35,380 --> 00:27:36,820 They tried to persuade... 291 00:27:36,820 --> 00:27:40,340 Er, he actually rolled out red, red carpet, 292 00:27:40,340 --> 00:27:43,100 first full official visit ceremony. 293 00:27:44,900 --> 00:27:49,580 The whole setting was meant to be a kind of recruiting session, 294 00:27:49,580 --> 00:27:53,540 because Putin first took us to the office that... 295 00:27:53,540 --> 00:27:56,180 He'd said that it was former office of Stalin, 296 00:27:56,180 --> 00:27:58,500 and then he took off his tie, jacket, 297 00:27:58,500 --> 00:28:02,100 he invited me to do the same, and then sat down with me 298 00:28:02,100 --> 00:28:04,620 in what was meant to be a very, 299 00:28:04,620 --> 00:28:07,140 you know, friendly and open conversation. 300 00:28:08,620 --> 00:28:12,260 From the very first meeting, I ask him, "So, so, Vladimir, 301 00:28:12,260 --> 00:28:15,540 "do you have any problems with our dealings with the Americas?" 302 00:28:15,540 --> 00:28:17,140 "No", he said "no". 303 00:28:17,140 --> 00:28:19,100 "I myself friends with George Bush. 304 00:28:19,100 --> 00:28:20,860 "Of course we strongly... 305 00:28:20,860 --> 00:28:24,580 "No, we are not in principle against you dealing with the Americas, 306 00:28:24,580 --> 00:28:27,540 "we are just against you being slaves to the Americas". 307 00:28:29,300 --> 00:28:32,260 But then he told me something very clear. 308 00:28:32,260 --> 00:28:35,900 He told me that the sitting Georgian Minister of Security 309 00:28:35,900 --> 00:28:40,060 in Shevardnadze's government, he told me that this is our guy. 310 00:28:40,060 --> 00:28:42,780 "We have very good experience of working with him. 311 00:28:42,780 --> 00:28:47,180 "He really helped us a lot and I hope he keeps his position. 312 00:28:47,180 --> 00:28:50,060 "If he keeps his position, that will make it very easy, 313 00:28:50,060 --> 00:28:51,260 "our co-operation." 314 00:28:52,500 --> 00:28:54,820 Second time I met him, he asks, "Where is he?" 315 00:28:54,820 --> 00:28:56,740 And I told him, "Well, he got promoted. 316 00:28:56,740 --> 00:28:59,300 "We appointed him as Deputy Prosecutor General. 317 00:28:59,300 --> 00:29:01,700 He said, "Well, this is not a promotion. 318 00:29:01,700 --> 00:29:04,740 "We wanted to help him as Minister of Internal Security". 319 00:29:04,740 --> 00:29:07,380 By that he told me, "You are not going to fool me". 320 00:29:07,380 --> 00:29:11,660 Saakashvili, he enjoyed sort of poking the bear in the eye, 321 00:29:11,660 --> 00:29:13,900 and that's not always a very wise policy, 322 00:29:13,900 --> 00:29:16,740 and some people around him advised him not to do it, 323 00:29:16,740 --> 00:29:19,620 and he would've been better advised not to do it. 324 00:29:20,980 --> 00:29:23,500 The psychological and the personal now 325 00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:27,940 plays a much bigger role in international politics, 326 00:29:27,940 --> 00:29:30,180 because of the old certainties, 327 00:29:30,180 --> 00:29:35,420 the old tectonic plates of ideology and of interest between blocs, 328 00:29:35,420 --> 00:29:37,060 they've all gone, 329 00:29:37,060 --> 00:29:40,100 and we're now in a system where individual human psychology 330 00:29:40,100 --> 00:29:42,740 and personality plays much more of a role. 331 00:29:42,740 --> 00:29:44,540 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 332 00:29:44,540 --> 00:29:46,940 To Putin's intense irritation, 333 00:29:46,940 --> 00:29:50,140 Bush immediately responded to Saakashvili's overtures, 334 00:29:50,140 --> 00:29:53,660 reversing the pro-Russian stance he'd earlier held. 335 00:29:55,900 --> 00:29:59,420 Georgia is today most sovereign and free 336 00:29:59,420 --> 00:30:03,860 and a beacon of liberty for this region and the world. 337 00:30:03,860 --> 00:30:06,700 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 338 00:30:06,700 --> 00:30:10,060 Putin began to believe that the Americans could never be trusted. 339 00:30:10,060 --> 00:30:12,860 A view strengthened as the tide of revolution 340 00:30:12,860 --> 00:30:15,020 reached neighbouring Ukraine. 341 00:30:15,020 --> 00:30:17,660 BBC NEWS THEME 342 00:30:17,660 --> 00:30:20,620 HUW EDWARDS: Now to the political crisis in Ukraine. 343 00:30:20,620 --> 00:30:23,420 CROWD CHANTS 344 00:30:23,420 --> 00:30:28,060 The Orange Revolution pitted Putin's man, incumbent Viktor Yanukovich, 345 00:30:28,060 --> 00:30:31,100 against challenger Viktor Yushchenko, 346 00:30:31,100 --> 00:30:34,740 who the Kremlin thought was a US puppet. 347 00:30:34,740 --> 00:30:36,700 At the polls, Yushchenko won, 348 00:30:36,700 --> 00:30:40,180 despite the best efforts of Putin's personal spin doctor. 349 00:31:33,020 --> 00:31:35,780 That was a massive humiliation for Putin 350 00:31:35,780 --> 00:31:39,380 and it was the shakiest moment of his 18 years in power. 351 00:31:39,380 --> 00:31:43,500 For three months after that, people in Moscow were actually asking 352 00:31:43,500 --> 00:31:46,100 whether he would last till the end of his Presidential term. 353 00:31:47,860 --> 00:31:49,660 It was a huge defeat for him 354 00:31:49,660 --> 00:31:53,580 because he was perceived as having lost Ukraine. 355 00:31:56,780 --> 00:32:01,820 It's a defeat the President has never forgotten and never forgiven. 356 00:32:01,820 --> 00:32:04,940 He could never trust the West again. 357 00:32:04,940 --> 00:32:07,100 A perception its politicians, 358 00:32:07,100 --> 00:32:10,580 glorying in democracy's victory in Ukraine, only strengthened. 359 00:32:16,420 --> 00:32:19,660 From the West's point of view, this was the end of history, 360 00:32:19,660 --> 00:32:23,380 liberal capitalism had triumphed. 361 00:32:23,380 --> 00:32:26,060 I was a bit tough on the Russians, but there we are. 362 00:32:27,260 --> 00:32:29,940 And I wish we'd handled it differently. 363 00:32:29,940 --> 00:32:34,700 Imagine if, in the United Kingdom, there'd not just been Scottish 364 00:32:34,700 --> 00:32:38,460 independence but Welsh independence and Northern Irish independence, 365 00:32:38,460 --> 00:32:41,980 but the North West and the North East of England 366 00:32:41,980 --> 00:32:45,180 and the South West had also decided to declare independence. 367 00:32:47,740 --> 00:32:51,420 So we didn't really factor that in in my view 368 00:32:51,420 --> 00:32:58,820 and we then scared the Russians with this absolutely fundamental 369 00:32:58,820 --> 00:33:04,100 anxiety they've always had about being encircled. 370 00:33:04,100 --> 00:33:08,900 In hindsight, I think that we created the anxieties 371 00:33:08,900 --> 00:33:10,580 and we could have avoided them 372 00:33:10,580 --> 00:33:14,460 from which many of Putin's subsequent policies followed. 373 00:33:22,100 --> 00:33:26,140 2005, everything changes. 374 00:33:26,140 --> 00:33:31,100 Vladimir Putin turns inward back to Russia and its people. 375 00:33:31,100 --> 00:33:35,540 Gone modernisation, gone attempts to woo the fickle West. 376 00:33:35,540 --> 00:33:41,340 Instead, "Putin is Russia, Russia is Putin" is the new slogan. 377 00:33:41,340 --> 00:33:43,980 He will rebuild his country himself. 378 00:34:06,300 --> 00:34:08,620 But there's a looming problem. 379 00:34:08,620 --> 00:34:11,860 In two years' time, Putin has to stand down. 380 00:34:11,860 --> 00:34:13,980 A new president is to be elected 381 00:34:13,980 --> 00:34:18,380 and liberal opponents are already starting their campaigns. 382 00:34:18,380 --> 00:34:21,740 Notably chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. 383 00:34:23,620 --> 00:34:28,340 It was a very different game from one that I'd been playing before 384 00:34:28,340 --> 00:34:33,340 because that game was a clear winning combination. 385 00:34:33,340 --> 00:34:37,420 In 2007 there still was a chance for Putin to walk away. 386 00:34:37,420 --> 00:34:39,580 Already probably the richest man in the world, 387 00:34:39,580 --> 00:34:43,900 and was a massive influence and, by the way, with a decent reputation. 388 00:34:46,620 --> 00:34:48,860 This is the world's most famous chess player, 389 00:34:48,860 --> 00:34:51,900 then still ranked number one. 390 00:34:51,900 --> 00:34:55,260 Definitely one of the most recognisable faces in Russia. 391 00:34:55,260 --> 00:34:57,860 Absolutely the most recognisable face in Russia 392 00:34:57,860 --> 00:35:00,740 outside of movie stardom and Putin. 393 00:35:02,140 --> 00:35:05,140 Certainly the man, if you asked anybody anywhere in Russia, 394 00:35:05,140 --> 00:35:08,340 "Who's the smartest man in Russia?" 395 00:35:08,340 --> 00:35:10,540 they'd probably say Garry Kasparov. 396 00:35:12,620 --> 00:35:16,220 He almost immediately went on tour 397 00:35:16,220 --> 00:35:20,540 and I was with him on this little chartered plane. 398 00:35:23,380 --> 00:35:27,580 Within the space of a week, things started shutting down. 399 00:35:28,780 --> 00:35:31,580 First we had to give up the plane 400 00:35:31,580 --> 00:35:34,340 because they would no longer let him land. 401 00:35:36,220 --> 00:35:41,540 In Beslan he couldn't get the venue where he was supposed to speak. 402 00:35:41,540 --> 00:35:46,300 They said that they had a burst pipe 403 00:35:46,300 --> 00:35:48,620 or they had an electrical failure. 404 00:35:48,620 --> 00:35:52,220 Wherever anyone went it was either a burst pipe or an electrical failure. 405 00:35:53,660 --> 00:35:58,540 I think that was the first place where he got stuff thrown at him 406 00:35:58,540 --> 00:36:01,820 and we actually thought it was a gunshot. 407 00:36:01,820 --> 00:36:03,260 By the time we got to Sverdlovsk, 408 00:36:03,260 --> 00:36:06,300 which is the largest city in Southern Russia, 409 00:36:06,300 --> 00:36:08,780 it was no longer a chain of coincidences. 410 00:36:08,780 --> 00:36:10,620 At this point the plane is grounded, 411 00:36:10,620 --> 00:36:14,700 the place where he is supposed to speak had a burst pipe 412 00:36:14,700 --> 00:36:16,980 and then we try to check into a hotel and they say, 413 00:36:16,980 --> 00:36:19,220 "No, you can't check into this hotel." 414 00:36:21,260 --> 00:36:26,820 We had a dinner booked for 30 or 40 people 415 00:36:26,820 --> 00:36:29,580 from the local small business association 416 00:36:29,580 --> 00:36:32,620 and we get to this restaurant 417 00:36:32,620 --> 00:36:34,860 and there was one person there. 418 00:36:36,660 --> 00:36:39,580 And it emerged as we talked... 419 00:36:39,580 --> 00:36:41,580 She was from the small business organisation. 420 00:36:41,580 --> 00:36:47,380 It emerged as we talked that she had lost her cellphone the day before, 421 00:36:47,380 --> 00:36:50,580 so she was the only one who wasn't called 422 00:36:50,580 --> 00:36:53,420 and threatened by the Governor's people. 423 00:36:59,780 --> 00:37:03,340 The grandmaster soon finds himself under arrest. 424 00:37:09,980 --> 00:37:13,940 Tell your leaders that this regime is criminal. It's a police state. 425 00:37:17,100 --> 00:37:20,300 I have to say that, compared to what we are seeing today, 426 00:37:20,300 --> 00:37:23,780 those were vegetarian times. 427 00:37:23,780 --> 00:37:27,500 Ten years ago, for protesting peacefully against Putin 428 00:37:27,500 --> 00:37:31,060 on the streets you could end up in prison for five or ten days. 429 00:37:31,060 --> 00:37:34,060 Today you would end up in prison for five or ten years. 430 00:37:38,460 --> 00:37:42,820 My first trial, which ended up with a £40 fine, 431 00:37:42,820 --> 00:37:45,900 but the judge there, she set up the rules for the future 432 00:37:45,900 --> 00:37:48,500 because everything that happened with me was videotaped. 433 00:37:48,500 --> 00:37:52,460 I had videotape, I had witnesses that proved that everything that 434 00:37:52,460 --> 00:37:54,940 they presented in court was a lie. 435 00:37:54,940 --> 00:38:00,020 She said she trusted a policeman, one policeman, over the rest 436 00:38:00,020 --> 00:38:06,860 of the pile of evidence because he wore the military uniform. 437 00:38:29,140 --> 00:38:32,540 Kasparov isn't the only one trying his luck. 438 00:38:32,540 --> 00:38:37,340 So is Mikhail Kasyanov, keen to return to power. 439 00:38:37,340 --> 00:38:42,220 I decided to run. I believed at that time we had a chance. 440 00:38:42,220 --> 00:38:46,300 I started to run and at that time it was necessary to collect 441 00:38:46,300 --> 00:38:49,780 two million signatures and we did it. 442 00:38:49,780 --> 00:38:56,660 Then my support started to grow from 6%, which is usually 5%-6%, 443 00:38:56,660 --> 00:39:02,580 up to 18% and one month after they cut me out of elections, 444 00:39:02,580 --> 00:39:07,060 just describing that 35 signatures out of two million signatures 445 00:39:07,060 --> 00:39:09,060 we believe not right, not correct. 446 00:39:09,060 --> 00:39:11,460 HE LAUGHS 447 00:39:13,300 --> 00:39:17,860 With no Kasyanov or Kasparov in the mix, Putin's man, Prime Minister 448 00:39:17,860 --> 00:39:22,660 Dmitry Medvedev, succeeds him as President, but then, in defiance of 449 00:39:22,660 --> 00:39:26,060 the spirit if not the letter of the constitution, 450 00:39:26,060 --> 00:39:30,020 that new Prime Minister is Vladimir Putin. 451 00:39:30,020 --> 00:39:33,380 His country's future too important to relinquish. 452 00:39:33,380 --> 00:39:36,300 Power too addictive to give up. 453 00:39:36,300 --> 00:39:38,780 That is absolutely clear for everyone in Russia 454 00:39:38,780 --> 00:39:45,380 that his successor is simply just to keep the presidential seat warm 455 00:39:45,380 --> 00:39:51,180 and he successfully implemented this goal Mr Putin wanted him to do. 456 00:39:53,260 --> 00:39:55,980 This is why democracy was invented. 457 00:39:55,980 --> 00:40:01,340 Take anyone who is given absolute power for more than, say, 458 00:40:01,340 --> 00:40:05,580 eight or ten years, that will inevitably distort their behaviour 459 00:40:05,580 --> 00:40:08,220 in ways that can be very dangerous. 460 00:40:14,460 --> 00:40:18,180 In 2006, Putin had pushed a law through Parliament allowing 461 00:40:18,180 --> 00:40:21,380 the KGB to kill traitors outside Russia. 462 00:40:23,780 --> 00:40:27,900 Months later, Alexander Litvinenko lay dead in London, 463 00:40:27,900 --> 00:40:32,100 the KGB defector poisoned with radioactive polonium after 464 00:40:32,100 --> 00:40:36,700 eating sushi and drinking tea in a Mayfair restaurant. 465 00:40:36,700 --> 00:40:39,740 I was on my way to London for a meeting with Tony Blair 466 00:40:39,740 --> 00:40:44,740 and Litvinenko had been murdered a few days before that 467 00:40:44,740 --> 00:40:47,620 and everybody was talking about it. 468 00:40:47,620 --> 00:40:49,340 So we had to stop over in Minsk. 469 00:40:49,340 --> 00:40:52,620 We went to see an exhibit, after which we had a banquet. 470 00:40:52,620 --> 00:40:54,740 There was Putin in the middle. 471 00:40:54,740 --> 00:41:00,020 I was on his right hand and Lukashenko on his left. 472 00:41:00,020 --> 00:41:05,900 And Lukashenko has this habit of poking Putin from time to time, 473 00:41:05,900 --> 00:41:08,700 even making fun of him. 474 00:41:08,700 --> 00:41:13,820 And so he started to say, "So from here you're leaving for London 475 00:41:13,820 --> 00:41:15,500 "so you should really be well fed. 476 00:41:15,500 --> 00:41:18,660 "I don't advise you to eat anything in London." 477 00:41:18,660 --> 00:41:23,500 And so he said, "Especially I don't advise you to eat any sushi. 478 00:41:23,500 --> 00:41:28,140 "Don't even go close to sushi, but the safest thing to eat from 479 00:41:28,140 --> 00:41:30,060 "which you won't for sure be poisoned 480 00:41:30,060 --> 00:41:32,140 "is from plate in front of Vladimir." 481 00:41:32,140 --> 00:41:36,380 So he takes plate from Putin and gives it to me. 482 00:41:36,380 --> 00:41:40,700 And so Putin suddenly interrupts and says, 483 00:41:40,700 --> 00:41:44,460 "I have nothing to do with the murder of this Litvinenko guy." 484 00:41:44,460 --> 00:41:46,180 He got visibly annoyed. 485 00:41:49,420 --> 00:41:52,340 "No. Who the hell needed Litvinenko? He was nobody. 486 00:41:52,340 --> 00:41:54,780 "Why would I murder him?" 487 00:41:54,780 --> 00:41:58,180 But it really got under his skin. 488 00:41:58,180 --> 00:42:01,900 Ever since, Russia has persistently denied responsibility 489 00:42:01,900 --> 00:42:05,180 for Litvinenko's death. 490 00:42:05,180 --> 00:42:08,620 But behind the jokes in Minsk lay tension, 491 00:42:08,620 --> 00:42:13,020 Putin warning Saakashvili he should drop the West or pay the price. 492 00:42:15,140 --> 00:42:18,580 He took me aside. It was a meeting without witnesses. 493 00:42:18,580 --> 00:42:23,260 It was a dark room next to the main hall. 494 00:42:23,260 --> 00:42:26,500 We sat on chairs. There was not even a table. 495 00:42:26,500 --> 00:42:31,780 So he put his hand on my knee, like, with nails and, 496 00:42:31,780 --> 00:42:33,780 looking straight into my eyes, said, 497 00:42:33,780 --> 00:42:38,460 "You really underestimate us. You cannot play around with Russia." 498 00:42:41,380 --> 00:42:44,500 The all-powerful Putin was increasingly inclined to show 499 00:42:44,500 --> 00:42:47,260 open contempt for his former allies. 500 00:42:49,980 --> 00:42:51,580 One thing that struck me, 501 00:42:51,580 --> 00:42:56,060 an anecdote about Putin which reveals to me 502 00:42:56,060 --> 00:43:01,300 that he's probably not a very nice person, is Angela Merkel is 503 00:43:01,300 --> 00:43:06,540 afraid of dogs and made the mistake of divulging this to Putin. 504 00:43:09,580 --> 00:43:12,220 And one time when she was in Russia, what did he do, 505 00:43:12,220 --> 00:43:15,420 but bring this enormous horrible big dog into the room 506 00:43:15,420 --> 00:43:19,940 just so that he could then enjoy the power that comes, that 507 00:43:19,940 --> 00:43:24,580 somewhat sadistic power that comes from making someone frightened. 508 00:43:29,740 --> 00:43:33,540 2008 - The Georgian crisis boiled over. 509 00:43:33,540 --> 00:43:37,940 A separatist rioted in the dissident republic of South Ossetia. 510 00:43:37,940 --> 00:43:41,100 The Russian Army massed on the border with Putin certain 511 00:43:41,100 --> 00:43:45,340 the hapless West would do absolutely nothing. 512 00:43:45,340 --> 00:43:49,900 It was obviously that it was basically on the edge of war, 513 00:43:49,900 --> 00:43:53,620 so Europeans and America started to make statements. 514 00:43:53,620 --> 00:43:56,380 I tried to call Medvedev because Medvedev was officially the 515 00:43:56,380 --> 00:43:59,780 President, but then they called me back from Russian protocol and said, 516 00:43:59,780 --> 00:44:01,980 "Vladimir Putin wants to talk to you." 517 00:44:01,980 --> 00:44:04,220 And Putin says, "Why are you calling Medvedev? 518 00:44:04,220 --> 00:44:05,940 "It's me who is doing all these things 519 00:44:05,940 --> 00:44:08,780 "and I'm directing the whole operation." 520 00:44:08,780 --> 00:44:12,860 So I told him, "Look, we are very worried. Not only are we worried. 521 00:44:12,860 --> 00:44:17,580 "Look at the statements. We have the White House, the European Union." 522 00:44:17,580 --> 00:44:20,540 He said, "I already saw the statements. 523 00:44:20,540 --> 00:44:23,540 "They are really very harsh, strong statements." 524 00:44:23,540 --> 00:44:28,380 He said lots of paper was spent on the statements. 525 00:44:28,380 --> 00:44:32,260 So he told me, "Mikheil, why don't you call your friends in the West 526 00:44:32,260 --> 00:44:35,660 "and tell them to roll this paper and stick it in their asses?" 527 00:44:48,100 --> 00:44:52,340 While the rest of the world is watching the Beijing Olympics, 528 00:44:52,340 --> 00:44:55,380 Vladimir Putin sends in the tanks 529 00:44:55,380 --> 00:44:58,940 for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. 530 00:45:07,860 --> 00:45:12,020 What happened at that moment, finally the Americans will help. 531 00:45:14,740 --> 00:45:17,940 I have directed the Secretary of Defense Bob Gates to begin 532 00:45:17,940 --> 00:45:20,900 a humanitarian mission to the people of Georgia 533 00:45:20,900 --> 00:45:24,220 headed by the United States military. 534 00:45:24,220 --> 00:45:27,500 This mission will be vigorous and ongoing. 535 00:45:27,500 --> 00:45:31,140 And one of the things that they leaked was that Cheney wanted 536 00:45:31,140 --> 00:45:33,980 to hit the Russians with cruise missiles. 537 00:45:36,140 --> 00:45:39,100 Within 40 minutes of the Bush announcement, 538 00:45:39,100 --> 00:45:42,900 Russian troops' advance on our capital was stopped. 539 00:45:42,900 --> 00:45:46,060 So Putin got the message. 540 00:45:46,060 --> 00:45:49,060 The West was horrified by the invasion and relieved at the 541 00:45:49,060 --> 00:45:51,660 pull back, but even a five-day war 542 00:45:51,660 --> 00:45:54,660 made Russians feel their country was strong again. 543 00:45:54,660 --> 00:45:57,260 A firm leader at its tiller. 544 00:45:57,260 --> 00:46:00,380 Worried European countries decide it's time to try 545 00:46:00,380 --> 00:46:02,180 and be friends again. 546 00:46:03,620 --> 00:46:07,980 I visited Moscow and I saw then-President Medvedev. 547 00:46:07,980 --> 00:46:09,860 This was in the period 548 00:46:09,860 --> 00:46:13,180 when Putin had stepped into being Prime Minister 549 00:46:13,180 --> 00:46:16,860 while, of course, still holding the reins of power. 550 00:46:16,860 --> 00:46:22,100 Medvedev is much more a normal European politician. 551 00:46:22,100 --> 00:46:26,620 Talking to him you get a much less sinister feeling really 552 00:46:26,620 --> 00:46:28,900 than talking to President Putin. 553 00:46:31,700 --> 00:46:38,100 I escorted him to the Olympics when he came here in 2012. 554 00:46:38,100 --> 00:46:41,660 I took him to the ExCel Centre to see the Judo. 555 00:46:41,660 --> 00:46:46,460 I know a bit about Judo. I've done some Judo. Not as much as he has. 556 00:46:46,460 --> 00:46:50,340 A Russian won the gold medal, which Putin enjoyed, of course, 557 00:46:50,340 --> 00:46:52,700 immensely because he wasn't going to go back to Moscow 558 00:46:52,700 --> 00:46:56,060 until he had seen a Russian win a gold medal. 559 00:46:56,060 --> 00:46:58,460 He was going to stay as long as necessary. 560 00:46:58,460 --> 00:47:04,460 We had champagne, you know, we had quite a party 561 00:47:04,460 --> 00:47:07,780 and we waved him off, knowing that they'd won a gold medal, 562 00:47:07,780 --> 00:47:10,820 with some relief that he didn't need to stay a couple of days. 563 00:47:20,820 --> 00:47:23,860 Two years later, the Sochi Olympics were intended to be another 564 00:47:23,860 --> 00:47:27,300 stepping stone in Russia's path to global dominance. 565 00:47:28,660 --> 00:47:32,540 The President poured vast amounts of time and money into the project. 566 00:47:37,660 --> 00:47:40,940 But the Games also served to distract the world's cameras 567 00:47:40,940 --> 00:47:44,180 from his next bold foreign policy manoeuvre, 568 00:47:44,180 --> 00:47:46,500 as Russia seized control of Crimea. 569 00:47:51,620 --> 00:47:54,740 Dictators never ask why. It's always why not? 570 00:47:56,860 --> 00:47:59,420 But we could see an acceleration. 571 00:47:59,420 --> 00:48:02,580 For Hitler it took 20 months from Berlin Olympics 572 00:48:02,580 --> 00:48:04,700 to annexation of Austria. 573 00:48:04,700 --> 00:48:07,860 For Putin it took only 20 days, 574 00:48:07,860 --> 00:48:10,300 from Olympics to annexation of Crimea. 575 00:48:14,260 --> 00:48:18,660 Putin has developed a very clear consistent approach in dealing with 576 00:48:18,660 --> 00:48:23,180 problems in those neighbours, which is to take a physical stake in them. 577 00:48:23,180 --> 00:48:24,820 Something which, 578 00:48:24,820 --> 00:48:27,940 every time he does it, is astonishing to Western opinion. 579 00:48:27,940 --> 00:48:31,140 Of course it wouldn't be astonishing any more because he's done it 580 00:48:31,140 --> 00:48:36,780 several times, but to physically take part of one of those countries, 581 00:48:36,780 --> 00:48:41,100 to stop that country functioning as a sovereign state... 582 00:48:42,820 --> 00:48:45,740 ..and that is how he arrests the arrival 583 00:48:45,740 --> 00:48:48,940 or the growth of Western ideas. 584 00:48:51,620 --> 00:48:55,020 And of course he was bold enough to do the same in Syria. 585 00:48:55,020 --> 00:48:58,100 To physically intervene, in my view, 586 00:48:58,100 --> 00:49:02,620 emboldened by Western failure to intervene. 587 00:49:05,020 --> 00:49:07,820 One of the key features 588 00:49:07,820 --> 00:49:13,180 of the extreme narcissism of the emperor 589 00:49:13,180 --> 00:49:17,500 is you lose the ability to distinguish your interests 590 00:49:17,500 --> 00:49:20,460 from the interests of the country. 591 00:49:20,460 --> 00:49:24,940 And so you and your nation's interest becomes identical. 592 00:49:26,940 --> 00:49:31,740 To the baffled West, Vladimir Putin looked arbitrary and out of control. 593 00:49:31,740 --> 00:49:35,500 But to his people he looked like a true Tsar, happy to flout 594 00:49:35,500 --> 00:49:40,300 Western norms of behaviour to safeguard Russia's vital interests. 595 00:49:45,580 --> 00:49:49,060 Then one old rival decides to challenge the apparently 596 00:49:49,060 --> 00:49:50,300 invincible President. 597 00:49:51,380 --> 00:49:54,740 CROWDS CHANT 598 00:49:54,740 --> 00:49:58,700 Boris himself had as close a relationship to power as anyone. 599 00:49:58,700 --> 00:50:03,100 For many years he was perceived as the heir apparent to Yeltsin. 600 00:50:03,100 --> 00:50:04,660 And then Putin takes that place. 601 00:50:05,740 --> 00:50:08,460 And, of course, 602 00:50:08,460 --> 00:50:09,740 neither of them can sort of 603 00:50:09,740 --> 00:50:12,460 let the other alone. 604 00:50:12,460 --> 00:50:14,580 Nemtsov, I think, for principled reasons, 605 00:50:14,580 --> 00:50:17,220 and Putin for reasons of insecurity and vengefulness. 606 00:50:21,060 --> 00:50:24,140 Boris Nemtsov started small - 607 00:50:24,140 --> 00:50:29,460 a pamphlet alleging that his nemesis had 58 jets, two yachts, 608 00:50:29,460 --> 00:50:31,100 a summer palace, 609 00:50:31,100 --> 00:50:34,820 making Vladimir Putin the world's richest man. 610 00:50:34,820 --> 00:50:37,940 His co-author was a former government minister. 611 00:50:39,620 --> 00:50:43,300 Boris Nemtsov and myself, we were questioning the whole narrative 612 00:50:43,300 --> 00:50:47,140 that things got so much better under Putin that we should be just 613 00:50:47,140 --> 00:50:50,220 happy and let him be the lifetime monarch. 614 00:50:50,220 --> 00:50:54,020 We described a lot of irregularities and serious problems that 615 00:50:54,020 --> 00:50:58,380 existed underneath the economically brilliant surface. 616 00:50:58,380 --> 00:51:03,580 Growing inequality became much higher than in the 1990s, 617 00:51:03,580 --> 00:51:07,020 growing corruption and institutionalised corruption, 618 00:51:07,020 --> 00:51:10,180 which also was never the case in the '90s because, in the '90s, 619 00:51:10,180 --> 00:51:15,460 it was all bribes from businessmen to bureaucrats, but under Putin, 620 00:51:15,460 --> 00:51:19,700 it became bureaucrats completely affiliated with making dirty money, 621 00:51:19,700 --> 00:51:22,220 and actually it became their business, 622 00:51:22,220 --> 00:51:24,500 and their only business, to do so. 623 00:51:26,100 --> 00:51:28,900 You know, we are not perfect, 624 00:51:28,900 --> 00:51:30,900 but who actually is? 625 00:51:32,780 --> 00:51:34,540 Did I commit things? 626 00:51:34,540 --> 00:51:37,300 Yes, I committed things. 627 00:51:37,300 --> 00:51:41,220 But I never killed a person, 628 00:51:41,220 --> 00:51:44,740 I never slapped anybody by the face, 629 00:51:44,740 --> 00:51:48,700 either figurally, either, you know, physically, 630 00:51:48,700 --> 00:51:53,380 and I never stealed from anybody. 631 00:51:53,380 --> 00:51:57,580 I help a lot and, you know, from time to time, 632 00:51:57,580 --> 00:52:01,940 it returns to me in the form of just unexpected support. 633 00:52:08,260 --> 00:52:11,180 I call him Boris, 634 00:52:11,180 --> 00:52:15,780 but sometimes I have started to call him suspect. 635 00:52:15,780 --> 00:52:21,900 But he was a man with a brilliant sense of humour. 636 00:52:24,900 --> 00:52:30,820 He was preparing the next pamphlet devoted to the election in Crimea. 637 00:52:32,620 --> 00:52:36,180 It's a very sensitive subject for Putin's regime. 638 00:52:46,020 --> 00:52:48,660 One winter's night, Boris Nemtsov 639 00:52:48,660 --> 00:52:51,340 starts to cross the Moskvoretsky Bridge, 640 00:52:51,340 --> 00:52:53,900 in the shadow of the Kremlin walls. 641 00:52:53,900 --> 00:52:59,900 Moments later, he's shot in the back and the head four times. 642 00:52:59,900 --> 00:53:01,260 I was of course shocked. 643 00:53:01,260 --> 00:53:03,620 I couldn't even imagine that it could happen 644 00:53:03,620 --> 00:53:05,380 in the 21st century, 645 00:53:05,380 --> 00:53:07,940 with us, in the centre of Moscow. 646 00:53:10,060 --> 00:53:12,460 I immediately came there, on the bridge, 647 00:53:12,460 --> 00:53:14,740 and I just was standing, 648 00:53:14,740 --> 00:53:18,580 and the body of... Murdered my friend. 649 00:53:18,580 --> 00:53:21,780 Just on the front of Kremlin wall, 650 00:53:21,780 --> 00:53:25,740 where just all Secret Service cameras were just installed. 651 00:53:33,580 --> 00:53:37,420 I was shocked. It was a real shock for me. 652 00:53:37,420 --> 00:53:39,220 I didn't think it was possible. 653 00:53:40,420 --> 00:53:42,460 I didn't think it was possible. 654 00:53:42,460 --> 00:53:44,100 And I didn't know... 655 00:53:45,780 --> 00:53:47,980 ..who was guilty of it. 656 00:53:47,980 --> 00:53:50,980 Despite the absence of any CCTV - 657 00:53:50,980 --> 00:53:53,740 Kremlin's cameras were being serviced that night - 658 00:53:53,740 --> 00:53:58,340 four men are arrested for Nemtsov's murder - one a former para. 659 00:53:59,780 --> 00:54:03,420 But Nemtsov's supporters doubt ultimate responsibility lies 660 00:54:03,420 --> 00:54:05,900 with the former serviceman. 661 00:54:05,900 --> 00:54:08,900 If you stand there and look at the location, 662 00:54:08,900 --> 00:54:11,220 then you completely understand that, 663 00:54:11,220 --> 00:54:14,700 in this place, it cannot happen 664 00:54:14,700 --> 00:54:19,620 without not only the permission but the order from person number one. 665 00:54:32,100 --> 00:54:36,540 Almost all people who hold great power for a long time begin 666 00:54:36,540 --> 00:54:39,140 to feel so special. 667 00:54:39,140 --> 00:54:40,940 "I am so amazing. 668 00:54:43,340 --> 00:54:45,380 "God must have something to do with this. 669 00:54:47,980 --> 00:54:51,620 "Look, I can snap my fingers and they invade a country. 670 00:54:51,620 --> 00:54:56,020 "I can... I have power of life and death over man and woman." 671 00:54:58,420 --> 00:55:01,660 George W Bush confessed he thought that God was 672 00:55:01,660 --> 00:55:04,660 involved in his decision on the Iraq war. 673 00:55:04,660 --> 00:55:09,660 Tony Blair hinted of a wee chat with God now and again. 674 00:55:09,660 --> 00:55:13,020 Julius Caesar had himself deified when he was still alive. 675 00:55:14,300 --> 00:55:16,340 With unchallenged authority at home 676 00:55:16,340 --> 00:55:19,380 and his nearest neighbours put in their place, 677 00:55:19,380 --> 00:55:23,820 the President is now able to spread his influence even further afield. 678 00:55:24,860 --> 00:55:29,740 It seems very evident there was a Russian interference 679 00:55:29,740 --> 00:55:31,380 in the election. 680 00:55:31,380 --> 00:55:34,980 The amount of evidence amassed by the intelligence agencies 681 00:55:34,980 --> 00:55:39,260 in the United States about Russia is unlikely to be wrong. 682 00:55:39,260 --> 00:55:42,140 A lot of people say, as an example, you know, 683 00:55:42,140 --> 00:55:44,700 "Hillary likes to play tough with Russia." 684 00:55:44,700 --> 00:55:47,460 Putin looks at her and he laughs, OK? 685 00:55:53,060 --> 00:55:56,340 Putin's goals are strategic goals. 686 00:55:56,340 --> 00:56:02,300 He wants chaos because that's his breathing air. 687 00:56:02,300 --> 00:56:06,740 He needs chaos because that's how he installs his authorities 688 00:56:06,740 --> 00:56:08,500 inside and outside of Russia. 689 00:56:09,580 --> 00:56:11,460 He doesn't want to compete. 690 00:56:11,460 --> 00:56:13,820 He cannot compete with the free world, 691 00:56:13,820 --> 00:56:17,420 but the moment it comes into wars and conflicts, 692 00:56:17,420 --> 00:56:20,540 he's dominant because he is very quick at making decisions. 693 00:56:20,540 --> 00:56:23,780 He doesn't bother about Parliament, free press, 694 00:56:23,780 --> 00:56:27,140 public opinion, so he immediately grabs 695 00:56:27,140 --> 00:56:31,500 an opportunity if it is presented. 696 00:56:31,500 --> 00:56:35,940 He looks at the world map, looking for bargaining chips, 697 00:56:35,940 --> 00:56:38,020 because for him it's all geo-political casino. 698 00:56:40,660 --> 00:56:45,020 I think this is part of a pattern where there has quite probably been 699 00:56:45,020 --> 00:56:48,180 Russian interference in elections 700 00:56:48,180 --> 00:56:52,980 and referendums throughout Europe over the last few years, 701 00:56:52,980 --> 00:56:56,300 not always to achieve a specific result 702 00:56:56,300 --> 00:57:01,580 but to diminish confidence in the democratic process 703 00:57:01,580 --> 00:57:06,140 over time and to weaken the unity of the West. 704 00:57:08,060 --> 00:57:09,540 And it's not over. 705 00:57:21,380 --> 00:57:23,700 With just days to go to the election, 706 00:57:23,700 --> 00:57:28,540 the President announces a new global arms race, with nukes 707 00:57:28,540 --> 00:57:32,780 designed to elude any antimissile system, present or future. 708 00:57:46,620 --> 00:57:48,700 Out on the campaign trail, there's 709 00:57:48,700 --> 00:57:52,740 a growing tide of suspicion that the President is just using his family 710 00:57:52,740 --> 00:57:56,820 friend as a window-dressing on his inevitable accession to power. 711 00:57:59,860 --> 00:58:03,260 So you're not the Kremlin's puppet, then? 712 00:58:03,260 --> 00:58:07,180 Well, I'm tired of answering this question. No, I'm not. 713 00:58:07,180 --> 00:58:09,340 Do you want to be the next president? 714 00:58:09,340 --> 00:58:11,580 Well, I want to, 715 00:58:11,580 --> 00:58:14,500 but I'm not sure it will be this year. 716 00:58:14,500 --> 00:58:18,340 But I hope in six years, I'll have a chance to do that. 717 00:58:18,340 --> 00:58:21,300 To my mind, there is no way out, 718 00:58:21,300 --> 00:58:24,660 he will stay there for a long time. 719 00:58:30,340 --> 00:58:34,300 Even if you could arrange a handover 720 00:58:34,300 --> 00:58:38,860 that guaranteed he would not suffer the fate of Gaddafi 721 00:58:38,860 --> 00:58:41,100 or Saddam Hussein, 722 00:58:41,100 --> 00:58:44,860 how would you replace the incredible 723 00:58:44,860 --> 00:58:49,980 mainlining into your reward network of exceptional power? 724 00:58:49,980 --> 00:58:54,060 There is an awful bleakness and blackness out there awaiting you.