Putin and the Presidents (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

[Music] a major breakthrough for Ukraine a stunning retreat by Russia or humiliating losses on the battlefields of heart frankly it's a sign that they are struggling badly on the Russian side at St George Hall in the Kremlin in the midst of a crisis are beginning to spark criticism of the Russian leaders Russian officials packed the room they knew the war in Ukraine was going badly knowing his actions quote detrimental to Russia's and its citizens future their leader was at a critical juncture foreign Vladimir put would make it clear what his intentions were and who the enemy really was is [Music] Vladimir Putin needs to somehow justify the horrific sacrifices that Russians are making on his orders are by broadening the aperture making this about something bigger into some kind of conflict with the United States with the West with NATO take your pick foreign I think it's a very dangerous moment it's a dangerous moment for Ukraine I think it's a dangerous moment for Russia because it's hard to see what the pathway forward is dangerous time [Music] leaving no doubt his war was against the United States and the West it is a war that he has been waging for years confronting five American presidents on a path that has brought Russia and the United States to The Brick [Music] it began during the height of the Cold War there is such change taking place in the Communist world we must take actions to assist the campaign for democracy during the presidency of Ronald Reagan [Music] Mr Gorbachev teared down this wall at the time Vladimir Putin was a young KGB officer stationed in Germany trained to fight the United States he wasn't a professional politician he was in fact a professional agent for the KGB so he would have learned about the West in the frame of the adversary you know the the enemy or at least certainly all of the reasons in which there would be to be suspicious about the worst [Music] [Applause] for lieutenant colonel Putin a collapse of the Soviet Union spurred on by an American president was a defining moment s they are here is the end of the end of the day you can only imagine what it must have been like as a young KGB officer your country disappears or is in the process of Disappearing you're there on the front lines the Communist Party obviously will will lose its raison detta and so it must have been devastating and I think that must have been a severe blow as we celebrate Christmas this day of peace and hope the humiliation at the hands of the U.S continued as the next American President George H.W bush declared the end of the Soviet era a Triumph Eastern Europe is free the Soviet Union itself is no more this is a victory for democracy and freedom it's a victory for the moral force of our values Vladimir Putin sees American talk of Human Rights democracy Freedom as a cynical fig Leaf something that the U.S uses to cover itself as it cynically pursues its interests across the globe as it pushes its agenda across the globe [Music] in Moscow today an unprecedented peaceful passing of power [Music] as he ascended to the presidency Vladimir Putin was determined to restore Russian strengths and Empire Russians are looking for a strong hand to lead the country Vladimir Putin it appears is their man he came to see himself as almost ordained to leave Russia at this moment and to leave Russia back to Greatness if that is your ordained Mission then there aren't a lot of limits on the means you can use to achieve that goal president Clinton Moscow carrying a message of cooperation as President Putin carried his simmering grievance for the United States into his first meeting with President Bill Clinton arriving at the Kremlin for their first presidential encounter both leaders President Clinton wanted to get a little bit of feel if you wanted to meet him in the in the Kremlin as president two presidents one near the end of his term the other beginning a New Britain was wary of the American president who had championed the spread of liberalization and democracy in Russia Putin conveys a huge amount through body language he tries to show you that he is the alpha male in the room through the way he spreads his legs through the way he slouches a bit in his chair through the way that he will look at people and kind of give them a dismissive hand wave his first meeting with Clinton he was a cold fish we had no interest in dealing with Clinton Clinton felt insulted and rebuffed Putin didn't want to have anything to do with Clinton if Mr Clinton was hoping for a foreign policy Triumph he won't get it here later that day Clinton received a warmer reception from Mentor former president Boris yelch and he issued a warning about the new Russian president Bill Clinton looked hard into geltsin's eyes and said I'm a little bit concerned about this young man that you have turned over the presidency too he doesn't have democracy in his heart and he reached over and poked him in his heart and I will never forget the the expression that came over Yeltsin I think it really shook Yeltsin a bit but in front of the cameras Clinton walked a careful line not revealing his concerns about Putin if you want to know what my personal assessment is I think he is fully capable of building a prosperous strong Russia while preserving freedom and pluralism and the rule of law it's a big challenge I think he's fully capable of doing it but from the start Clinton's private fears about Putin were being realized [Music] from the very beginning you saw in Putin somebody who didn't have the values of the West piece by piece he is dismantling the structures of democracy fragile though they were that had been put in place and reconsolidated control in the Kremlin that's not a westernizer that's not a Democrat small d that's an old-fashioned Russian autocrat that we saw and should have seen from the very beginning literally one of the closest elections in American history it was the start of a new presidency in the U.S we'll go to George W bush the governor of Texas winner had expressed optimism about being able to get along with Putin to the new president of the United States I look forward to working with the you know Mr Putin and explaining my point of view and my attitude about the post-cold warrior I'm going to look him right in the eye and say you're no longer the enemy and we're not your enemy surely we can work together we're a peaceful Nation and that we look forward to working together with Russia Putin saw in President Bush someone that he could do business with he was seeking a new great power relationship that President Bush could be a leader who he could work with to redefine the International System Putin's early moves consolidating power and his past as a KGB agent didn't deter the bush team didn't bother me that Putin was KGB and the KGB you were taught to think for yourself so actually that struck us as an opportunity I don't think anybody was looking at this through rose-colored glasses but we thought at the Strategic level there were real opportunities to work together President George Bush has called for a new approach the two presidents would size each other up on a summit in the former communist state of Slovenia this is more about the president who's developing a personal relationship Vladimir Putin as someone who had I'm sure a very thick dossier on President Bush was trying to find his weaknesses appeal to his personality traits Putin went for Bush's strong Christian faith President Putin told President Bush about the time his dacha burned down and a religious Medallion which had belonged to his mother which had gotten lost and thought this was irretrievably gone and then a fireman brought him this kind of almost like a holy Relic it was a very affecting emotional story and had some effect on President Bush question to President Bush is this a man that Americans can trust I'll answer the question I look the man in the eye I found it to be very straightforward I was able to get a sense of his soul the man deeply committed to his country in the best interests of his country and Bush gives that line right that I looked into his eyes and got a sense of his soul and we would go uh-oh and Candy does her version of not comfortable she just reacts just for a second for the moment Putin had won over the American president he was trained not to reveal his soul to say so if he has any general balance his life experience didn't allow him to reveal any inner him any true him to any representative of the West West for him remains to be the enemy in United States as the leader of the West is the Enemy Number One the countdown for war it appears he is now underway and soon more fuel for Putin's grievance with the U.S West LED attack Tony rock appears regime change at the hands of the Bush Administration the Stars and Stripes have come to town Saddam Hussein's reign of terror is over the Iraq War was absolutely a turning point in a very significant moment of rupture in the relationship between Putin and President Bush Putin Echoes are the final days of the Soviet Union the Tyrant has fallen and Iraq is free and everywhere that stirs tyrants fear an adventure like the Iraq War shows him that look they'll they'll just come in and they'll just take out a government and think nothing of it and that's not the way he wanted the world to work and it is both our responsibility and our privilege to fight Freedom's fight [Applause] Bush called it the freedom agenda a plan to export American democracy around the world Putin saw it as a direct threat to his own plan to restore Russian greatness Vladimir Putin concluded that the United States when possible would use its power and leverage to depose leaders that it did not agree with and from Vladimir Putin's perspective that was an existential threat the bush doc Dock Of The World under Bush that threat was extending to Putin's own backyard around the world to extend Freedom popular uprisings and former Soviet republics Bush really believes that democracy can be planted almost anywhere Americans respect your courageous choice for Liberty the American people will stand with you Putin concluded that these were efforts by the United States and our intelligence services to in fact install in these neighboring countries regimes that would be anti-russian Putin had seen enough he would fight back [Music] in Munich Germany issuing a warning to America and the world and so he comes to the security conference in Munich and says basically I don't have to mince words do I I can say what's on my mind and then he'll he just lashes out and he lists all these resentments Pandora [Music] my head snap it was so searing and blunt and I I felt [Music] this was the real guy [Music] um couldn't echoed Cold War rhetoric by accusing the U.S of making the world unsafe let go down to his season was responsible for the current Global crisis Putin clearly in this speech was drawing a line and saying we're not going to try anymore we're just giving up on you and we're going to make our own world in which we are the master it's one of Putin's harshest attacks on America in his seven year term after that speech we saw the first long-range nuclear bombers by Russia we saw the devastating Cyber attack and Estonia in 2007. we were starting to see steps taken that represented of Russia assertiveness that we had not seen we did not necessarily understand that 2007 is the date where he wanted to stop that Democratic encroachment the leaders of NATO begin a two-day Summit in six years since the establishment of the nato-russia council but Bush ignored Putin's warning it's taken by this Summit will affect the future of the alliance ratcheting up the conflict encouraging Georgia and Ukraine two former Soviet republics to join NATO must make clear that NATO welcomes the aspirations of Georgia and Ukraine for their membership in NATO the Russians were obviously very very concerned that the Bush Administration was moving towards allowing both Georgia and Ukraine to get into NATO which was for them a huge Red Line Broten rushed to Bucharest to confront bush there's this amazing moment Putin shows up early and crashes the dinner with the NATO members he has basically shown up as the skunk in the garden and challenging them for for what they've done in a meeting later Putin was adamant to Bush Georgia and especially Ukraine were in his sphere of influence Dover and said Ukraine is not a real country had no respect for the sovereignty of the Ukrainian people we should have seen it earlier maybe we didn't want to see it but if we it was clear if we had wanted to see it the direction that President Putin was going Putin made it clear he wouldn't accept Bush's plan for Georgia and Ukraine it basically waved the red flag in front of the bowl it was extremely provocative for Russia it provoked Russia and made Russia angry just four months later Putin attacked Georgia Russian troops backed by tanks the Russians were prepared and perhaps even eager for a conflict with Georgia there appeared to be little to stop the troops in there and part of that was motivated by we're going to show the Georgians that getting too close to Nato has a price Russian Flames again bombing Georgian Putin seized and held nearly 5 000 square miles of Georgian territory another town is burning more civilians have been killed from Putin's point of view this wasn't just about Georgia fierce battle broke out today on The Fringe this was about Ukraine this was about what he saw to be the West interest and you know eventual expansion of NATO potentially to include Ukraine and Georgia some of those Georgian soldiers were saying where is the United States as the war broke out Vladimir Putin and George W bush happened to be at the Olympics in Beijing Bush finds himself at the Olympics sitting in the same row as Putin he has his wife Laura on the king of Cambodia move aside so he can sit next to Putin and talk about it but he knows the cameras are on him so he's trying not to make it a big visible confrontation but he's telling Putin what are you doing here this is not right you can't be doing this and Putin is basically telling him to butt out the president who had looked into Putin's Soul has now reached a different conclusion about just who Vladimir Putin was I remember the president saying you know I don't know how but we've lost him Putin was going in a different direction and there was little that the administration and President Bush's mind can do to put Putin back on that course nearing the end of his presidency Bush would leave the increasing conflict with Putin to his successor they let Vladimir Putin arguably get away with it in Georgia clearly takes from that in hindsight is that he is able to use the military as a tool of achieving his political ends outside the borders of Russia and that the West will complain and lecture but basically we'll let him get away with it that's a terrible message and I think it is the prologue for the Ukraine disaster [Music] blue black or white first African-American president of the United President Obama said to land in Russia less than a year later Vladimir Putin would meet newly elected Barack Obama face to face Obama has a big meeting sizing up his third American president Shadows of the Cold War will Loom over his Summit I remember their first meeting in July of 2009 at Putin's daughter you know just outside Moscow [Music] they're much different personalities President Obama's initial question about 10 seconds led to 45 minute you know monologue by Putin Putin is extraordinarily calm matter of fact he doesn't get ruffled he may say hard things but he says them in a very calm almost matter-of-fact way unfortunately President Putin simply speaks mistruth after mistruth and tries to misinform but he does it as easily as he breathes Putin obviously did not respect him Putin looked at the United States and I think it surprised him that a black man would be elected president of the United States I think that was a that was a surprise to him and who knows I think there well could be just an element of flat out racism that he somehow thought Obama was not his equal that Obama did not deserve to be treated as his people clearly the relationship not quite as warm as maybe he has with other worlds leaving Russia the new president had another way to deal with the problem of Vladimir Putin Putin gave him a lecture and I don't think Obama likes to be lectured that was a real Clash of the egos there President Obama has gotten to Moscow and Putin is not buying it and Putin is still in charge he gave the Putin file to his Vice President Joe Biden Biden sometimes joked that his job as vice president was to do the things that Obama didn't want to do and that does include the subject of Russia and here's Joe Biden who's been talking about Russian issues since 1973. and they said all right Joe Biden this is your issue a senator over four decades and chair of the Foreign Relations Committee Biden like Putin had been shaped by the Cold War for myself I don't trust the Soviets I don't trust them to do anything I'm short of what they can get away with Paradigm through which he saw Putin was similar to the Paradigm through which he viewed the other authoritarian leaders he saw them as thugs I'd cautioned against being excessively optimistic about Mr Putin and his intentions our Vice President Biden traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin two men smiled for the cameras but later things were different Putin argumentative [Music] Biden wary based on a seminal meeting in part because of the mythology that is created out of it it's kind of a like a marker being put down I think between two men who ultimately we thought would find themselves in this great class that we were in today Biden would write about the moment in his autobiography it was long and contentious Putin was ice cold calm throughout but argumentative from the start to finish well I was there with with then Vice President Biden uh the message that that he's sending is um let's not um we're not here to kid each other we need to speak clearly we need to speak directly I'm looking into your eyes I told him smiling I don't think you have a soul he looked at me for a second and smiled back we understand each other he said and we did when Biden said that to me I hadn't heard it before and my immediate reaction was this sounds like a movie line is that what really happened and he said absolutely positively that's who this guy is and Biden wasn't done in front of students he urged the Russian people to stand up to Putin's regime the Russian people want to live in a country that fights corruption so I urge all of you students here don't compromise on the basic elements of democracy you need not make that Faustian bargain Putin to see American vice president go talk to students and encourage democracy he sees it as a threat who are you to come here and foment trouble in my backyard it's aggravating and offensive to Putin to see that kind of action and later that year protesters right outside the Kremlin looked like what Biden had been calling for tens of thousands came out on the streets to tell Vladimir Putin they'd had enough there's hundreds of thousands of people who were marching the streets of Moscow are shouting down with Putin for him it was like it could it could be so it could happen he was thrown by the protest he was taken aback by The Passion of the opposition and had to look for a place to point the finger he pointed at us down the police have arrested about 200 they're ready for kids to be part of a broad and deliberate crazy questions about Justice and Vladimir Putin's Russia tonight [Music] many of Putin's opponents inside Russia fled the country an insane quote I'm scared that Putin will kill me others died mysterious deaths Hotel one who nearly died twice from poisoning was Vladimir caramurza bad things often happen there's been a very high mortality rate in the last several years among the people who have crossed the path of Vladimir Putin's Kremlin independent journalists anti-corruption campaigners opposition activists opposition leaders many people have died summoned strange and unexplained deaths others in just straight out assassinations Putin extended his offensive Beyond Russia Ukraine has stuck very much in the middle in the Ukrainian territory of Crimea our Russian troops arrived in the Crimea region this campaign began with the arrival of unmarked Russian soldiers they moved in with what the ukrainians called Little Green Men and they were clearly by the way they handled themselves in their weapons professional military we're in russian-style combat uniforms but no Insignia Russian forces in the thousands seizing territory that Invasion sending these little green men Russian soldiers have reportedly arrived these Russian soldiers without Insignia into a neighboring country into Crimea was such a shock this hadn't happened since World War II Sovereign territory that belongs to Ukraine he seized Crimea and said it was now part of Russia that he didn't stop there he opened another front in Ukraine's East he used another form of deception which was to send in irregular forces mercenaries who had been recruited Putin claimed there are no Russian forces in this war but in fact he was organizing the whole thing behind the scenes Ukraine crisis looks pretty similar to World War II we are seeing a very gross violation of international law it was just the start of what would become an unrelenting Focus on finally taking Ukraine the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is getting worse and worse Brighton residents have been warned to stay indoors he felt emboldened I felt he had been able to make his move in Georgia and nobody tried to do anything about it there's an average of 36 people a day were killed in the conflict and in Ukraine he gambles that the West isn't really going to do anything about it chaos and Carnage to mourn next for the country the West is going to complain about it but they're not really going to do anything to stop it it's about 40 children uh Parish says the results are and rekindled fears about Russia's intentions in regard to its neighbors a Sovereign Nation is invaded by another country that kind of aggression is not something we should tolerate anywhere in the world at the White House President Obama was struggling to respond how do you deter behavior when the other side is basically denying that it's even taking place when the other side is saying I don't even know what you're talking about we're not involved President Obama says he's deeply concerned about on the phone Obama confronted Putin about his forces in Ukraine Tony blinken was in the Oval Office for those calls Putin denied their presence and it was striking and flat out lying about Russia's presence in Ukraine and Obama would say to him Vladimir we're not blind we have eyes we can see and Putin would just move on as if nothing had happened inside the administration Vice President Biden urged a tough response Joe Biden knew that in this case Vladimir Putin was acting like a playground bully and would continue to act like a bully CIA director John Brennan also wanted to get tough bullies tried to intimidate and they keep moving forward unless they get their their nose bloodied a little bit Mr Putin really needed to get his nose bloodied officials at the Pentagon and state department joined with Biden they advocated arming Ukraine with javelin anti-tank missiles they're all saying you should give military assistance to Ukraine you need to step up what you're doing against Russia Putin is getting the wrong message from us and uh Obama wouldn't do it Biden lost instead of weapons Obama went with sanctions from Obama's perspective nobody had elected him to the White House to be focused on Russia and Ukraine and now you have your vice president bending your year about the need to draw a bright line and say that Russian aggression cannot stand I think there was a piece of Obama that looked at this and said sorry this is this is just not a top priority for us [Music] Putin takes a lesson from Ukraine when he's able to invade a country and our reaction is minimal right and so of course he takes a lesson from that the lesson he takes from that is this kind of thing can work if we gin it up properly and that's not the message that we really wanted to be sending at the time 2016 presidential race is underway having tested the United States resolve Putin would go even further the candidates are once again striking at the heart of American democracy interfering in the 2016 presidential election there's two goals there discarded our election and also to discredit the presidency to neutralize the United States and adversary to really tarnish U.S leadership as you know the leader of the democratic World The Free World the West Putin's attack was aimed at Washington D.C Russian hackers breaching Democratic party computer servers email leaks designed to undermine Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign this was the most aggressive and most direct and most assertive campaign that the Russians ever mounted in the history of our elections and what characterized this toward the variety and intensity of the techniques that they employed misinformation fake users designed to look like Americans trolls supporting the Kremlin an army of automated bots on Twitter and targeted advertisements on Facebook and Google calculated to hurt Clinton and help her rival Donald Trump [Music] President Putin's view of trump was a pension for authoritarianism backing off of Human Rights and talking about wanting to have a more positive relationship with Russia what's not to like if you're Vladimir Putin is sort of sounds like he's one of us well Donald Trump pulled off one of the biggest political upsets in America on Election night Donald Trump a victory for Trump and for Putin in a stunning upset Donald Trump is elected the 45th president Donald Trump's shocking the nation and the world President Putin called me up very nicely to congratulate me on the win of the election Boone's point of view he won not only did the candidate he favored come out on top he has disrupted Americans faith in their own democracy so that we're all turning on each other and we're busy fighting with each other and in his mind hopefully too distracted to pose a threat to him on the world stage president Trump's held sink President Vladimir for the fourth time Vladimir Putin would confront a new American president urging the president to confront Putin about Russia's interference in the 2016 election Vladimir Putin is his clear-eyed and cold-blooded as any foreign leader I have ever seen he knows exactly what he thinks Russia's national interest is and he pursues it unrelentingly [Music] we get the first images of President Trump and Vladimir Putin sitting down next to each other and president Trump um is sitting up in his chair looking as though he really really wants to get something out of this meeting well first of all Mr President I'd like to congratulate you on a really great world cup and Vladimir Putin has kind of slumped in his chair not smiling doesn't look like he's having a good time that getting along with Russia is a good thing not a bad thing it was clear that in Trump Putin had a very different American president confronted with Donald Trump this is like an open field in front of a football player carrying the football Trump never understood that never understood what the nature of Putin's game was I think Putin thought Trump was a fool and easily manipulable the cameras were sent away for two hours they met privately without any AIDS Putin didn't need the KGB psychological profilers to hand him a dossier on how to play Donald Trump was able to read from he had a very good understanding of how to flatter him he knew how to play Trump like a violin [Music] afterwards when they faced the Press a shocking statement President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. every U.S intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did my first question for you sir is who do you believe who do you believe that's the starkest possible way to put that question question to the president my people came to me Dan coats came to me and some others they said they think it's Russia I have President Putin he just said it's not Russia I will say this I don't see any reason why it would be I felt Frozen to my chair like everybody else in the room we couldn't believe it I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today and what he did everybody who was in the room with them just saw how masterfully Putin manipulated Trump he saw him as gullible and stupid and easily manipulatable and then he was just you know the Russian expression that he was just making ropes out of him just braiding him like a braid extraordinary moment in American history something I thought I would never see this graceful play by the president of the United States if he stood by Vladimir Putin back in Washington concern continues to grow about what they said to each other behind closed doors they were calling it a bromance it's been some sort of romance with Trump romance Trump acted in some ways as an arm of Putin's foreign policy in this period of time president Trump on the attack asking what good is NATO once again questioning the entire point to one of America's oldest alliances and Trump was echoing Putin's talking points on the key battleground of Ukraine president told leaders that both Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world he would say Ukraine is a really corrupt country the president is saying that Crimea probably should belong to Russia because everyone speaks Russian Crimea is Russian everybody there speaks Russian and wants to be part of Russia Donald Trump parroting Vladimir Putin saying that Ukraine is not even a real country where did he hear these things he heard them from Putin you know and he would just Echo them Trump is actually helping Putin reconstitute the Soviet Union it was just too easy Trump suggested it's pointless to continue punishing Russia he's getting pretty much everything he needs from president Trump he's getting the smackdown of NATO the humiliation of our best allies I mean the list goes on and on and on and so Putin was probably betting on a second term of President Trump and hoping that he could get his way on many things whether it's NATO whether it's Ukraine without using the instrument of War but Trump did not get a second term the Fox News decision desk can now project that former Vice President Joe Biden and with a new president elect Joseph Robinette Biden frankly we did win this election an escalation of the chaos in America that Putin helped ferment the president showing no signs that he's prepared to concede this election in division this is a contested election many people are nervous uh violence Insurrection nobody loved January 6 more than the Russians did Trump gave them four years which was one big gift but January 6 was like the wrapping the beautiful rapping you know the package January 6th apart from anything else leads directly to the war in Ukraine because it looks like America is not just morally discredited looks like America is weak meeting with Russian president in Geneva Vladimir Putin faced his old Nemesis President Biden and Vladimir now the president of the United States for neither of them is this their first rodeo the attention seemed to be a bit Putin is looking at Biden and saying this is a weak American president he doesn't have the overwhelming support of his public his people are so divided just once earlier they'd had an attack on the capitol and all he needs to do is hold Biden off long enough so that he can continue to assemble the plan that he's putting together they're Children of the Cold War and they see each other and their their countries through the Cold War Biden saw Putin for what he is a KGB revanchist who wants to to remake the Russian Empire I just remember the body language of them sitting in that room together and it's it's icy I mean these are two people who do not like each other Anthony blinken now secretary of state was once again in the room the tone of the conversation was professional it was direct but it was very clear where we had our differences President Biden made very clear where we saw things differently and so did so did President Putin try to determine where we have mutual interest a top priority for Biden deterring Putin in Ukraine President Biden made clear in the meeting to President Putin our commitment to Ukraine our commitment to its sovereignty to its independence to its territorial integrity they wanted to park Putin but he didn't want to be parked he wanted to be the number one problem of everybody in the whole world but especially the number one priority the number one threat the number one problem that the White House was dealing with Putin began laying the groundwork for the invasion of Ukraine and a hundred thousand Russian troops near Ukraine's border of fueling fears Russian forces start moving back toward Ukraine's borders heavy military equipment clearly taking an aggressive posture this weekend not just the eastern border but no the all three borders Russian troops had been surrounding Ukraine for days now Ukraine border with Belarus rain border with Russia green border with occupied Crimea satellite images show an increase in Russian forces on the Ukraine border at the White House tensions nearing a Tipping Point an emergency presidential briefing secret information about Putin's plans and it was in that moment when a combination of seeing the forces deployed and then having from the information we'd gotten real visibility on what Russia was actually thinking what they were planning that's when we really saw the storm rising and heading in Ukraine's Direction once again an American president was facing a critical decision about how to deal with Putin Russia is allowed allow this if Russia Stomps all over Ukraine and takes it over it affects the entire International order that we've been living under since World War II the stakes were pretty high and they continue to be very high in a video conference with Putin Biden warned him to pull back from the brink saying first of all we see what you're doing what you're planning what you're plotting and if you go ahead with what we're seeing you need to understand the costs and consequences to Russia will be severe and you need to know that I mean what I say Putin's response was familiar denial they're denying they're denying any imminent aggression against Ukraine saying that that's not what we're doing but because we had such extraordinary visibility and extraordinary information we knew in real time when Putin was saying something that was in contradiction with what was actually happening Putin ignored Biden and pushed forward with the invasion understands the Western ability steps pretty well he knew that when President Biden said don't do this or you know there will be consequences he knew that there were not going to be any consequences for two decades Vladimir Putin had defied American presidents [Music] invading Georgia [Music] seizing Crimea interfering in a presidential election and he wasn't stopping now he made a calculation that Biden would not be able to lead an international group of countries to support Ukraine and that there wouldn't be the will to support Ukraine and even if it was there in the beginning it would not continue thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Union Vladimir Putin was now pursuing an all-out War build the Russian Empire [Music] an apocalyptic scenes on the outskirts of the capital city a Non-Stop Onslaught over the last 24 hours with mass cash tens of thousands of civilians trapped in cities under near constant Russian shell fires Putin wants Ukraine he wants this pan Slavic super state with Moscow as the capital he wants Ukraine he doesn't think it's a real country I don't know how you compromised with somebody who just wants Ukraine that's not something you can build a bridge across [Music] to see just how far it's 190 000 troops will go into the country of Ukraine will he stop with a battle for Ukraine underway [Music] Biden went further than any president before delivering weapons and intelligence to the front lines to help fight Putin the United States has opted in to the fight the amount and scale of the military support for Ukraine's defense of itself against Russian aggression is enormous it's staggering clearly something that Vladimir Putin did not expect U.S and NATO allies are working quickly to arm Ukraine Russian forces caught off guard apparently Russia thought the invasion would be over swiftly that was before their Jets were plummeting from Ukrainian Skies he clearly miscalculated the capabilities of the Russian military the capabilities of the Ukrainian military the willingness of the Ukrainian people to fight for their independence this was a miscalculation of Napoleonic magnitude Ukraine's president remains defined Reigns resolve has shocked the world and frustrated the Russian is facing the embarrassment of this offensive not necessarily being pulled off as smoothly but even as his army was pushed back Putin was doubling down coming out of Russia where Vladimir Putin is preparing for a longer and more intense war on Ukraine mobilizing more troops President Putin suddenly announcing he would call up 300 000 men for military service waging economic Warfare no gas no oil nothing he said over a Long Winter raising the Specter of nuclear Annihilation now threatening to use nuclear weapons and Putin says I'm not bluffing it's all very concerning because what we saw was Vladimir Putin doubling and tripling down on the aggression with the mobilization with the purported annexation of Ukrainian territory with the loose talk about nuclear weapons evidence that unfortunately tragically this is likely to continue for some time Vladimir Putin the former KGB agent hell-bent on rebuilding the Russian Empire now a dangerous Pariah on the world stage staring down yet another American president to see how far he would go poon is escalating it into a war with the West more broadly cutting off energy threatening nuclear weapons and part of the reason is to undercut Western resolve and to make the West eager to get this over with ahead of a looming energy crisis this winter as Vladimir Putin cuts off the continent's natural gas supply he's hoping that he can put pressure on the west to back off Putin is counting on the fact that the Western powers are just going to lose interest in Ukraine how much longer the United States can continue to help bankroll this world will Ukraine ultimately be left to fight this war on its own [Music] thank you for more on this and other Frontline programs visit our website at pbs.org Frontline thank you front lines Putin and the president is available on Amazon Prime video [Music] thank you foreign [Music]

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Length: 52min 47sec (3167 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 24 2023