THE PUTIN SYSTEM

English version 98’

Commentary - BOLD TYPE in black

Captions on archive footage are in purple- bold type (archives sometimes indicated in purple in standard type)

The ITVS in Russian are in English subtitle form in italics

Other ITVs are all in English. (The interviews have been transcribed directly without grammatical correction.)

Maps included in the image are noted in orange

OPENING CAPTION on black:

First image- Doors open

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« Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin»

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Films Grain De Sable

NDR Norddeutscher Rundfunk LRT Lithuanian Radio / Television Present

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With the participation of France 2

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Planète

and the support of Région Ile de France TCO: 10:01:07:08

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2^nd war in Chechnya, 120 000 victims

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Hostages taken by terrorists in Beslan school… TCO: 10:01:19:16

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Russian special forces storm the school, 344 civilian victims

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25% of the Russian population

lives officially below the level of poverty TCO: 10:01:30:14

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Unofficially every year

350 billion dollars are handed over to corrupt officials

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Anna Politkovskaya, TCO: 10:01:52:14

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22nd journalist assassinated during Vladimir Putin’s term of office TCO: 10:01:58:14

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Nina Khrushcheva

Historian, New York

Grand-daughter Nikita Krushchev

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I think that in Putin’s entourage there are people who implement whatever they think, not always even explicit but whatever they think his policies should be or he wants the policies to be. How much of it does directly comes from Putin?

How much of it just fits into the whole KGB-Stalin Putinist system which is kind of a hybrid of all of those things?

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THE PUTIN SYSTEM TCO: 10:02:40:04

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A film by

Jean -Michel Carré And Jill Emery TCO: 10:02:46:00

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Gregory Yavlinksi

Leader Yabloko, democratic party TCO: 10:03:05:01

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One role is to to recreate the Great Russia and to be in power of this Great Russia. This is the goal who justifies all kind of means, whether it’s war in Chechnya, or it’s intrigues in Ukraine or it’s manipulating by gas or it’s just putting down all opponents or it’s just control of media or it’s just special relations with Iran …whatever!

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In March 2000 Vladimir Putin, an obscure ex KGB man, is elected as president of Russia

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What thoughts cross the new president’s mind as he climbs these stairs to the throne of the Czars?

Is he thinking of his games on the banks of the Néva in Leningrad, now called St Petersburg once more?

Of when he was king of the gang in the communal appartment block where his family shared two rooms?

Is he picturing the heroes of his youth like Yuri Gagarine … sensing the presence of the Czars whose shadows linger within these walls?

Or is his mind fixed on the « mission » he has set himself, to save Russia, at whatever cost, from the chaos left by his predecessor Boris Yeltsin?

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Archives : soviet parades

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Patriotic and fascinated by czarist imperialism, in his youth Vladimir Putin was also deeply influenced by the soviet régime. The country, that has elected him, is eager for a new hero who will revive national strength and pride, even the memories of Stalin’s purges seem obliterated by disillusion with the present. The Russian people are nostalgic for past glory.

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The first key to Vladimir Putin’s future destiny is his early passion for the secret service. As a boy he spends hours at the local cinema watching a Stalinist classic: « The Heroic deeds of a secret agent ». Single handed, the hero changes the destiny of a whole nation…

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Spy Film Archive:

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If you want to be a spy, you need special talent, TCO: 10:05:15:11

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a special nose,

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special eyes…

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And love for one's country no doubt ?

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Sentimentality!

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Viktor Borissenko Classmate

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One day he came to see me and said,

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"How does one join the organisation?

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I've got a friend who wants to enroll ".

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My brother had a friend who worked for the KGB.

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I told Putin I would find out.

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Vera Gurevich

Young Putin's German teacher

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He started to put locks on everything.

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His desk was empty, nothing but the daily papers.

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" Well, well, I said to myself,

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where on earth can our young man be working

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to have become so meticulous? "

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At the age of 16 Vladimir Putin knocks on the door of the KGB headquarters in St Petersburg and asks to join. He is told that the KGB, alone, decide who and when they recruit. However, they advise him to study languages and law… Vladimir Putin is 23 and in his fourth year at law school when the organisation contacts him.

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Oleg Kalugin

Former Head of KGB American Citizen TCO: 10:06:39:22

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Mr Putin belongs to that generation of Russians who joined the KGB in 1975 when they knew perfectly well about the crimes committed by Stalin, about the role the soviet’s state security played in the dramatic history of my country.

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Loubianka, KGB Headquarters Moscow 1976

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When Putin joins the KGB the chairman is Yuri Andropov, who was later to replace Leonid Brezhnev as head of state. The KGB represented the nation’s elite for Andropov and helped him rule the country with an iron fist, persecuting political dissidents. But Andropov also knew that if the USSR was to survive it needed to drastically reorganize its economy.

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Vladimir Bukovsky Former dissident, London TCO: 10:07:30:00

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The soviet leadership realized that they were in a deep structural crisis by beginning of eighties. Andropov understood that they had to prepare some changes because otherwise the country would collapse. It was done secretly, it was not announced to the public, it was done quietly. They worked out the whole policy of perestroika which later Gorbatchev inherited.

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Today, Putin continues to pay homage to his mentor. Yuri Andropov unknowingly transmitted his vision of the State and his economic objectives to Vladimir Putin, influencing his own politics.

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KGB (FSB) Canteen Moscow

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Putin’s portrait now dines in the private restaurant of Loubianka, at KGB headquarters in Moscow in the company of former chairmen like himself: Yuri Andropov, the tchékist Félix Dzerzinsky, Lavrenti Beria, notorious executer of Stalin’s purges: All of them are Putin’s proud heritage.

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Nina Krushcheva Historian, New York

Grand-daughter Nikita Krushchev TCO: 10:08:38:01

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He is a man for all people! He’s for the past, he’s for the future. It’s very hard to sort of distinguish all those currents in him that makes him a great man… or a great president for a country that is obsessed with its own greatness and its own image. You know, I think Putin is using Kruschev’s car of 1956… It’s a sign. I

mean, in terms of PR what it means is “I’m using his car, I’m a descendant of his politics.”

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George W. Bush TCI: 10:09:05:20

We're having so much fun, we're going for another lap! TCO: 10:09:08:10

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The young KGB officer’s first post is in St Petersburg where, as a minor officer he is involved in the hunt for dissidents. Ten years later, he is posted to Dresden in East Germany.

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With the help of the Stasi, East German secret services, his mission is to recruit informers. Inspired by Andropov he also builds a network of business contacts which will be very useful in later years.

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Berlin 1989

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Up graded to Lieutenant colonel, Putin is still in Germany at the fall of the Berlin wall.

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The world around him collapses.

He asks for military support… the Kremlin remains silent. Putin feels that he and his country have been betrayed.

He has no other choice than to return to St Petersburg.

It is probably at this moment that his vision for the future of the country is born.

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Appointed as a reserve officer at the University of St Petersburg Putin encounters his former law professor, Anatoli Sobchak, an ally of Boris Yeltsin the democrat reformer.

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At that time General Oleg Kalugin is the head of the KGB in St Petersburg and in command of 3000 officers.When Kalugin later criticises Putin’s war in Chechnya, Putin accuses him of treason: he is forced to leave Russia TCO: 10:10:37:03

Oleg Kalugin TCI: 10:10:37:22

Sobchak the man who was one of the earlier Russian reformers said: “Oleg, I’m looking for some guy from the KGB in St Petersburg, who I could rely on. Could you offer me some name? Someone? Because listen, I do not know the organization and I know I could not be the mayor of the city without having some friends or some kind of a relationship inside.

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Putin joins Sobchak’s election campaign team and helps him become mayor of the city. It is a decisive moment in the KGB officer’s career: his first entry into politics. The KGB needs inside informers. Putin becomes the link between the organization and Sobchak.

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Yuri Felshtinsky Historian

Co author "Blowing up Russia" TCO: 10:11:35:23

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The idea was to identify people who are going to become major political players in Russia within the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years and to put enough KGB personel around those people to secure that when those people will be moved to the next position, those people from KGB are going to be around and that’s how you secure that the system (in this particular case the KGB system), will stay into power. And that’s exactly what’s happening with Vladimir Putin.

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Putin feels at home with the KGB strategy of control, discreetly, observing and learning, never revealing personal ambitions.Throughout his career this will be one of the keys to his own system.

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In 1991 a wind of revolt sweeps through the soviet republics. Vladimir Putin is 39 and the USSR is in its last throes.

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Moscow August 1991

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President Gorbatchev plans political reforms considered dangerous by the conservative KGB generals. They attempt a putsch. With Gorbatchev’s blessing the democrat reformer and leader of the Russian Republic, Boris Yeltsin, leads the resistance against the putschists.

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St Petersburg August 1991

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In St Petersburg, Yeltsin’s ally, Anatoly Sobchak is also supported by the population, tired of 70 years of communist rule.

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The putschists are defeated, the generals arrested and the KGB is in disgrace.

Putin realizes that it is in his own interests to stay with the winning camp and the reformers. Like many he resigns from the KGB but will never forget his allegiance to the organisation and its methods. During his 15 years of service he had made the KGB system his own.

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At the end of 1991 Yeltsin declares the sovereignty of Russia, Gorbatchev resigns, the USSR is dismantled: the soviet republics become independant. Vladimir Putin will never forget these events, which later he declares were the « greatest geopopolitical catastrophe of the century ».

But did he imagine that 10 years later he would become the dauphin of Boris Yeltsin?

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Vladimir Bukovsky Former dissident, London TCO: 10:14:15:10

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The important things which Yeltsin did: first, he prohibited the communist party, he banned the communist party of the Soviet Union, out of existence. That was important. That immediately took the main core out of the whole system and it all kind of fell apart but he didn’t finish it… That was the only thing he did.

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Yuri Felshtinski TCI: 10:14:17:18

They had completely forgotten that the communist party was strong and powerful only because it had during all these years the KGB behind the communist party. And this was the irony: the communist party disappeared, the communist party was destroyed very quickly but, everybody quietly forgot about the KGB.

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Oleg Kalugin TCI: 10:14:43:08

In St Petersburg, as we know, Putin was put in charge of the Foreign Relations, and in that capacity he served a year or so. Later, he was picked up by Sobchak as deputy mayor and his job as deputy mayor was privatisation which was very lucrative... an area with lots of shadows.

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Ludmila Narussova Sobchak Anatoly Sobchak's widow Senator

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Vladimir Putin's expertise was important

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when foreign companies and banks came.

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BNP Dresdner Bank and

Credit Lyonnais were the first banks

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to open branches in Russia.

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TCI: 10:15:30:01 CREDIT LYONNAIS TCO: 10:15:32:06

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During the terrible winter of 1991

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St Petersburg was on the brink of famine.

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Most of the humanitarian aid came from Germany.

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Putin organized it…

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Putin uses his network of business friends in Germany to install a system of barter. Creating exportation licences he organizes the exchange of oil for food.

He has perhaps already realized the importance of energy as a tool for power.

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Vladimir Ivanidze

Russian investigational journalist TCO: 10:16:17:01

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There was a lot of cheating

around this so called barter system.

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The food was simply sold

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and the money went into the pockets

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of officials and

those who had organized it.

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It was a severe crisis in Putin's career.

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Alexander Belayev Economist

Former town councilor St. Petersburg TCO: 10:16:37:05

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He considered economy as a permanently controllable process. TCO: 10:16:32:19

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He wanted more and more control all the time.

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Different scandals mark Putin’s term of office as deputy mayor. He works with the port mafia and SPAG, a German company accused of cocaine money laundering. He manages the city casinos, whose profits disappear into thin air, gives the oil monopoly of the city to a friend …

But, times are difficult and Putin is not the only person to use organized crime networks. Now he is also in charge of law enforcement, he can do as he pleases…

He takes his « position of authority »… very seriously… TCO: 10:17:07:18

Vladimir Putin TCI: 10:17:10:11

If criminals have attacked authority,

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there must be

an appropriate punishment,

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it's a policeman's duty to be severe and cruel if necessary.

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It is the only way to reduce criminality, the only way...

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We hope to eliminate 10 criminals for each officer killed. TCO: 10:17:35:09

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…within the law, of course !

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Ludmila Narussova Sobchak TCI: 10:17:38:20

It was fascinating to observe Vladimir Putin's metamorphosis, TCO: 10:17:43:07

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to note how quicly he changed

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because from a lieutenant colonel used to obeying orders,

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he transformed himself with great talent into a man TCO: 10:17:59:14

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who could assume responsibilities.

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Nina Krushcheva TCI: 10:18:05:09

He strategically happened to be in all the right positions, at all in the right times. He strategically worked for Sobchak and, as a matter of fact, doing the KGB work for Sobchak. I actually think it’s a sign of brilliance, the fact that he’s such a grey matter and a not a sign of his mediocrity.

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Well established in St Petersburg, deputy mayor Vladimir Putin chooses ex KGB officers and young liberals to work at his side.

In the meantime a former member of Sobchak’s team, Anatoli Chubays a brilliant young economist, joins Yeltsin’s government in Moscow.

As his influence increases he obtains key jobs for colleagues from St Petersburg. A few years later, Putin will be the first to benefit.

Chubays invents a system of privatisation which makes a clear break with the economic rules of the soviet régime.

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Anatoli Chubays Member of government

RAO - Russian Electricity Co TCO: 10:19:08:23

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There was 75 years of Soviet Union when the private property was crime. That was crime!

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But before the fall of the Soviet Union during « perestroika » promising business men had been given state assets to « manage ». They were the first to become owners and benefit from this new system of privatisation

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Vladimir Bukovsky

These new businessmen decided that now they’re free, they’re their own master. And for a while, they became what we know as oligarchs.

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V. Gussinsky, R. Abramovich, B. Berezovsky

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But the oligarchs had forgotten their moral « contract » to manage the property for the state. They would learn to regret it. In the meantime, they became millionaires overnight.

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The country is in a turmoil. Ordinary Russians quickly understand that they will not be the ones to benefit from the system of privatisation TCO: 10:19:54:20

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Moscow October 1993

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…..as for members of the political class… their views prefer to differ. TCO: 10:20:01:23

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President Yelstin attempts to modify the constitution and impose his policy of privatization. Russian Parliament and the people resist. Yeltsin sends in the tanks…

More than 150 people are killed.

For the Russians it is the first step towards the end of their dream for democracy.

Observing the events from St Petersburg, Putin realises that from now on, in Yeltsin’s « democracy », the rules are going to be be dictated.

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Vladimir Bukovsky

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, “democracy” was the most popular word. Two years later it became a swear word.

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Nina Krushcheva

They called it “dermocracy” which is “shitocracy” if you translate it.

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A year later Yeltsin’s tanks move in again. This time in Chechnya.The Chechens are demanding their independance and they must be prevented from taking control over the Russian pipeline crossing their lands. After a two year war and 80 000 victims, Chechnya obtains a peace settlement in its favour.

For the Russians it is a humiliating defeat.

For Putin it is far worse, Yeltsin is guilty of committing a crime against the state: Chechnya is part of Russia, Chechnya should be forced to submit.

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In St Petersburg, Putin organizes Sobchak’s re-election campaign as mayor.

Yeltsin has betrayed his democratic obligations and if Sobchak wins these elections Yeltsin’s old ally could become a serious contender for the presidency.

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At Yeltsin’s request, the oligarchs refuse to help Sobtchak finance his campaign.

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Ludmila Narussova Sobchak Anatoly Sobchak's widow Senator

TCO: 10:22:10:09

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In 1996 a man hunt

was organized by Yeltsin.

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He saw Sobchak as an opponent

to be removed from the political stage.

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Sobchak loses the elections and Putin is outraged by the increasing political power of the oligarchs.

Declaring his loyalty to his political benefactor, he refuses to work with the new mayor.

His future and that of Russia lie in Moscow. TCO: 10:22:29:03

Vladimir Bukovsky TCI: 10:22:29:24

After being deputy mayor of St Petersburg and nearly getting himself into jail for his connections with organized crime, he was actually made an official in the presidential administration.

TCO: 10:22:41:23

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Noting Putin’s hard work and loyalty towards Sobchak, Anatoli Chubays finds Putin a position in the Kremlin state property department.

The 1996 presidential elections are only a few weeks off and Yeltsin’s fears are justified, he has lost the confidence of the population.

The communists are back in force, their leader, Guennady Zyuganov, is the favourite in the polls.

TCO: 10:23:10:08

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Boris Berezovsky Oligarch in exile, London TCO: 10:23:23:08

TCI: 10:23:17:07

Without politics you’re not able to protect your capital. Those people, the first in Russia, rich people, who realized they need to take political responsibility for the future of the country because we already felt back then that reformers held by Yeltsin are not able to stop communism and it’s the reason why we met together to cooperate and to win the elections.

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From inside the Kremlin Putin watches the oligarchs transform what seemed an inevitable defeat into victory. Money and television make their stage entrance into Russian politics.

Yeltsin names Berezovsky head of the state TV and finances NTV, the private station belonging to the millionnaireVladimir Gussinsky.

Yeltsin becomes a TV Czar and television becomes the major tool for his re- election

TCO: 10:24:13:23

Boris Berezovsky TCI: 10:24:14:24

TV in Russia is not movie. TV in Russia is politics, no doubt. Using this leverage, we won presidential elections.

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Yeltsin owes his re-election to the oligarchs but in doing so he has become their hostage.

He cannot stand for a third mandate; it is already time to think about organizing his succession.

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Yuri Felshtinski Historian

Co author "Blowing up Russia" TCO: 10:25:04:04

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It was clear from the experience which they had in 1996 that the next presidential campaign will demand two major tools: one is a Russian TV channel which is going to support the next president and a company which is going financially to stay behind the electoral campaign and support the candidate financially.

TCO: 10:25:06:13

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The oil company, SIBNEFT, is created with Roman Abramovich, Berezovsky’s intriguing young business partner as chairman. The state TV directed by Boris Berezovsky becomes a tool for state propaganda.

A system is born to promote Yeltsin’s successor. TCO: 10:25:31:05

TCI: 10:25:34:12

The elections are hardly over when Yeltsin falls ill again. He delegates his powers to the oligarchs Berezovsky and Abramovich who have won their gamble in using their money to obtain political power. They literally command the country with other members of a group known as « the family ». It includes Yeltsin’s own daughter, Tatiana and her future husband.

TCO: 10:25:56:04

TCI: 10:26:00:01

Close to this « family» Anatoli Tchubais continues to orchestrate Putin’s advancement, promoting him 3 times in 2 years. Each post enables Putin to analyse the problems specific to Yeltsin’s regime.

Using his KGB methods and training he discreetly files precious information for future purposes.

TCO: 10:26:19:02

TCI: 10:26:24:03

The oligarchs are looking for someone young, serious, but unpretentious, who will suit Yeltsin as his successor.

Obedient and efficient, Vladimir Putin seems the perfect choice. TCO: 10:26:36:14

TCI: 10:26:39:03

Gregory Yavlinski

Leader Yabloko, democratic party TCO: 10:26:43:02

TCI: 10:26:37:08

That was a typical oligarchic decision: to find a man, who’s not independent, who’s dependent on them and they had in mind that through him, they would operate the country.

TCO: 10:26:51:09

TCI: 10:26:56:03

Lilia Shevtsova Political analyst

Carnegy Foundation Moscow TCO: 10:27:01:02

TCI: 10:26:52:10

For some people, for some members of Yeltsin’s family, and also Yeltsin’s family friends like Berezovsky, the oligarch, apparently these people looked at Putin as some kind of an insignificant personality who could be taken care of…who’d be their puppet on a string.

TCO: 10:27:09:20

TCI: 10:27:18:16

In 1998 the “family”propose Putin as head of the FSB, the former KGB. It is a decisive and symbolical step in his career, a chance to prove his loyalty and render important services to the régime.

TCO: 10:27:32:13

Vladimir Putin TCI: 10:27:36:06

These walls are very familiar to me,

TCO: 10:27:38:03

TCI: 10:27:40:07

I am honoured by this nomination.

TCO: 10:27:42:16

TCI: 10:27:42:22

I'd like to thank the president.

TCO: 10:27:46:00

TCI: 10:27:44:20

Although a former KGB lieutenant colonel Vladimir Putin is the first

« civilian » in history to be nominated to this post.

He now finally occupies the seat that his mentor Yuri Andropov had left 16 years earlier.

TCO: 10:27:59:10

Yuri Felshtinski TCI: 10:28:00:06

The oligarchs were hoping that Putin, who was promoted only to the rank of lieutenant colonel, which is not really very high, is not going to be loyal to FSB the way any general of FSB is going to be loyal.

TCO: 10:28:20:12

TCI: 10:28:21:24

But, what the oligarchs fail to realise is that Vladimir Putin has never abandonned the KGB spirit and its ideology. He feels invested with a mission and in the shadows he patiently awaits his hour…

TCO: 10:28:36:24

TCI: 10:28:39:16

Protected by their political status, the oligarchs triple their fortunes, dilapidate millions and invest massively offshore, in the meantime many Russians are finding it hard to subsist. In summer 1998 the economic crash is inevitable.

TCO: 10:28:55:04

TCO: 10:28:56:10

Summer 1998

TCO: 10:29:00:05

TCI: 10:29:01:19

Yeltsin needs a firm hand at the helm to reassure the population. A KGB primeminister appears his best option. The first one, soviet-style Evgueny Primakhov, takes his mission too seriously and declares that he will put a halt to corruption and throw the oligarchs in jail. The population jubilates. Yeltsin and the family feel distinctly worried.

Confident in the peoples’ support, Primakov turns a blind eye. He nominates a new general prosecutor, Yuri Skuratov, to assist him. TCO: 10:29:35:24

TCI: 10:29:41:09

Skuratov’s first enquiry starts within the walls of the Kremlin itself and concerns its sumptuous renovation. 66 million dollars have been embezelled and are to be found on the bank accounts of high ranking civil servants and members of the family…The general prosecutor is treading dangerous ground.

TCO: 10:30:00:19

TCI: 10:30:03:14

Yuri Skuratov

Former General Prosecuter Russia TCO: 10:30:07:20

TCI: 10:30:02:09

The enquiry wasn't technically complicated

TCO: 10:30:04:16

TCI: 10:30:05:10

but, proceedings were difficult

TCO: 10:30:07:10

TCI: 10:30:07:23

because Mr Yeltsin was directly involved. TCO: 10:30:09:20

TCI: 10:30:12:23

Oleg Kalugin

Former Head of KGB American Citizen TCO: 10:30:17:12

TCI: 10:30:10:05

And Yeltsin could not throw the prosecutor out because he had no legitimate legal power so he asked Mr Putin: “Could you do anything?” and he said: “Ja wohl! No problem, we’ll do it”. So, you know the prosecutor was framed at the KGB safe house with some of the prostitutes and it was all on camera and shown on Russian television.

TCO: 10:30:35:10

News TV (subtitles)

TCI: 10:30:37:04

The director of the FSB, Vladimir Putin,

TCO: 10:30:39:08

TCI: 10:30:39:15

has announced that the pictures of the man ressembling

TCO: 10:30:41:23

TCI: 10:30:42:05

Yuri Skuratov, the general prosecutor,

TCO: 10:30:45:07

TCI: 10:30:45:18

are authentic.

TCO: 10:30:47:05

TCI: 10:30:49:21

Skuratov is forced to resign. TCO: 10:30:52:05

Oleg Kalugin TCI: 10:30:53:03

Putin, in the eyes of Yeltsin, became someone who would never let him down, and in that sense he was probably right, Putin keeps his word, I mean and in that sense, he knows his superiors and he has never betrayed them so far, that’s a fact, it’s part of his character.

TCO: 10:31:11:09

TCI: 10:31:13:01

For Yeltsin, Mr Putin, the Director of the FSB, has passed his test. He deserves a reward.

TCO: 10:31:19:05

TCI: 10:31:23:16

9th August, 1999

TCO: 10:31:26:11

Yeltsin

TCI: 10:31:22:09

And now I have decided

to give you the name of the man

TCO: 10:31:27:04

TCI: 10:31:27:10

who, in my eyes, is capable consolidating our society, TCO: 10:31:35:15

TCI: 10:31:36:06

Vladimir, Vladimirovich Putin.

TCO: 10:31:39:06

TCI: 10:31:40:10

Putin’s nomination as primeminister in August 1999 confirms that he has been approved of by the whole « family, » but he is still unknown to the population.

TCO: 10:31:49:13

TCI: 10:31:52:03

Serguey Kovalev

Former dissident and MP TCO: 10:31:56:16

TCI: 10:31:50:10

Everybody was asking " Who is this Putin ?” TCO: 10:31:52:07

TCI: 10:31:52:12

Remember that question?

TCO: 10:31:54:05

TCO: 10:31:54:11

" Who is Mr Putin ? "

TCO: 10:31:56:03

TCI: 10:31:57:03

So he had to show who he was.

TCO: 10:32:00:06

TCI: 10:32:00:24

And then came the explosions in the Moscow appartment blocks!

TCO: 10:32:04:10

TCI: 10:32:07:11

In 3 weeks, explosions in several Russian towns kill 300 people. The government immediately accuses the Chechen rebels. But when another explosion is nipped in the bud and two terrorists are arrested, the Kremlin surprisingly orders the police to stop enquiries… Journalists discover what could well become a state affair, the « terrorists » in question are in fact members of the FSB.

TCO: 10:32:30:21

TCI: 10:32:36:02

Yuri Felshtinski Historian

Co author "Blowing up Russia" TCO: 10:32:40:15

TCI: 10:32:33:04

And that’s how for the first time Russian public opinion realized that the terrorist acts which took place in Moscow and Volgodonsk and Buynaksk might be the work of the FSB.

TCO: 10:32:47:14

NTV extract

TCI: 10:32:51:07

NTV, the TV station belonging to Vladimir Gussinsky broadcasts a debate on the implication of the FSB in the explosions where FSB officials accuse one another of collusion.

TCO: 10:33:02:06

TCI: 10:33:09:08

The public still finds this hard to believe, but journalists are pursuing their investigations and as primeminister, Putin realizes that there is no time to be lost. He must create a diversion. He decides to exploit the population’s hatred for the Chechens.

TCO: 10:33:25:08

TCI: 10:33:31:06

Gleb Pavlovsky Political technologist Putin's advisor TCO: 10:33:36:03

TCI: 10:33:26: 04

Chechnya has always been the politician's grave.

TCO: 10:33:28:19

TCI: 10:33:29:20

A lot of people were afraid

TCO: 10:33:32:00

TCI: 10:33:32:13

and thought that Putin should keep his distances, TCO: 10:33:36:00

TCI: 10:33:36:18

but he was obstinate.

TCO: 10:33:39:24

TCI: 10:33:40:06

To general surprise,

TCO: 10:33:43:09

TCI: 10:33:43:15

it played in his favour.

TCO: 10:33:45:03

Putin

TCI: 10:33:46:03

These people aren’t human beings.

TCO: 10:33:48:23

TCI: 10:33:49:13

They are animals,

TCO: 10:33:50:24

TCI: 10:33:52:13

wild animals

TCO: 10:33:54:04

Gleb Pavlovsky TCI: 10:33:54:18

The middle class became angry

TCO: 10:33:57:10

TCI: 10:33:59:21

Putin reacted in the same way.

TCO: 10:34:03:08

TCI: 10:34:04:13

This is when he started to build his image saying,

TCO: 10:34:08:10

TCI: 10:34:09:06

"I'm a man like you,

TCO: 10:34:11:15

TCI: 10:34:12:20

I'm primeminister, but I'm the same as you"

TCO: 10:34:15:22

Vladimir Putin TCI: 10:34:16:12

We will pursue the terrorists everywhere,

TCO: 10:34:19:19

TCI: 10:34:20:02

we'll eliminate them in the shit house, if we have to. TCO: 10:34:22:15

TCI: 10:34:22:22

That's my last word.

TCO: 10:34:26:09

Gleb Pavlovsky TCI: 10:34:27:03

This is when Putin becomes Putin,

TCO: 10:34:29:12

TCI: 10:34:30:00

he acquires his own language,

TCO: 10:34:33:06

TCI: 10:34:33:11

total freedom of expression

TCO: 10:34:35:01

TCI: 10:34:35:06

and complicity with the Russian people.

TCO: 10:34:39:14

TCI: 10:34:39:19

He is no longer afraid of his public

TCO: 10:34:42:07

TCI: 10:34:51:20

Vera Gurevich

Young Putin's school teacher TCO: 10:34:56:12

TCI: 10:34:43:03

As for his words "We'll get them in the shit house",

TCO: 10:34:45:23

TCI: 10:34:46:09

I scolded him for that.

TCO: 10:34:48:09

TCI: 10:34:49:00

"Where did you get that expression?” TCO: 10:34:51:10

TCI: 10:34:51:16

"Shit house, I've never heard anything like it!"

TCO: 10:34:55:05

TCI: 10:34:55:21

"I just couldn't hold myself back any longer!” he said.

TCO: 10:34:59:19

TCI: 10:35:01:18

For the last three centuries, many Russians and their leaders have resented the Chechen «bandits», as they call them. The Chechens have always

refused to submit to Russian dominance. Stalin deported them by thousands…

Yeltsin’s peace treaty is still felt as a humiliation and for the population the recent explosions are a provocation… Their primeminister Vladmir Putin is entirely justified in declaring a new war.

TCO: 10:35:26:16

TCI: 10:35:28:15

Berezovsky asks Serguey Dorienko, the star journalist of his TV station, to put his political news magazine at the service of Vladimir Putin.

TCO: 10:35:36:13

TCI: 10:35:41:24

Serguey Dorienko Journalist

TCO: 10:35:46:02

TCI: 10:35:38:16

He often asked me in private

TCO: 10:35:41:14

TCI: 10:35:41:19

to provoke the situation

TCO: 10:35:44:06

TCI: 10:35:44:24

For example, when I demanded that our army attack Chechnya,

TCO: 10:35:48:21

TCI: 10:35:49:04

he said, "say it on the air… "

TCO: 10:35:51:21

TCI: 10:35:52:04

"I had already planned to," I said

TCO: 10:35:54:10

TCI: 10:35:54:19

Putin answered,

TCO: 10:35:56:09

TCI: 10:35:56:22

“I want you to say it for me,

TCO: 10:35:58:03

TCI: 10:35:58:07

we'll see how people react."

TCO: 10:36:00:19

TCI: 10:36:01:19

He wanted to get a feeling of the population through me.

TCO: 10:36:09:02

TCI: 10:36:16:12

Grozny October 1999

TCO: 10:36:19:24

TCI: 10:36:16:09

On the 1st of October Russian bombers attack Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. With Berezovsky’s state TV and the population behind him Putin throws Russia into a ferocious war. The Chechen people are the victims of unprecedented barbarity.

TCO: 10:36:34:13

TCI: 10:38:35:21

Yuri Felshtinsky Historian

Co author "Blowing up Russia" TCO: 10:38:40:06

TCI: 10:38:35:04

Putin showed that he was capable of making a firm political stand TCO: 10:38:41:15

TCI: 10:38:43:04

and of taking difficult political decisions,

TCO: 10:38:49:02

TCI: 10:38:49:25

that he was the ideal

military leader for the country.

TCO: 10:38:57:20

TCI: 10:37:01:11

Satisfied with his conduct, the “family” decides to create a political party for Putin to lead in the next parliamentary elections. There are two months to go.

Made to measure by Boris Berezovsky, « Unity », later to become « United Russia », has a single item on its agenda: the promotion of Vladimir Putin. If his party wins he will be confirmed as a legitimate successor to Boris Yeltsin.

The state TV and Abramovich and his oil company, Sibneft, provide media and financial support.

TCO: 10:37:30:02

TCI: 10:37:32:13

This time, Gussinsky and his station NTV, who are against the war in Chechnya, support Putin’s main rival, the former primeminister Evgueny Primakov…

Berezovsky sinks to the lowest tricks to discredit the enemy. TCO: 10:37:44:20

Boris Berezovsky TCI: 10:37:45:09

To be sure, we used election technology which is very specific in Russia. We used the power of the mass media and not in a soft way like you use it in the West: In very strong and very hard way.

TCO: 10:38:02:04

TCI: 10:38:04:16

19th December 1999

TCO: 10:38:08:06

TCI: 10:38:04:03

Mission accomplished for Berezovsky. Unity’s score confirms Putin’s political dominance.

Everyone gets ready for the New Year’s Eve festivities, unaware that behind the Kremlin walls, Yeltsin and his primeminister Vladimir Putin are preparing the final act to the strategy of these last months…

On the 31st of December Yeltsin summons Putin to his office, gives him the nuclear attaché case and names him president by interim until the presidential elections.

For his part of the deal, Putin offers Yeltsin and his family total immunity and a large pension for life: A way for Yeltsin to avoid destitution and legal pursuit for his crimes against the state.

TCO: 10:38:54:24

TCI: 10:38:59:00

But what Yeltsin probably didn’t realise is that Putin, is loyal to his

« mission » and not towards the men he has served. For him, Yeltsin is guilty of dismantling the Soviet Union, of losing the first war in Chechnya, and of leading Russia towards autodestruction.

It was essential to remove him from power once and for all. TCO: 10:39:18:13

Yeltsin

TCI: 10:39:23:01

Today is the last time

TCO: 10:39:25:15

TCI: 10:39:25:23

I address you

TCO: 10:39:27:14

TCI: 10:39:27:23

as President of Russia.

TCO: 10:39:30:02

TCI: 10:39:30:20

I'm leaving.

TCO: 10:39:33:22

TCI: 10:39:34:19

On New Year’s Eve, crowds press to the Bolshoi theatre in Moscow to catch a glimpse of Yeltsin’s chosen successor… In vain, the presidential box remains empty. Putin has lost no time in publicly showing his priorities. He and his wife have left the city the same evening to join the troops on the Chechen front. In front of the television cameras, he offers the soldiers 200 daggars, especially engraved for the occasion.

A symbolic present for the men who are fighting the Chechen guerilla. TCO: 10:40:05:10

TCI: 10:40:10:16

Symbolically also, Putin has laid the first brick to his presidential election campaign.

His image makers now have to make him a charismatic figure that will charm the Russian electorate.

TCO: 10:40:22:02

TCI: 10:40:26:10

Gleb Pavlovsky Political technologist Putin's advisor TCO: 10:40:30:19

TCI: 10:40:26:08

We advised him to show he was

TCO: 10:40:32:04

TCI: 10:40:33:12

in good health compared with Yeltsin,

TCO: 10:40:37:19

TCI: 10:40:38:00

that he knew how to pilot a fighter plane

TCO: 10:40:41:15

TCI: 10:40:42:07

dive in a submarine…

TCO: 10:40:45:21

TCI: 10:40:51:05

Putin is a quick learner. He learns how to appear in public, is a good sport, and appears to be a perfect gentleman… He even shows that he can smile! Radio programmes receive thousands of love letters from women infatuated with the new Russian hero…

But, a few details still need a little bit of polish… TCO: 10:41:17:06

TCI: 10:41:19:21

Vera Gurevich

Young Putin's school teacher TCO: 10:41:24:05

TCI: 10:41:20:06

I told him "the way you walk doesn't suit a president TCO: 10:41:23:09

TCI: 10:41:23:14

you've got to work at it.

TCO: 10:41:25:11

TCI: 10:41:26:07

And please stop swaying from left to right like a wrestler! " TCO: 10:41:29:03

TCI: 10:41:29:08

He said, "It's true, at home they tell me I walk like a penguin ".

TCO: 10:41:33:00

TCI: 10:41:33:06

"No, it's much worse than that!

TCO: 10:41:34:24

TCI: 10:41:35:06

Spend a minute a day practicing!"

TCO: 10:41:37:23

TCI: 10:41:38:08

Now he walks completely differently

TCO: 10:41:40:21

TCI: 10:41:41:11

…but we're still working at it!

TCO: 10:41:44:06

TCI: 10:41:54:22

While Putin takes part in village fêtes, the violence of the Chechen war, an important element in his campaign, intensifies…

TCO: 10:42:02:15

TCI: 10:42:06:10

The massacre in Chechnya doesn’t stop the Orthodox Church, from supporting Putin. Inspite of soviet repression, the population is still strongly religious.

Putin, the man of «modest origins»…, makes it known to the people that he still wears the tin cross given to him by his mother at his christening.

TCO: 10:42:24:00

TCI: 10:42:28:19

Oleg Gordievsky Former secret agent KGB - MI6

TCO: 10:42:32:24

TCI: 10:42:25:10

Now he’s very religious and speaks, confessing to the Patriarch himself, to the head of the Orthodox Church. The Patriarch has been for 40 years agent of the KGB.

And who is the head of the patriarch? General Patrouchev! Head of the KGB.

So the patriarch tells Mr Patrouchev about everything, and Mr Patrouchev is visiting the next day the President and telling him everything! It is like a joke! TCO: 10:42:58:09

TCI: 10:43:00:20

Lilia Shevtsova Political analyst

Carnegie Foundation Moscow TCO: 10:43:05:12

TCI: 10:42:58:10

He started to please everyone around him. He attracted reformers, liberals, democrats, nationalists, Russians and Muslims… many people thought he was one of theirs’… the guy from the end of the street!

TCO: 10:43:15:07

TCI: 10:43:19:17

Only the head of the communist party Guennady Zyuganov remains a serious contender for Putin. Other candidates hardly dare criticise him. He seems to represent everything the population could desire.

TCO: 10:43:31:17

TCI: 10:43:35:06

To further convince electors Putin presents his manifesto entitled « Russia on the brink of the third millenium» in which he promises to make the country autonomous and respected in the world.

Not only the Russian electorate but also the West discovers Russia’s new face, or so they think…

TCO: 10:43:52:17

TCI: 10:43:55:07

Stephen Sestanovich

Foreign affairs Advisor USA TCO: 10:44:00:06

TCI: 10:43:53:08

Putin’s manifesto with which he presented himself as a presidential candidate, rather than a hero of the Chechen crack down, was a stunning document.

The text was broadly liberal. It had a vision of the evolution of Russian institutions which made people think that Putin was a westernizer TCO: 10:44:24:06

TCI: 10:44:27:03

Western politicians are mistaken. Putin’s political vision is different from anything in the West. He indeed promises to reform justice and the institutions, but he also talks of a managed democracy and the vertical of power. He combines, without any hesitation, contradictory values such as, liberalism and Statism, democracy and dictatorship.

Both in Russia and abroad, people only see the mark of someone capable of putting an end to political and economic chaos.

TCO: 10:44:58:05

TCI: 10:45:02:17

These elections are all but a remake of the 1996 poll. But if Zyuganov had his chances against the ailing Yeltsin, this time he has lost before he starts. Putin graciously uses him as a sparring partner to guarantee his own victory.

TCO: 10:45:17:13

TCI: 10:45:23:15

Vladimir Bukovsky Former dissident London

TCO: 10:45:27:19

TCI: 10:45:18:15

There was a very good joke at that time…a fox asks a crow « Are you going to vote for Putin? The crow doesn’t answer. It’s afraid of losing its cheese when it opens its beak. « Answer me! Are you going to vote for Putin yes or no? »

« Yes says the crow and the cheese falls out of his mouth. The fox runs off with the cheese. The crow sitting sadly on its branch meditates « What if I had said no…Would that have changed anything?

This was a typical Russian attitude at that time…What choice was there? The communists with Zyuganov or a lieutenant colonel from the KGB

Is that a choice, is that a real election?

TCO: 10:46:06:00

TCI: 10:46:17:00

On the 26th March 2000, Vladimir Putin is elected outright in the first ballot with a 52% majority as President of the Federation of Russia TCO: 10:46:26:05

TCI: 10:46:27:09

I swear...

TCO: 10:46:28:10

TCI: 10:46:28:19

to respect and defend the rights and the freedom TCO: 10:46:32:12

TCI: 10:46:32:20

of all men and women.

TCO: 10:46:35:12

TCI: 10:46:56:06

Beyond the words of ceremony, Vladimir Putin, the man from the KGB, has not forgotten the teenage dream and his mission, to restore the nation to its former power.

His goals are to develop the strategic ressources for the state: oil, gas, the media, other industries, to restore military power and revive the sense of national pride and identity.

Putin himself owes much of his success to television, it is the first tool he needs to possess.

The oligarchs, who owned the media had monopolised political power and vandalized the state.

They had taken him for a puppet…

Now the tables had turned, Yeltsin had been evinced, it was their turn to pay for their crimes…

TCO: 10:47:42:09

TCI: 10:47:50:07

The new president uses tactics for his first move. He decides to operate through the state owned energy giant, Gazprom which has important assets in the media.

TCO: 10:47:59:21

TCI: 10:48:08:06

Vladimir Milov

Vice minister Energy

1st administration Vladimir Putin TCO: 10:48:13:07

TCI: 10:48:01:17

It is not surprising that Mr Putin, who came into power in 2000, obviously took this opportunity to place himself at the head of gazprom officially naming his representative Mr Miller CEO. Mr Putin literally makes decision on important business transactions or important investments projects by himself. This means that he’s in fact the CEO of Gazprom.

TCO: 10:48:31:07

TCI: 10:48:33:14

In the Kremlin, Putin calls on former colleagues and ex KGB officers in St Petersburg to join his team. Alexei Miller is one of them.

TCO: 10:48:42:05

TCI: 10:48:43:00

GAZPROM is the perfect tool to attack Vladimir Gussinsky, owner of the private TV station NTV, financed by loans from the energy giant.

TCO: 10:48:52:17

TCI: 10:49:03:09

Yuri Felshtinsky Historian,

Author « Blowing up Russia » TCO: 10:49:08:06

TCI: 10:48:56:05

All Putin did was ask that the Gazprom loan be reimbursed. From that moment onwards Gussinsky was financially and economically ruined. It was clear that Putin’s action was political.

TCO: 10:49:12:21

TCI: 10:49:14:10

The rebel oligarch is incarcerated in June 2000 for embezzlement. The court allows him to leave the country provided he turns over the majority of his NTV stocks to Gazprom. Under the cover of the law and the fight against corruption, Putin has started to hunt down « the enemy within » and a campaign against the independent media.

TCO: 10:49:34:22

TCI: 10:49:42:16

28^th July 2000

TCO: 10:49:45:22

TCI: 10:49:36:23

Boris Berezovsky, also begins to realize that the wind has turned. Gussinsky has fled and he is the only oligarch who is not invited to the first meeting organized by Putin. To the remaining oligarchs Putin announces it is

«business as usual», but politics are out! TCO: 10:50:00:20

TCI: 10:50:02:23

Putin is beginning to show what stuff he is made of.

Berezovsky had considered him to be a mere pawn to serve his own interests…and for Putin, humiliation is a powerful incentive for cold and calulated revenge.

TCO: 10:50:15:13

TCI: 10:50:19:17

Berezovsky’s fate is strangely linked to an event that jeapodizes Vladimir Putin’s own political career.

In August 2000, 3 months after his investiture, the annual Navy exercises are to show the whole world that Russian military power is not to be underrated.

TCO: 10:50:35:13

TCI: 10:50:39:23

But, two mysterious explosions send the pride of the fleet, the nuclear submarine Kursk, to the floor of the Barents sea.

Putin refuses assistance from abroad and remains silent for several days. The 118 submariners on board perish in the depths.

The Russian people are angry and the press accuses Putin of contempt for the families.

Berezovsky, who still imagines he is the master of the situation, jumps at the opportunity to publicly denounce the president’s incompetence.

TCO: 10:51:21:16

Yuri Felshtinsky TCI: 10:51:24:19

After the Kursk affair, Putin decided to take over Berezovsky’s television channel and this was when the open conflict between them began.

TCO: 10:51:37:08

TCI: 10:51:37:12

Like Gussinsky, Berezovsky is accused of embezzlement and flees the country to avoid jail.

TCO: 10:51:43:15

TCI: 10:51:51:24

Lilia Shevtsova Political analyst

Carnegy Foundation Moscow TCO: 10:51:56:22

TCI: 10:51:46:22

Berezovsky wanted to be the boss. Because of his immense ambition, he was out. He had to be out. The other oligarch who was out was Gussinsky, he too wanted to be the boss and rule Russia through television. They hadn’t understood that there is only ever one boss in the Kremlin.

TCO: 10:52:07:16

TCI: 10:52:09:05

Gussinsky and Berezovsky have been eliminated, but their journalists refuse to believe that the freedom of the press is under attack.

To all apparence democratic, Putin allows programmes to continue. In the satirical show « Kuklies », the Russian Muppets, the journalist Evgueny Kisseliov is in the grips of an evil Vladimir Putin (Fantomas). TCO: 10:52:29:15

TCI: 10:52:32:13

Kisseliev-What's going on?

TCO: 10:52:34:21

TCI: 10:52:35:18

Putin alias Fantomas -I read the article you wrote about me.

TCO: 10:52:38:04

TCI: 10:52:38:22

I didn't like it.

TCO: 10:52:40:14

TCI: 10:52:41:07

Write another one!

TCO: 10:52:43:08

TCI: 10:52:44:10

- So, you're against

the freedom of the press?

TCO: 10:52:46:11

TCI: 10:52:46:18

-No, but either you obey,

TCO: 10:52:48:12

TCI: 10:52:49:04

or I close down your paper.

TCO: 10:52:51:19

TCI: 10:52:53:21

Moscow April 2001

TCO: 10:52:57:16

TCI: 10:52:53:15

Putin’s idea of democracy does not allow for criticism of authority. One year after his arrival in power Gazprom finalizes the take over of NTV. Early one morning armed men invade the televsion studios. When they arrive, the journalists discover that a team from the Kremlin has replaced them.

Putin gives one warning, if unheeded, he is pitiless.

Kisseliev and others find themselves jobs on a small channel still belonging to Berezovsky. A few months later it is also taken over and replaced by a sports’ channel.

TCO: 10:53:33:11

TCI: 10:53:38:22

Igor Malashenko Former oligarch Associate V. Gussinsky TCO: 10:53:43:18

TCI: 10:53:36:22

There is only one word to describe KGB mentality. That word is control.What you control is safe. What you don’t control is a threat. Therefore you must control as many things as possible.

TCO: 10:53:52:00

TCI: 10:54:08:06

Oleg Gordievsky Former secret agent KGB - MI6

TCO: 10:54:13:22

TCI: 10:54:00:13

A few days after the presidential elections, Putin went to the Dzerjinski club. Putin stood up on the stage in front of 800 officers…

TCO: 10:54:13:11

Vladimir Putin TCI: 10:54:16:02

The FSB wanted to return to power,

TCO: 10:54:21:12

TCI: 10:54:21:19

I am pleased to announce that we have succeeded.

TCO: 10:54:25:09

Oleg Gordievsky TCI: 10:54:26:16

Putin had understood that this was his card to play, as man of the KGB:

« Remember, I told you I’m your man! »

TCO: 10:54:35:15

TCI: 10:54:37:15

FSB Footage TCO: 10:54:40:05

TCI: 10:54:37:21

During the cold war, the hunt for Western spies was one of the principal activities of the KGB. Putin immediately shows the West and in particular the United States, that the secret service, now called the FSB, is in control again.

Edmond Pope, a former intelligence officer of the US Navy, is arrested and tried for spying.

TCO: 10:54:58:15

TCI: 10:55:04:24

Edmond Pope Business man

Former intelligence service US Navy TCO: 10:55:09:15

TCI: 10:55:01:10

They had to make an example and “boom”, here comes the time, so they grab me and use me as an example. Several of the FSB officers at the prison quite frankly told me, the reason I was there was strictly a political event. They wanted to make a very, very clear break from the Yeltsin administration.

TCO: 10:55:21:18