TV Preview: Putin, Russia and the West plus Q+A
07 December 11
4th January
18:45
Princess Anne Theatre, 195 Piccadilly
After eight years as President and four as Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin looks likely to be re-elected President of Russia in March. Before he became famous, Putin was a top Russian spy. But when he became President he made himself a valued ally of the West. How did he do it? And what made Washington and London turn against him? For the first time Putin’s top colleagues - and the Western statesmen who eventually clashed with him - tell the inside story.
This four part series is made by the award winning team at Brook Lapping, producers of series including The Death of Yugoslavia, The Second Russian Revolution and Iran & the West.
In Episode One, Taking Control, George W Bush meets Putin in June 2001 and declares he looked him in the eye and ‘got a sense of his soul’. Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice recall their discomfort. But Rice, the only Bush adviser in the private talks, reveals that, three months before 9/11, Putin gave Bush a prophetic warning about Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban.
After 9/11, Putin describes how he convinced his shocked colleagues that Russia should align with the West. Sergei Ivanov, Russian’s Defense Minister, tells how the Taliban secretly offered to join forces with Russia against America. He says he rejected their offer with the terse English phrase "F*** off."
At home Putin was becoming increasingly authoritarian. Mikhail Kasyanov, then Russia’s Prime Minister, recalls a meeting where “all the oligarchs present almost hid under the table in fear.” Russia’s richest man at that time, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and some of his closest colleagues, describe how he accused a close Putin aide of corruption - and ended up in prison.
This screening will be followed by Q&A with series producer Norma Percy, series director Paul Mitchell and executive producer Brian Lapping, chaired by Allan Little.
With thanks to BBC Two and Brook Lapping.
Pricing Information:
BAFTA Members | Free
Public | £7.50 - book tickets here
