Examines the early life of Vladimir Putin and the political machine that…
How Putin Came to Power
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- Transcript
In August 1999, Vladimir V. Putin, head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the KGB, was appointed Prime Minister. On December 31st of that year, Boris Yeltsin announced that Putin would succeed him as President of the Russian Federation. HOW PUTIN CAME TO POWER traces the stunningly rapid ascension of this political unknown to leadership of the Kremlin.
The film documents the power struggle between the country's ruling oligarchs and a behind-the-scenes political deal that elevated Putin to power. Putin initially demonstrated his value to 'The Family,' the family members and wealthy businessmen around Yeltsin-including Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, now in exile in London-by blackmailing the Russian Prosecutor General who was investigating a money-laundering scheme that would have exposed government corruption. As Prime Minister Putin, aided by a suspicious series of alleged terrorist attacks in Moscow and the launch of the Chechen War, established a 'law and order' reputation, which paved his way to election as President.
HOW PUTIN CAME TO POWER tells its story with archival footage, a clandestine blackmail video, remarkable recordings of government meetings, and interviews with many Kremlin insiders who offer firsthand testimony about these events, including Putin's campaign chief Ksenia Ponomareva, former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, General Vladimir Shamanov, journalists Elena Tregubova and Vlad Rabinov, and former U.S. Ambassador Stephen Sestanovich.
'Eye-opening... An informative and engaging account of our most recent instance of succession politics, Russian style.' -Michael Urban, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics
'***-1/2 ... Well-researched... offers valuable insights... this excellent documentary suggests that more attention should be paid to Russia in general and Putin in particular. Highly recommended.' -P. Hall, Video Librarian
'Essential for understanding the dynamics of Russian politics today, and probably for a long time to come.' -Louis Menashe, Professor of Russian History and Film, Polytechnic University
'Sends a chill up one's spine.' -Libération
'Vladimir Putin is nothing more than a 'product.' A coproduction of Russian television and the 'Family' of aged president Boris Yeltsin. A robot, a marionette... In short, a horror. That's the thesis defended with brio in this documentary... It's powerful, very powerful.' -Le Monde
'Tania Rakhmanova constructs her documentary like a police investigation... A must-see!' -Telé Star
'An informative and engaging account of our most recent instance of succession politics, Russian style.' -Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics
Citation
Main credits
Rakhmanova, Tania (Director)
Rakhmanova, Tania (Screenwriter)
Mitchell, Paul M (Screenwriter)
Other credits
Editor, Joseph Peterson.
Distributor subjects
Biographies; Comparative Government; Eastern Europe; History (World); Political Science; RussiaKeywords
WEBVTT
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[music]
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[music]
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[sil.]
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Since this election as president of Russia
in year 2000, Vladimir Putin has become
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the most popular politician in the country and he
is also the biggest celebrity in Russia\'s history.
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What lay behind the dazzling rise to power
of this former KGB lieutenant colonel
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who was totally unknown one year before the
election? How did Vladimir Putin manage
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to capture the Russian presidency in March,
2000? Was it down to popularic claim,
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or Kremlin Trickery, or simply a
strange interpretation of democracy?
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This story begins with an enormous case of
corruption, literally at the centre of Russian power
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in the very fabric of
the Kremlin buildings.
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In the mid 1990\'s, Boris
Yeltsin decides to change
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the image of the Kremlin and erase
the symbols of soviet color.
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Pavel Borodin, Yeltsin\'s property chief was given
the job of restoring the pre-soviet Kremlin.
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He signed contract with western businesses for billions of
dollars. The money was transferred through Swiss banks.
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In 1998, the Swiss authorities noted a
regularities in certain transactions.
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The Swiss federal prosecutor, Carla del
Ponte, suggested to a Russian counterpart
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that he open a judicial enquiry.
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Despite these fears,
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prosecutor Skuratov did open an enquiry. He soon
suspected a huge money laundering operation
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hidden behind the Kremlin\'s golden doors. Pavel Borodin
and his team had profited from their close links
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with the presidency to inflate the cost of
the work this allowed them to sign contracts
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with several times the real price
and to pocket the difference.
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[music]
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One of Borodin\'s privileged partner in this
scheme was a Swiss company called Mabetex,
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with whom he sign a contract for $350
million, for interior decoration.
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[music]
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The scale of the affair was enormous. In an earlier period
of Yeltsin\'s reign, the scandal would have in quietly swept
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under the carpet. This time
things would be different.
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In the month of August, 1998, in the middle of the summer
holidays, the Russian government suddenly announced
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it could no longer pay its international
debts and would default. The country plunged
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into a financial crisis without president. Many of
the big banks went bankrupt and the Ruble collapsed.
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Angry Russians accused
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Yeltsin and his reforms of causing this catastrophe and they
demanded to see their currents []. People said the president
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after several heart attacks and quintuple
bypass operation was too ill to rule.
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The population was near to panicking.
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And at the peak of the crisis, Bill Clinton was scheduled
to visit. A few days before he was due to leave Washington,
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the CIA sent news to the white house,
they had a report that Yeltsin was dead.
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[music]
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I first heard about this from Secretary
Albright, in her office say,
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she said to me, \"I, I, I guess you heard
the latest report from our friends
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at the… at the agency.\"
And I said, \'Latest?\'
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\"Yes, Yeltsin is dead, it
seems.\" And the question was
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is there anybody to go and meet?
This was needless to say,
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for President Clinton and welcome prospect
to arrive and have a vegetable there.
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Uh… And there was serious consideration
given by the administration
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to cancelling the trip because with
all of his own political problems,
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President Clinton did not want to look as
though he was tethering himself to a corpse.
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[sil.]
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The doctors somehow got Yeltsin back on his feet
for Clinton. The Russian president seems to be
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back in control of Kremlin. But in reality,
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decisions now depended more and more on a small
circle of advisors that the Kremlin press
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pooled up the family.
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The family assorted unofficial politburo
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assembled around Yeltsin
included his daughter Tatyana,
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her future husband Yumasheva, and
the businessman Boris Berezovsky,
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and Roman Abramovich.
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[music]
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In the autumn of 1998, this
tight circle of the Kremlin
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was searching for someone for Yeltsin to appoint
as prime minister to end the financial crisis.
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It wasn\'t just the question of
finding a new head of government
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but of finding Yeltsin\'s successor. For according
to the Russian constitution, it is prime minister
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who replaces president in case of ill health.
And in any case, they were less than two years
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to the next presidential elections. The prime minister\'s
post was the perfect launch pad for the presidency.
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[sil.]
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All the candidates proposed by the family were rejected
by the parliament. Yeltsin, finally had to accept
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Yevgeny Primakov as the prime minister. This former foreign
minister and ex-chief of the intelligence services,
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was close to the communist
majority in parliament.
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The new prime minister tried
to reign in the family
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and demanded a government report of true state
of corruption and economic crime in the country.
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Within weeks, the report was on his desk.
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Although public opinion
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largely approved Primakov\'s proposals, for
Russian businessman, like, Boris Berezovsky,
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it was a declaration of war.
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War was declared. The first battle would
be fought over the Mabetex affair.
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The Russian prosecutor general sent to commission
to Switzerland to investigate further.
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At Lugano, the investigators discovered
a personal bank account of $6 million
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in the name of Pavel Borodin, the
property chief of the Kremlin.
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During a search of the offices of Mabetex, they found
credit card papers written out for Yeltsin\'s daughters
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and the bank card in the name of president.
Carla del Ponte called prosecutor Skuratov.
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On February the 1st, 1999,
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prosecutor Skuratov was called into the Kremlin
to see the president\'s chief of staff.
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It was just 10 days from the search of
Mabetex. The Kremlin was hitting back hard,
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hard and below the belt.
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[sil.]
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Blackmail is a tried and tested Kremlin tool. The
family was believed to hold incriminating cassettes
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on many senior public officials. But
Skuratov did not give in to the blackmail
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and continued his enquiry
with his Swiss colleagues.
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On the 23rd of March, Carla del Ponte, herself came
to Moscow. She had some new documents on the affair.
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Carla del Ponte successfully avoided the
ministry of the interior and refused to sleep
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in the Prosecutor\'s residence.
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
The following day, Swiss
prosecutor left Russia
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with no further incidents. Meanwhile, the
cassettes were shown to the members of parliament
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to justify Yeltsin\'s demands for the
dismissal of the prosecutor general.
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But the deputies were not convinced by the
recording and refused to let Skuratov go.
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The next move for the Kremlin, leak the
video. Extracts from the recording
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were broadcast on TV, but nobody was sure
it was really Skuratov on the cassette.
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So the prosecutor notched up the pressure,
he decided to question Yeltsin\'s daughters
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and to arrest Berezovsky. It was then
the Kremlin played their trump card.
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:55.000
[sil.]
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Putin had proved to the family that they could
count on him. After his public intervention,
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a judicial enquiry was opened
on Prosecutor Skuratov.
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He was sacked and forced to
abandon the Mabetex affair.
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The family had won the first round
but the game was far from over.
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The presidential elections were just 14 months away,
Primakov was still Prime Minister and still pursuing
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his anti-corruption campaign. He was
still riding high in the opinion polls.
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The majority of Russians wanted him to be the next
president. So the Kremlin prepared his downfall.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
The first public sign of the maneuver
was a game of musical chairs.
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:55.000
[music]
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[music]
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[music]
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[music]
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[music]
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Primakov was sacked,
Stepashin took his place.
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But Primakov did not disappear from the political scene.
With the old powerful man of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov,
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he created a new party, \"The Fatherland\".
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
Primakov publicly denounced the
corruption of Yeltsin\'s entourage
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and asked to see the Kremlin\'s accounts.
The new party flew up the opinion polls.
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
In the Kremlin, the family was in panic.
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
They had to find a successor to Yeltsin, but they
were short of candidates. Reformers or apparatchiks,
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no one seemed sufficiently
docile and loyal. It was then
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the family remembered Vladimir Putin. He proved
with the Mabetex affair that he could be relied on.
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
Why Putin? After the collapse
of the soviet union,
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this former KGB colonel started
a new career as an apparatchik
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
in the shadow of the powerful man
of St.Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
Sobchak took him on his
deputy, then in 1996,
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put him in charge of his re-election campaign for
mayor. This was Putin\'s sole electoral experience.
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
He failed, Sobchak lost the
election, Putin lost his job.
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
He could have gone in to business
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
but he chose a different route, he
went to Moscow and was hired by
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none other than Kremlin
property boss, Pavel Borodin.
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Putin became Borodin\'s deputy.
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
In less than two years, he was made
head of the FSB, successor to the KGB.
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
But how could the head of secret service
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
become heir to Yeltsin. The
family choose him for his loyalty
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but also, like, Primakov to electorate,
he represented law and order.
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
And if Putin manage to win over the family,
it was because he had another talent,
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
a talent which is essential for anyone who wants
to survive and thrive in Kremlin intrigues.
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
He knows how to please.
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
Elena Tregubova, one of the most influential
Kremlin journalists had personal experience
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of Putin\'s talents. One day she received
a lunch invitation from the head of FSB
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who had decided on a charm offensive.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
The ex-spy used his talents to seduce
anyone who was of any importance.
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
By the time he had everyone who mattered on
his side, he was the preferred candidate
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
of Yeltsin\'s daughter and her husband.
It was Boris Berezovsky,
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
sometimes known as the godfather
of the Kremlin, who in June, 1999,
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:18.000
was given the task of making
a secret offer to Putin.
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.000
Later, Putin described the scene
to his favorite journalist.
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The family kept their choice secret,
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
outwardly life continued, that summer of 1999,
no one was talking about the elections.
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
All seemed very calm, but
appearances were deceptive.
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
In Switzerland, the Mabetex
investigation resumed.
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
In New York, a new enquiry was opened threatening those
closest to Yeltsin. It concerned many laundering of IMF funds
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
on a massive scale.
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
The US treasuries were investigating, the family
had to act fast. They decided to launch Putin.
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
[sil.]
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
[non-English narration]
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
The events in Chechnya were well timed. The
morning of 5th of August, several Chechen groups
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
commanded by Shamil Basayev crossed the
frontier and penetrated without resistance
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
into the Russian province of Dagestan with the goal
of establishing a Muslim state in the Caucasus.
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:25.000
At the time, the Kremlin have
seem to be caught by surprise.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
According to some sources those closest to the Kremlin
encourage Shamil Basayev to bring forward the day of his raid.
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
The Russian army responded
with a gigantic operation.
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
Moscow was plunged into
a new political crisis.
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:10.000
Yeltsin took his chance to
change the Prime Minister.
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:35.000
[sil.]
00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:03.000
[music]
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
When we heard the news, we thought
Russian politics has now become
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
ultimately and incorrigibly
unpredictable that
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
such a person as Putin, somebody who was,
you know, at sort of a low level bureaucrat
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
in the estimate of most people who dealt
with him could be, you know, positioned
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
to become president if anything
happened to Yeltsin seemed absurd.
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
Putin was completely unknown to the whiter
public, and there were only 10 months left
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
before presidential elections, so he had to
quote public opinion, starting with those
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
he understood best, the military. He
visited the units fighting in Dagestan
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:55.000
under the command of General Shamanov,
one of Russia\'s best military leaders.
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
But the pictures of the new Prime Minister
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
with the military were not
enough to make him popular.
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
10 months before the presidential
elections, Putin stood at 3% in the polls,
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
Primakov was close to 20.
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:13.000
How could the situation be reversed?
There was only one way, Television.
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
Berezovsky brought back Sergei Dorenko,
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
a top TV journalist from Channel One.
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:30.000
Dorenko had been taken off the air waves some months
early by Primakov, who didn\'t appreciate his frankness.
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:55.000
[non-English narration]
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:33.000
[music]
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
Dorenko was given a weekly Sunday
evening primetime broadcast
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
on Channel One, which
belonged to Berezovsky.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
It was the most watched program in Russia.
And every fortnight,
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:55.000
Putin was Dorenko\'s guest on the program.
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:05.000
[music]
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
[music]
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
300 people were killed in the explosion.
Russia has never known attacks on this scale.
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
Even today, no one knows
who was responsible.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
At the time, the authorities
immediately accused
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
Chechen terrorists of the attack
provoking a wave of xenophobia.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:55.000
But there is another popular theory
implicating the FSB, Putin\'s former ministry.
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
It was a turning point, three
days after the first explosion,
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
Putin met President Clinton and presented
him with a detailed battle plan.
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
He sat down with, with President Clinton
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
and drew a map of Chechnya
and told him, you know,
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
what Russian operations are gonna be
like, we couldn\'t make much sense of it.
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
But it was clear from what,
what he communicated there,
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
that he was seeing this issue
as his most important,
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
uh… most important one in his portfolio.
When he spoke to the press,
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:05.000
Putin reverted to old style
Soviet era KGB language.
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
After he returned to Russia, Putin,
no longer spoke of terrorist groups
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:33.000
but began to blame the Chechen nation.
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:45.000
Putin justified his order to the army to
bomb Chechnya in an unorthodox manner.
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
On the 1st of October, 1999,
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
the Russian army invaded Chechnya.
Public opinion supported the new war.
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
Vladimir Putin rose to 15% in the
opinion polls, but it wasn\'t enough.
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
So away from the cameras,
the Kremlin created
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
a committee of support for the Prime Minister,
it was basically a campaign stuff for Putin.
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
He was given the full support of the state
machine, money and the best spin doctors,
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
like, Ksenia Ponomareva., the
ex-chief of Channel One.
00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:03.000
The first stage was
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
the parliamentary elections in December.
If Primakov\'s party won a majority,
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
no one would have been able to fight \'em in the presidential
elections. As for Putin, he didn\'t even have a party
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:25.000
to support him. The family met in secret.
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
Berezovsky managed to convince them,
and two months before the election
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
he created a new party where there
is leaders, a sportsman, a minister,
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:05.000
and a magistrate. The party had neither
an ideology nor a political program.
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
At the same time, Sergei Dorenko was waging
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
a no holds barred TV war against Primakov.
So did details came out about
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
the ex-Prime Minister\'s state of health, and his ally,
the mayor of Moscow, was accused of corruption.
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
Humiliated by these attacks, Primakov proposed a
seize fire, he offered to support the government
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:45.000
if Putin put an end to the media defensive.
Dorenko immediately responded on air.
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
The elections were now just weeks away.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
In Chechnya, Russian army had a ride to the gates of
capital, Grozny. The army had met their objectives,
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:50.000
the military proposed a
pause in the fighting.
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
The conflict in Chechnya was an
integral part of the election campaign,
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
the opinion of the generals
no longer counted.
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:08.000
The political decision was very simple,
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:23.000
the war must go on.
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
On December, the 19th,
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
the voters choose Putin\'s
party with 23% of the votes,
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
this party formed without any political program two
months before the elections buried Primakov\'s party,
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:55.000
which only managed 13%.
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
His mission accomplished,
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
Berezovsky decided to take a vacation,
last hurdle in a presidential elections
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
was still six months away. It was December
31st, the beginning of the holidays in Russia.
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:25.000
The whole country was preparing
to celebrate the New Year.
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
Yeltsin resigned and as decreed
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
in the constitution, the Prime Minister became
interning President. The presidential elections
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:45.000
were moved forward to March.
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
Yeltsin\'s departure was perfectly timed.
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
Putin was riding high in the polls and
after see him through the election,
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:15.000
But who would have the courage to suggest to Yeltsin, he should
go? Once again it was the family that had taken the decision.
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
[music]
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
Yeltsin seem to have resigned with grace.
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
Putin promised not to make changes in the Kremlin
High Rockey and to carry on with Yeltsin\'s reforms.
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
The first decree signed by the new President
guaranteed the judicial immunity of
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:10.000
Boris Yeltsin and his family.
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:23.000
That same evening,
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
and to the general\'s surprise, Putin made a
quick visit to Chechnya accompanied by his wife
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
and the television cameras.
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:48.000
Putin understood the
importance of the media.
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
Putin\'s press service
reintroduced propaganda,
00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
every picture of the President is now staged
by the Kremlin. A policy unimaginable
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
since the end of the Soviet Union
and that was only the start.
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
In parliament, Putin\'s party is allied to
the communist\'s, Yeltsin\'s sworn enemies.
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
Later, Putin insisted that parliament
reinstate the anthem of the Soviet Union,
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:38.000
written by Stalin.
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
The new president kept
Yeltsin\'s chief of staff
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
but named friends in the secret service to the other
key posts. Putin started to show his true nature
00:48:55.000 --> 00:49:00.000
and even those who put him
in power, began to worry.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
[sil.]
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
It was too late to stop the machine.
00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
On 26th of March, 2000, Vladimir Putin was
elected president of the Russian federation
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:40.000
with 52% of the vote.
00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
[sil.]
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
On the 7th of May, Putin was enthroned
president of Russia in the Kremlin palace,
00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:13.000
restored by Pavel Borodin and Mabetex.
00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:20.000
[sil.]
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
Despite his promises, Putin
abandoned the policies
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
set by his predecessors, but he respected
certain agreements of the past.
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
The investigation into Mabetex was suspended
due to Moscow\'s lack of cooperation.
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
Yeltsin and his family had never been touched,
but they lost their influence in the Kremlin
00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
and never talked to journalists. They all
thought Putin would be patting in their hands
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
but he shook off both his
masters and his allies.
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
Boris Berezovsky, Eminoz Greece, and a personal
friend of Putin had to flee the country
00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:15.000
under the threat of arrest. He was
granted political asylum in the UK.
00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
As for the elections, Putin
has overtaken his masters.
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
He was reelected in 2004 in the first round
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
with 72% of the votes. But the constitution
limits him to the two four year terms
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
which expire in 2008. Will
Putin modify the constitution?
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
Or will he create his own successor?
00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:53.000
[music]
Distributor: Icarus Films
Length: 52 minutes
Date: 2005
Genre: Expository
Language: Russian; English / English subtitles
Grade: 9-12, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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