Putin's Crisis (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

[Music] Faulkner leader hasn't been seen in public since the end of the Mutiny he led in Russia Heaton met with regurgian five days after the armed immutiny still not clear what ultimate Faith awaits him or his mercenaries he was his loyalist who was willing to do the dirty jobs that Vladimir Putin needed a Russian crisis a lot of years in the mid [Applause] St Oracle figure for Russia Putin the great is what he wants to be a faithful decision biggest war in Europe since World War II and a betrayal pregosian baldly addressed some of these things that wouldn't talk about which is the losses the pain the difficulty of the war Vladimir Putin's iron grip on power in Peril now on Frontline for crisis Putin comes out weak has been shown not to be fully in charge this program contains graphic imagery which may not be suitable for all audiences viewer discretion is advised it's Friday night in the west and suddenly there are these reports of armed Uprising now to that major development in the war in Ukraine trouble Brewing within the Russian ring an unprecedented armed Rebellion inside Russia it is shocking to see tanks in the streets in Russia we haven't seen anything like that since 1991 and 1993. very dramatic indeed historic developers the boxer Chief has set his 25 000 strong force is ready to die is a real shock to the system to see these images and to understand what's behind them leading the mutiny Mutiny Evgeni Prague ocean a mercenary renowned for his brutality and until that day Vladimir Putin's close Ally the best way to understand what's happening now in Russia is a mafia power struggle as Laura reports come in more video comes in you're seeing that there are actually you know troops moving uh into rostov and they're actually taking in the headquarters foreign the mercenary Force this Wagner force was probably the most capable Russian Force that has been fighting in Ukraine until recently they are battle-hardened and they're frankly motivated by their leader who was there with them in the field there was video of pregosian and Senior generals sitting around talking together didn't have to fight their way into the headquarters National Guard troops didn't roll out to confront them when they took the military headquarters the armed Uprising then turned directly towards Putin is headed to Mass hour there was no one defending Putin there was no one expressing outrage that there was a mutiny going on much less trying to stop the mutiny in those first hours of Crisis Putin was nowhere to be seen a military force is moving in on Moscow and there's no sign that the president is taking any action and in fact it sounds like he was trying to get out of Moscow he was losing his nerve and that's very unusual for Vladimir Putin when the Russian leader finally went before the cameras he was shaken Putin's demeanor was anger not in control he was clearly panickedness foreign it was a breathtaking moment this was the first time in more than 20 years of Vladimir Putin's rule in which there was a serious challenge to the Monopoly of power of the state which was the entire rationale for Putin's presidency and his leadership throughout these last two decades Vladimir Putin the self-styled Russian strongman now appeared vulnerable even failku can be dangerous it reveals that the emperor has no clothes right it reveals that it is conceivable to stand against him and if you're Putin you're looking around that room and you're saying which of these people has a knife in his belt which of these people might be thinking about moving on me next it had to have worried him that he didn't necessarily know where the threats could come from Washington is now at a at its weakest this is a dent to his authority for two decades he warded off threats to his power Vladimir Putin has lost Authority and legitimacy within Russia through conquest and autocratic rule Putin of 10 years ago would never have allowed this to play out the way it did there are cracks in the armor behind Vladimir Putin until he went too far calling the war what it is 18 months of failure on the part of Vladimir Putin creating a crisis for himself Russia and the world it does highlight now how isolated Putin has become [Music] had long been on guard for threats going back to his training as a KGB officer in the waning days of the former Soviet Union the KGB was a monopoly that produced violence it was a monopoly that was responsible for political surveillance for on everyday basis of Soviet citizens nothing could go without the KGB [Music] stationed in as Soviet power was collapsing Mr Gorbachev teared down this wall this protest movement may now be reaching a critical report remembered for communism's loss of influence in the world here the feeling is the end of the Cold War is at hand for many people there is a defining moment in their history when all things after that moment refer back to it in some way from maybe this is world news for lieutenant colonel Vladimir Putin reporting tonight from Berlin they are here in the thousands they are here in the tens of thousands the Berlin Wall coming down was such a moment Putin sees that this thing that had always seemed to be glued together well seemed to be impervious that had gone from generation to generation of change in the top party officials seemed to be a rock like one battle in a non-violent it was starting to crumble before his eyes a year remembered for communism Mr Putin joined Russian intelligence during their waning days in the latter years of the Cold War when they really felt aggrieved and the much lesser power than the United States so I think that just reinforced some of his feelings of insecurity Soviet protests spread to Dresden angry crowds marched on the German secret police the Stasi headquarters then Putin's KGB building it would be the first time Putin faced such a threat he calls Moscow trying to understand what he is to do trying to get orders and Moscow doesn't respond a Soviet military officer told him Moscow is silent for Putin it was an unconscionable sign of weakness and inaction and this is a massive massive trauma for him that this massive historical event is happening Soviet influence is collapsing before his eyes and he calls home he radios home and home isn't there Europe as Putin returned to Russia the chaos had spread [Applause] he would witness an attempted coup by communist hardliners angry about Democratic reforms this has been an extraordinary day in the Soviet Union of 1991 is when the last gasp of the hardliners tries to preserve Soviet power Larry Putin is watching all this from Saint Petersburg the plotters of that attempted coup the leadership of the Soviet Communist party and the KGB had everything the KGB the police the Army the tanks of course they had the tanks which they sent physically to occupy Central Moscow tanks were also positioned outside the Russian Parliament building Boris yeltsin's headquarters the tanks were met by Democratic activists led by the popular Russian president Boris Yeltsin Boris Yeltsin the president of the Republic of Russia is at the center of what resistance there is Boris yelson was a key figure [Applause] was a powerful symbol of the resistance against those plotters against that coup hardliners backed down unwilling to use the tax on fellow Russians the coup collapsed why Putin comes away from 1991 is never be weak when you are weak you fall when you are weak they beat you and he has said version of this time and time again during his time in public life when you are weak you are beaten and he determines that he will never be weak in whatever form he takes in the years to come after the failed coup Putin watched as protesters continued the dismantling of the Soviet Empire they marched to KGB headquarters they turned their attention to the Statue across the street Felix durzinski founder of the Soviet Secret Police [Music] said that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the previous Century so he sees that as an injustice indeed as an insult [Applause] none of us can fully appreciate the humiliation that was felt by so many to be a great power one day and to dissolve another day with in some ways without explanation and this chaos is exactly what birthed Vladimir Putin as the future leader of Russia he was the one who would bring order to that chaos Putin would reinvent himself as a political operative and bureaucratic fixer he's a master bureaucrat Russia has always been a bureaucratic autocracy this is how for example Stalin became the general secretary he was an amazing bureaucrat he out bureaucrated all the other bureaucrats and Putin does too he is very good at the bureaucracy of all of it he worked to get close to the man who'd confronted the tanks Boris Yeltsin Putin appreciates strength and whatever else Yeltsin was he was a strong figure bombastic you know energetic and Putin I think that was what appealed to Putin about him Putin Yeltsin over professing to share the president's Democratic goals he's a professional liar to lie is what he was taught in the intelligence school he was pretending that he was going to pursue the same development of Russia as he is indeed but that's all is just one big lie heelson put Putin in charge of the KGB successor the FSB he under this remarkable rise basically having nothing to do with the center of power in Moscow to running its most important Security Agency working in the Kremlin another major shake-up of the Kremlin yelson fires his entire cabinet again who's in charge and soon he would become yeltsin's number two Russia's prime minister he's a new prime minister Vladimir Putin a man of little political experience but a long the biggest and the initial reaction when people heard his name being announced as acting prime minister on the 9th of August of 1999 by President Yeltsin first reaction was who is that most people had never heard of this guy how Putin would wield his power and deal with threats quickly became clear just a few weeks really after he became prime minister we had a very suspicious slate of apartment bombings across Russia a bomb destroyed an apartment building in Moscow there were suspicions about who really set off the bombs but the government claimed it was the work of separatists from the Russian Republic chechnya everybody's home asleep in their beds and these large apartment blocks just folded in on themselves burying these people alive or dead but burying everybody in the building for Putin it was a chance to demonstrate Russia's might prime minister said that only he comes on television he says we're going to hunt down the terrorists and we're going to wipe them out in the outhouse when the apartment bombings happen it gives him the excuse he needs to finally go after what has become a morass in Cheshire neighboring Dagestan struck Church Nero with Incredible Force this was his decision he was angry and he wanted to punish the separatists he is Seen On TV as a doer a man of action he goes down there he's talking to the Troops he is in command as Putin suited up for the cameras his political fortunes were on the rise and just a few months later was inaugurated as Russia's new precedent Ed his first promise to the Russian people strength presented himself to his people as the state the guy that would bring back power he is he believes in himself his presidency and the state are one to help project his power Putin turned to his public relations Guru he began to think that everything can be manipulated any kind of press any TV program is all about manipulation it was decided what TV channels would show what news they made sure a dynamic vital and charismatic Putin was on display for all Russians to see he's healthy he's young he's virile he casts himself as a savior he's bringing back a kind of dignity and strength to the Russian presidency that had been missing foreign and Putin even resurrected Joseph Stalin's national anthem [Music] he came to see himself as almost ordained 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 [Music] an early example of how far Putin would go to put down any challenges began small town of beslan men and women wearing explosive belts attacked a school definitely the worst hostage tragedy that Russia has ever seen terrorists and the plan was that Putin would either capitulate or he would lose his image his reputation this was a serious crisis this was a really serious crisis back down he ordered his army end tanks and troops encircled the school and then an explosion and chaos Army sold the school at Point Blank Range they fired at it from tanks Putin's troops were armed with rockets grenade launchers and flamethrowers a lot of the children who burned alive burned alive because of a fire that raged it turned into this debacle and the end result is corpses of little children stacked like firewood over 320 people were killed half of them children and the tragedy in the town of best land he's demanded Putin seized on the tragedy to expand his power and control demanded a radical shake-up of security and greater power it canceled elections throughout the country Governors and leaders of Russia and new rules forced out the most outspoken members of the parliament Evan it was a cynical move but at the same time it also expresses the way to respond to to extreme violence and to extreme disorder is to create more dictator dictatorial Powers he's demanded a radical shake-up of security and grades of powers after basilan the Kremlin had full power the government did not matter much any longer yes the power these days is always in singular it doesn't matter where it is it belongs to the president it comes from the president flows out of the president the attack on the school in beslan was a signature moment of Revelation about who is Vladimir Putin what kind of brutality would use the tragedy of piles and piles of dead bodies of kids to eliminate democracy and now we're seeing Vladimir Putin use dead Ukrainian children to eliminate democracy and its vestiges inside of Russia and that domestic Crackdown goes hand in hand with Putin's War those are one in the same phenomenon [Music] strengths and rushes in the face of ongoing challenges from the West especially the U.S it was on full display in Munich at a conference of Western leaders and so it comes to the security conference in Munich and says basically I don't have too many sports do I I can say what's on my mind and then he he just lashes out and he lists all these resentments [Music] come with the Patriots my head snap it was so searing and blunt and I I felt this was the real guy is [Music] making the world unsafe the speech was a turning point a sign of the aggressive Direction Putin would take Putin clearly in this speech was drawing a line and saying we're not going to try anymore he's 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 that speech in 2007 is the anchor point at which he tells us the Europe he wants and the international order he wants and he has worked towards it since then he had positioned himself as a strong man and set his country on a course towards conflict and War sees himself as restoring Russia to Absolute greatness in the world and reassembling basically the Russian Empire it's a very serious development in the Arab world in the Middle East the Arab Spring would play to Putin's deepest fears Democratic uprisings in Tunisia Syria Egypt if Ira Putin looks at what's happening in the Arab world and he sees it as Dresden all over again he sees it as the American meddling in other countries Affairs to the detriment of Mother Russia Mubarak has stepped down looks at the Arab Spring their dictators I'm a dictator their tyrants I'm a tyrant they end up in a cage I could end up in a cage certainly thinks that because that is the logic of being a tyrant you know as we know from Plato to Shakespeare the logic of being a tyrant is that you're going to be afraid of ending that way little Mutiny that began in Tunisia spread to Egypt and Iran and has reached Libya for Putin the Peril of the Arab Spring exploded into sharp relief in Libya where Rebel forces captured his ally Libya dictator Muammar Gaddafi Vladimir Putin talked about the fall of Libya over and over again he would talk about the scene of Muammar Gaddafi great Lion of Libya reduced to a man hiding enough drainage pipe cowering with his own gun in his hand where he was dragged out by his people and was killed Putin watches that tape over and over and over again it's all he can talk about for quite some time thousands thousands from the further reached Moscow democracy protests a direct threat to Putin's power more than a hundred thousand people came out to say no enough we are fed up with this this was the largest demonstration held in Russia in Moscow since the Democratic revolution of August 1991 Putin responded with Force he ordered a Crackdown on protesters and dissidents they started enacting searches arrests detentions actions against opposition leaders persecution in the mass media and they launched individual persecution that applied to tens of hundreds maybe thousands of people in the country this is a clear message that it's over you've had your fun it's done it's over I'm the president you are not toppling me I am the law he would not do as the Communist hardliners had in 1991. he would not back down show any weakness the breakup of the Soviet Union was this signal event and the education of Vladimir Putin he was always determined to crush opposition it's not a very subtle attitude here uh the the attitude is crush the opposition destroy it physically if need be and there's a pile of corpses of those who overtly challenged Moscow bad things often happen to opponents he was forcing to Exile in England after many of Putin's opponents inside Russia fled the country others died mysterious deaths Vladimir Putin's top opponent saying quote I'm scared that Putin will kill me death of a former Vladimir Putin aide one who nearly died twice from poisoning was Vladimir karamusa 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 kramlin independent journalist anti-corruption campaigners opposition activists opposition leaders many people have died summoned strange and unexplained deaths others in straight out assassinations eventually caramoza himself would be imprisoned for treason [Music] give you a live look now at Sochi today's opening ceremony takes place even as he demonstrated his power at home Putin again turned his attention to projecting the image of Russia as a global superpower for Putin hosting the Olympics is the crescendo of his campaign to revive Russian greatness was the kind of pageantry which Putin and Russians in general loved he was riding very high this was you know a moment of personal and National Triumph from his point of view it was a huge moment for Vladimir Putin and it was meant to be his validation and crowning moment of acceptance on the world stage as uh you know sort of the new Russian Tsar but it was at this moment of Glory that Ukraine would begin to emerge as a profound challenge to Putin crane is stuck in neighboring Ukraine what is Russian presidents Vladimir pro-democracy protests in the former Soviet Republic resistance to Putin's Authority and influence protests first learned back in November when ukrainians to have a democratic Ukraine a Ukraine that cared more about being in NATO than it did being in moscow's orbit that's a huge threat to Vladimir Putin that was something that was simply unacceptable here's a special thing about Ukraine he believes Ukraine really is part of Russia and he is determined to reverse this geopolitical catastrophe that separated uh Ukraine from Russia Putin's response he sees the Ukrainian territory of Crimea thousands of armed Russian troops arrived in the Crimea region he sent in thousands 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 the 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 Cindy's 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 Putin didn't stop with Crimea he moved into Ukraine's East he used another form of deception which was descending irregular forces mercenaries who had been recruited Putin claimed there are no Russian forces in this war but in fact he recognizing the whole thing behind the scenes some of Putin's Fighters were from the Russian mercenary Wagner group Putin's used Wagner this private military company in ways that allow him to have deniability he can deny that it was actually the Russian government doing this the Wagner forces were led by Evgeni pragoshan who'd been close to Putin for decades they called him Putin's chef he was a caterer that's how Putin met him and in the modern Russia of Vladimir Putin's Mafia State he endeared himself to Putin what he was was a hatchet man he was a loyalist who was willing to do the dirty jobs that Vladimir Putin needed who made himself useful to the Kremlin in in an astonishing variety of ways I really it's not everybody who can both be your caterer for your Banquets and your killer uh your hired assassin as the fighting in Ukraine dragged on the Wagner group became increasingly important on the battlefield and their leader increasingly powerful Goshen is the guy who will do whatever Putin wants him to do he is his oligarch pragosian was one of the ones that Putin brought up to be his uh instrument of power if you will and Putin used pragosian for one of his most audacious Acts it would lead to progression's indictment for his role in interfering in the 2016 presidential election evgeny pregosian he was the guy running that whole operation in 2016 and they did a lot of damage to America internally we have yet to recover from the polarization that that election produced the interference included misinformation on the internet 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 all calculated to hurt Hillary Clinton and help her rival Donald Trump 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 were the variety and intensity of the techniques that they employed in Moscow Putin denied interfering in the American election everybody started about to talk about Russia some questions were asked Vladimir Putin clearly enjoyed himself and he was asking these questions and in the beginning of September he gave some well conventional answers with some Wing but that was all yeah um there's always plausible ability built into the system so a lot of the hackers that are working for the Russian government they're not necessarily wearing you know epaulettes and uniforms they're not necessarily sitting in Gru bunkers in Moscow or somewhere in Russia a lot of them are Freelancers at the center of much of the interference was yevgeny pregosian Rana Hub called the internet research agency pregosian had created this Factory of trolls internet snoops to try and attack the United States during the election and influence the election they even sent some of the young Russians who were working on this to the United States to go through Battleground states to try to you know get a sense of ground truth if you will and what kinds of campaigns to destabilize U.S politics might work in the 2016 election [Music] on Election Day in the U.S victory for Trump and in Russia for Putin a sign of strength it did demonstrate to ordinary Russians Putin is deciding the fate of American elections is taken as a sign of Putin's greatness and of Russia's greatness as well from poon'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 Putin was emboldened As Long As Trump was President I think Putin felt uh he had a free hand essentially Putin felt Unbound and unconstrained he launched risky overseas operations designed to punish and instill fear and his daughter apparently poisoned Britain's foreign minister accused Putin of ordering the poisoning he's gotten away with everything so far so why not push it a little step further he demonstrated his military might on new battlefields U.N investigators just linked Russia to a possible War crime in Syria he's using the battlefields of Syria as ways to improve his own military's operational performance show that Russia is a king maker Beyond Russia's so-called near abroad in Central Asia even risking direct confrontation with American military forces a couple of times in skirmishes in Syria used pragosian's Wagner group as the tip of the spear the Wagner group carries out secret combat operations on the kremlin's behalf percussion is expanding his Empire to Africa to the Middle East and we in the United States are not paying attention the Russians are stepping back in the heart of Africa they've become an effect Putin's Army of influence and wherever they have gone it has never been terribly good news for the local population they're the ones who go to governments in far off places and negotiate deals and force them to kowtow to Russian interests and they exercise power in a violent and brutal way they are accused of torture and war crimes in all sorts of places horrific torture and murder of a Syrian man allegedly at the hands of Russian Wagner Mercenaries We Now understand that pragosian was building uh you know a state within the state he was building his own Army he was building a major Power Center that he envisioned using inside of Russia Putin understood and appreciated the the Wagner forces to some extent but I don't think he realized how much better they were than his regular military and how much more they could achieve and how much power that gave pregosian from inside the Kremlin for two decades Vladimir Putin had been amassing and protecting his power by 2022 he was on the verge of his most high risk move yet finally finishing what he'd started in Ukraine years before he wants to be a great historical figure for Russia it's Putin the great is what he wants to be and one of the Deeds that Putin the great will have accomplished is reuniting Russia with Ukraine Russia without Ukraine crane is a country Russia with Ukraine is an Empire and that's where Putin seems to be headed that means a lot of wars and a lot of dead people Vladimir Putin is about to chair a meeting of the Russian Security Council Vladimir Putin will address his Security Council as a special session for the cameras put assembled his War cabinet you have him striding in his sort of cocky walk and sitting by himself and his advisors they're literally sitting like 30 feet away from Putin they're sitting in an array like school children this looked more like something you would see in a Royal Court than than you would see in a in a modern government um I think back to that security council meeting and I realized how scared they must all be of him it just felt like they were dancing bears performing for their master who is impossible to please [Music] you see how this all went down how much of it was driven just by one man his deranged ideas and everybody around him was too scared to say anything about it or to resist Vladimir Putin had made the Fateful decision the full-on invasion of Ukraine classical problem of tyranny you know Plato diagnosed it you reach a certain point no one's going to tell you the truth and also if you stand however too long you're going to start to be governed by your own fantasies of the way the world should be the older you get I'm afraid the more likely you are to be backed into a corner by these phantasmagoria of your own creation and that's where Putin is [Music] tradition Al Israeli over here [Music] the world is waiting to see just 190 000 troops will go into the country of Ukraine will he stop with the two Breakaway regions he has gambled his entire time in office on this one decision we'll be remembered for it anything else he did then he decided to put everything on this apocalyptic scenes on the outskirts of the capitals a Non-Stop Onslaught over the last 24 hours with mass casual tens of thousands of civilians trapped in cities under near constant Russian shell fire but despite the devastation it would not go as Putin wanted the ukrainians with massive international support held their ground the 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 defiant Green's resolve has shocked the world and frustrated Putin's war was a disaster estimated that Russia has suffered 100 000 casualties Putin's war is a catastrophe for Russia Russia has thrown hundreds of thousands of troops into its war in Ukraine tens of thousands of military casualties just imagine the pain and suffering of so many thousands of families Russians too are suffering the consequences of this war particularly the families of the service the losses the complete disastrous military operations the morale is very very low among Russian troops troops with poor morale turning and running Russian troops fleeing and one even having to crawl away from the battlefield the absolute horrible War crime stories Ukraine again is accusing the Kremlin of targeting civilians the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for war crimes in the face of it all Putin doubled down coming out of Russia where Vladimir Putin is preparing for a longer and more intense war on Ukraine he cracked down on descent at home thousands of anti-war demonstrators have been detained just in the past few days he mobilized more troops Russia wants 300 000 new soldiers but many Russians don't want to serve and Putin once again turned to Evgeni pregosian and his Wagner forces when the Russian Armed Forces proved to be so ineffective Putin increasingly turns to the Wagner group turns the Evgeni pragosh the guy who had been his executor on various goals for years now in a much more effective way so if the regular military can't do it fine send in the burgosian troops is Putin gave pregosian the authority to go into prisons and recruit them he'd spent a bunch of time in prisons himself as a prisoner so he knew how to talk to prisoners and he got a lot of them into Wagner into his forces by promising them amnesty bergosian's Army of convicts and battle-hardened Mercenaries laid waste to Ukrainian cities Wagner mercenaries are somewhat United in their brutality and in all of the human rights abuses that they commit together it almost binds them together in a way that you wouldn't have if they were abiding by regular rules of War because they are complicit in a in a huge crime and they know it in Russia Wagner's brutal successes made pagosian a star [Music] Styles himself as a man of the troops he's in fatigues he's in combat gear he's there on the front line with his troops Putin's early years in power as his celebrity grew pragosian was increasingly outspoken [Music] critical of the kremlin's handling of the war [Music] pagosian baldly addressed some of these things that Putin wouldn't talk about which is the losses the pain the difficulty of the war yeah he was screaming from Ukraine about the need for more ammunition and blaming Putin's military commander and his defense minister [Music] Putin has lost control over pagosian once pregosian gets gets angry about the treatment of his forces and he feels like no one in in the Kremlin no one in Moscow cares finally pregosian took matters into his own hands Putin in crisis after an armed Mutiny and a march on Moscow pregosian threatens to move on to Moscow yes to Moscow the threat Vladimir Putin had always feared and arrived to the stunning Revolt by Russian mercenaries raising new questions about Vladimir Putin's hold on power they were both on a collision course progression is vowing to destroy everything put in his forces way they attempt to March back to Moscow they were both headed for conflict in angry Vladimir Putin vowing to crush the Rebellion calling it treason and a stab in the back both were determined to smash the other a Fighters was noticed near lipetsk now just 220 miles from Moscow it's the monster Vladimir Putin himself Unleashed the monster first of all being the invasion of Ukraine in the first place without which this wouldn't have happened and also the monster being pregocian and the Wagner Group which really would not exist if it had not been for the patronage of Vladimir Putin what the Kremlin calls terrorist methods blackmail and what is clearly a mutiny but then to everyone's surprise it was over dramatic breaking news in a quite extraordinary Day New Guinea pig ocean has ordered his mercenaries to turn around and return to their bases just 120 miles from Moscow they turned back after a mysterious deal was reached the Revolt ends with Putin and the Belarusian president announcing that they worked at a compromise and that pragosian has agreed to essentially withdraw his troops Russian President Vladimir Putin attempting damage control after the biggest ever threat to his 24-year rule Putin did look weak in the face of this challenge just three days ago Putin looked unassailable the strong man with a lying grip on power this morning he looks vulnerable he was afraid I think to kill pregosian or to to do it publicly he was afraid to have those mercenaries killed or jailed and that's a sign of weakness if you're an autocrat and also bringing new questions is Vladimir Putin's iron grip on power in Peril as pregosian left rostov's military headquarters a crowd gathered this man was a mutineer he was the leader of a mutiny against the government of Russia and he's getting cheered in rostov to be worrisome to Putin [Music] enormous damage has been done to Putin's authority to His Image as somebody ruthlessly in control of all the levers of power in Russia Putin has been revealed to be indecisive to not be in control and to be vulnerable to Future challenges like the one pagosian post [Music] to the extent that he spent 23 years building up this idea that Russia was a real power again it had to be respected it had to be treated with deference that's all gone nobody thinks that Russia is a great power now they think it's an outlaw I think that all the things he spent these last 23 years trying to accomplish everything he spent these 23 years trying to build is just gone Vladimir Putin had survived the unprecedented mutiny but the danger was just beginning [Music] his political future for the first time in 23 years many questions still remain about Vladimir Putin's grip on power about the future of the war in Ukraine the ramifications are far from over [Music] for more on this and other Frontline programs visit our website at pbs.org Frontline [Music] front lines Putin's crisis is available on Amazon Prime video thank you [Music]

Channel: FRONTLINE PBS | Official

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Id: ZW7syrEnJWk

Length: 53min 16sec (3196 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 11 2023