All language subtitles for Putin and the Presidents (full documentary) - FRONTLINE [DownSub.com]

>> A stunning retreat
by Russia overnight...

>> Humiliating losses on the
battlefields of Kharkiv...

>> Frankly, it's a sign that
they are struggling badly

on the Russian side.

>> NARRATOR: At St. George
Hall in the Kremlin,

in the midst of a crisis...

>> Russian losses are beginning

to spark criticism of the
Russian leader.

>> NARRATOR: ...Russian
officials packed the room.

They knew the war in Ukraine
was going badly.

>> ...calling his actions
"detrimental to Russia's

and its citizens' future."

>> NARRATOR: Their leader
was at a critical juncture.

>> (speaking Russian)

(fanfare playing,
audience applauding)

>> NARRATOR: Vladimir Putin
would make it

clear what his intentions were

and who the enemy really was.

>> (speaking Russian):

>> Vladimir Putin needs to
somehow

justify the horrific sacrifices
that Russians are making

on his orders 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.

>> (speaking Russian):

>> 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.

It's a dangerous time.

>> NARRATOR: It was a dramatic
escalation,

Putin leaving no doubt

his war was against the United
States and the West.

>> (chanting in Russian):

>> NARRATOR: 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
brink.

>> NARRATOR: 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.

>> NARRATOR: ...during the
presidency of Ronald Reagan.

>> ...Mr. Ronald Reagan.
(crowd cheering)

>> Mr. Gorbachev,

tear down this wall.

(crowd cheering)

>> NARRATOR: 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 enemy,

or at least, certainly, all of
the reasons

in which there would be to be
suspicious about the West.

>> From ABC...

>> NARRATOR: For Lieutenant
Colonel Putin,

the collapse of the Soviet
Union,

spurred on by an American
president,

was a defining moment.

>> ...in the thousands,

they are here in the tens of
thousands.

>> Here the feeling is

the end of the Cold War is at
hand.

>> 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
d'être.

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...

>> NARRATOR: 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.

(fanfare playing)

>> Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

>> In Moscow today,

an unprecedented peaceful
passing of power...

>> (speaking Russian)

>> NARRATOR: As he ascended
to the presidency,

Vladimir Putin was determined

to restore Russian strength
and empire.

>> Russians are looking for a
strong hand

to lead their country.

Vladimir Putin, it appears,
is their man.

>> He came to see
himself as almost ordained

to lead Russia at this moment

and to lead Russia back to, to
greatness.

>> (speaking Russian)

>> 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 arrived in
Moscow

carrying a message of
cooperation.

>> NARRATOR: As president,
Putin carried

his simmering grievance with the
United States

into his first meeting with
President Bill Clinton.

>> Arriving at the Kremlin

for their first presidential
encounter, both leaders want...

>> President Clinton wanted to
get a little bit of a feel.

He 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 era...

>> NARRATOR: Putin 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's
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.

He 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.

>> NARRATOR: Later that day,

Clinton received a warmer
reception from Putin's mentor,

Boris Yeltsin.

And he issued a warning about
the new Russian president.

>> Bill Clinton looked hard into
Yeltsin's eyes and said,

"I'm a little bit concerned
about this young man

"that you have turned over the
presidency to.

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.

>> ...Vladimir Vladimirovich
Putin.

>> NARRATOR: 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.

>> NARRATOR: But from the start,

Clinton's private fears about
Putin were being realized.

>> (echoing): Ura!

(crowd applauding)

("State Anthem of the Russian
Federation" begins)

(singing in Russian)

>> 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 reconsolidating 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.

>> NARRATOR: It was the start of
a new presidency in the U.S.

>> ...electoral votes will
go to George W. Bush,

the governor of Texas.

>> NARRATOR: And the winner had
expressed optimism

about being able
to get along with Putin.

>> ...big Texas howdy to the new
president of the United States.

>> I look forward to working
with, you know, Mr. Putin,

and explaining my point of view,

and my attitude about
the post-Cold War era.

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..."

>> 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.

>> NARRATOR: 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.

In the KGB, you were taught
to think for yourself.

So actually, that struck us as
an opportunity.

I, 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...

>> NARRATOR: The two presidents
would size each other up...

>> A meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin...

>> NARRATOR: ...at a summit

in the former communist state of
Slovenia.

>> This is more about the
president and Putin

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.

>> NARRATOR: 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 he 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 looked the man in the eye.

I found him to be very
straightforward.

I was able to, uh,
get a sense of his soul.

He's a man deeply committed to
his country

and 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 go, "Uh-oh."

And Condi does her version of
not comfortable.

She just reacts,
just for a second.

>> NARRATOR: For the moment,

Putin had won over
the American president.

>> He was trained not to reveal

his, so to say, soul,
if he has any.

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.

And United States,

as the leader of the West,
is the enemy number one.

>> The countdown to war,
it appears, is now underway.

>> NARRATOR: And soon,

more fuel for
Putin's grievance with the U.S.

>> ...U.S.-led attack on Iraq...

>> NARRATOR: The Iraq War.

>> America at war--
tonight, shock and awe.

>> NARRATOR: 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

and a very significant moment of
rupture

in the relationship between
Putin

and President Bush.

>> NARRATOR: For Putin, echoes
of the final days

of the Soviet Union.

>> The tyrant has fallen
and Iraq is free.

And everywhere that freedom
stirs,

let 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.

(audience applauding)

>> NARRATOR: 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 Doctrine is
spreading freedom

around the world...

>> NARRATOR: Under Bush,
that threat was extending

to Putin's own backyard.

>> ...possibility around the
world to extend freedom...

>> NARRATOR: Popular uprisings
in 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.

>> NARRATOR: Putin had seen
enough.

He would fight back.

>> Russian President Vladimir
Putin

is speaking at an international
conference in Germany...

>> NARRATOR: He'd do it in
Munich, Germany,

issuing a warning to America
and the world.

>> (speaking German)

>> 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, he just lashes out,

and he lists all these
resentments.

>> (speaking Russian):

>> My head snapped.

It was so searing and blunt,

and I, I felt...

This was the real guy.

>> (speaking Russian):

>> Putin echoed Cold War
rhetoric

by accusing the U.S. of making
the world unsafe.

>> Premier Vladimir Putin left
no doubt

who he sees as 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

in Estonia in 2007.

We were starting to see steps
taken

that represented a Russian
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 today...

>> It's been six
years since the establishment

of the NATO-Russia Council...

>> NARRATOR: But Bush ignored
Putin's warning.

>> The decisions taken by this
summit

will affect the future
of the alliance.

>> NARRATOR: Ratcheting up the
conflict--

encouraging Georgia and
Ukraine,

two former Soviet republics,
to join NATO.

>> I must make clear that NATO
welcomes the aspirations

of Georgia and Ukraine for their
membership in NATO.

(people calling out)

>> 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.

>> NARRATOR: Putin 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.

>> NARRATOR: In a meeting later,
Putin was adamant to Bush.

Georgia and especially Ukraine

were in his sphere of influence.

>> He leaned over and said,
"Ukraine is not a real country."

He 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
wanted to see it,

the direction
that President Putin was going.

>> NARRATOR: 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 bull.

It was extremely provocative for
Russia.

It provoked Russia and made
Russia angry.

>> NARRATOR: Just four months
later, Putin attacked Georgia.

>> Russian troops backed
by tanks and armored vehicles...

>> The Russians were prepared,

and perhaps even eager,
for a conflict with Georgia.

>> There appears to be little
to stop the troops...

>> And part of that was
motivated by,

"We're going to show the
Georgians

that getting too
close to NATO has a price."

>> Russian planes again
bombing...

>> NARRATOR: Putin seized and
held nearly 5,000 square miles

of Georgian territory.

>> And another town is burning,
more civilians

have been killed...

>> From Putin's point of view,

this wasn't just about Georgia.

>> A fierce battle broke
out today on the fringe...

>> This was about Ukraine,
this was about

what he saw to be the West's
interest

in, you know,

eventual expansion of NATO,
potentially, to include

Ukraine and Georgia.

>> Some of those Georgian
soldiers were saying,

"Where is the United States?"

>> NARRATOR: 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, and 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.

>> NARRATOR: The president who
had looked into Putin's soul

had 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,

in President Bush's mind, could
do

to put Putin back on that
course.

>> NARRATOR: 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.

One message that
Putin 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 will
let him get away with it.

That's a terrible message,

and I think it is the prologue
for the Ukraine disaster.

>> All Americans can celebrate,
red or blue, Black or White...

>> ...first African American
president

of the United States...

>> President Obama is
set to land in Russia...

>> NARRATOR: Less than a year
later,

Vladimir Putin would meet
newly elected

Barack Obama face to face.

>> President Obama has a
big meeting ahead...

>> NARRATOR: 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 dacha, you know, just
outside Moscow.

They're much
different personalities.

President Obama's initial
question,

about ten seconds, led to a
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 equal.

>> Clearly the relationship
is not quite as warm as maybe

he has with other...

>> NARRATOR: Leaving Russia,

the new president had another
way to deal

with the problem of Vladimir
Putin.

>> Putin gave him an hourlong
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.

>> NARRATOR: 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."

>> NARRATOR: A senator over four
decades

and chair of the Foreign
Relations Committee,

Biden, like Putin, had been
shaped by the Cold War.

>> Speaking for myself, I don't
trust the Soviets.

I don't trust them to do
anything

short of what they can get away
with.

>> The 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 caution against being
excessively optimistic

about Mr. Putin and his
intentions.

>> NARRATOR: Now as vice
president,

Biden traveled to Moscow
to meet with Putin.

The two men smiled for the
cameras,

but later, things were
different.

Putin argumentative.

Biden wary.

>> It's a seminal meeting in
part

because of the mythology
that is created out of it.

It's kind of like a marker
being put down, I think,

between two men who ultimately
would find themselves

in this great clash that we're
in today.

>> NARRATOR: 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.

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."

>> NARRATOR: And Biden wasn't
done.

In front of students,

he urged the Russian people
to stand up to Putin's regime.

So, I urge all you students
here,

don't compromise on the
basic elements of democracy.

You need not make that Faustian
bargain.

>> For Putin to see an
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.

>> NARRATOR:
And later that year,

protesters right outside
the Kremlin.

It looked like what Biden
had been calling for.

>> Tens of thousands
came out on the streets

to tell Vladimir Putin
they've had enough.

>> Those hundreds of thousands
of people who were marching

in the streets of Moscow
shouting, "Down with Putin"...

>> (shouting in Russian)

>> For him, it was like,
it could, it couldn't be so.

It couldn't happen.

>> (shouting in Russian)

>> He was thrown by
the protests.

He was taken aback by
the passion of the opposition,

and had to look for a place
to point the finger.

He pointed it at us.

>> NARRATOR: Putin cracked down.

>> The Russian police
have arrested about 200...

>> The arrests appear to be part

of a broad and deliberate
crackdown.

>> ...questions about justice
in Vladimir Putin's Russia...

>> (speaking Russian)

>> The most repressive
Russian regime to...

>> NARRATOR: Many of Putin's
opponents inside Russia

fled the country.

>> ...forced into exile
into England after...

>> ...opponent saying, "I'm
scared

that Putin will kill me..."

>> NARRATOR:
Others died mysterious deaths.

>> ...Putin aide discovered dead
in a D.C. hotel room...

>> NARRATOR: One who nearly died
twice from poisoning

was Vladimir Kara-Murza.

>> Bad things often happen to...

>> 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, some in
strange and unexplained deaths,

others in just straight-out
assassinations.

>> NARRATOR: Putin extended
his offensive beyond Russia.

>> Ukraine is stuck very much
in the middle.

>> NARRATOR: In the Ukrainian
territory of Crimea.

>> ...armed Russian troops
arrived in the Crimea region.

>> NARRATOR: His 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 and their weapons,

professional military.

Wearing Russian-style combat
uniforms, but no insignia.

>> Russian forces in the
thousands seizing territory...

>> That invasion, sending these
little green men...

>> More Russian soldiers have
reportedly arrived in Crimea.

>> ...sending these Russian
soldiers without insignia

into a neighboring country,

into Crimea, was such a shock.

This hadn't happened since
World War II.

>> ...occupying sovereign
territory

that belongs to Ukraine.

>> NARRATOR: He seized Crimea

and said it was now
part of Russia.

And 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...

>> NARRATOR: 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.

>> Frightened residents have
been warned to stay indoors.

>> He felt emboldened,
and felt he had been able to

make his move in Georgia,

and nobody tried to do anything
about it.

>> 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
mourning,

with questions of what's next
for the country.

>> The West is going to
complain about it,

but they're not really going to
do anything to stop it.

>> ...40 children perished
as the result...

>> ...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.

>> NARRATOR: 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 that...

>> NARRATOR: 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.

>> NARRATOR:
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.

>> NARRATOR:
C.I.A. director John Brennan

also wanted to get tough.

>> Bullies try 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.

>> NARRATOR: 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 Obama wouldn't do it.

>> NARRATOR: 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 ear

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."

♪ ♪

>> 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 that 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.

>> The 2016 presidential race
is underway.

>> NARRATOR: Having tested
the United States' resolve,

Putin would go even further.

>> ...candidates are once
again...

>> NARRATOR: Striking at the
heart of American democracy.

>> ...candidates
make a final push to shore up...

>> NARRATOR: Interfering in the
2016 presidential election.

>> There's two goals there--
discredit our election

and also to discredit
the presidency,

to neutralize the United States,
an adversary,

to really tarnish
U.S. leadership as, you know,

the leader of
the democratic world,

the free world, the West.

>> NARRATOR: 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

were the variety and intensity
of the techniques

that they employed.

>> NARRATOR: 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.

>> President Putin's
view of Trump

was a penchant for
authoritarianism,

a 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?

It sort of sounds like
he's one of us.

(chuckles)

>> Well, Donald Trump pulled off

one of the biggest political
upsets in American...

>> NARRATOR: On Election Night,
a victory for Trump

and for Putin.

>> In a stunning upset,
Donald Trump is elected

the 45th president...

>> Donald Trump shocking
the nation and the world.

>> President Putin called me up
very nicely to congratulate me

on the win of the election.

>> From Putin'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
Helsinki summit

with President Vladimir Putin...

>> NARRATOR:
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 as
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.

>> We get the first images
of President Trump

and Vladimir Putin sitting down
next to each other.

And President Trump 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 is kind of

slumped in his chair,
not smiling,

doesn't look like he's having
a good time.

>> Getting along with Russia is
a good thing, not a bad thing.

>> NARRATOR:
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.

>> NARRATOR:
The cameras were sent away.

For two hours, they met
privately without any aides.

>> Putin didn't need the
KGB psychological profilers

to hand him a dossier on how to
play Donald Trump.

He was able to read Trump.

He had a very good understanding
of how to flatter him.

He knew how to play Trump
like a violin.

>> NARRATOR: 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 that 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...

>> ...a disgraceful play by the
president of the United States

as he stood by Vladimir Putin.

>> NARRATOR:
Back in Washington...

>> Concern continues to grow
about what they said

to each other behind
closed doors.

>> NARRATOR: ...they were
calling it a bromance.

>> There's been some sort of
bromance.

>> A Putin-Trump bromance.

>> 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.

>> NARRATOR: And Trump was
echoing Putin's talking points

on the key battleground
of Ukraine.

>> The president told leaders
that "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
there 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, 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 a smackdown
of NATO.

(chuckling): 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.

>> NARRATOR: But Trump did not
get a second term.

>> The Fox News Decision Desk
can now project

that former Vice President
Joe Biden...

>> NARRATOR:
And with a new president...

>> ...President-elect
Joseph Robinette Biden...

>> Frankly,
we did win this election.

We did win this election.
(crowd cheers and applauds)

>> NARRATOR: ...an escalation
of the chaos in America

that Putin helped foment.

>> The president showing no
signs that he's prepared

to concede this election...

>> NARRATOR: Division.
>> This is a contested election.

Many people are nervous.

>> NARRATOR: Violence.

>> (shouting)

>> NARRATOR: Insurrection.

>> (chanting)

>> 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 wrapping,
you know, the package.

January 6,
apart from anything else,

leads directly to the war
in Ukraine.

Because it looks like America
is not just

morally discredited,
it looks like America is weak.

>> Historic meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin...

>> NARRATOR: Soon, in Geneva,

Vladimir Putin faced
his old nemesis...

>> President Biden and
Vladimir Putin are facing...

>> NARRATOR: ...now the
president of the United States.

>> For neither of them is this
their first rodeo.

>> Tensions seem to be
a bit high.

>> 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 months 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 been 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 and them sitting

in that room together,
and it's, it's icy.

I mean, these are two people
who do not like each other.

>> NARRATOR: Antony 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 interests.

>> NARRATOR:
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.

(camera shutters clicking)

>> 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.

>> (speaking Russian)

>> NARRATOR: Putin began laying
the groundwork

for the invasion of Ukraine.

>> And 100,000 Russian troops

near Ukraine's border are
fueling fears of a Russian...

>> Russia's forces start
moving back

toward Ukraine's borders.

>> ...heavy military equipment,
clearly taking

an aggressive posture.

>> Not just the eastern border,
but no, the...

All three borders.

>> Russian troops have been
surrounding Ukraine

for days now.

>> The Ukraine border
with Belarus,

Ukraine border with Russia,

Ukraine border with
occupied Crimea.

>> Satellite images show
an increase in Russian forces

on the Ukraine border...

>> NARRATOR:
At the White House...

>> Tensions nearing a
tipping point...

>> NARRATOR: ...an emergency
presidential briefing--

secret information about
Putin's plans.

>> And it was in that moment

when the combination of seeing
the forces deployed

and then having, from
the information we'd gotten,

real visibility on what Russia
was actually thinking

and what they were planning,
that's when we really saw

the storm rising and heading
in Ukraine's direction.

>> NARRATOR: Once again,
an American president was facing

a critical decision about
how to deal with Putin.

>> If Russia is allowed
to get away with 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.

>> NARRATOR: In a
video conference with Putin,

Biden warned him to pull back
from the brink.

>> He's 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."

♪ ♪

>> NARRATOR: Putin's response
was familiar: denial.

>> They're denying.

They're denying any imminent
aggression against Ukraine.

They're 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.

>> NARRATOR: Putin ignored Biden

and pushed forward with
the invasion.

>> Vladimir Putin understands

the Western ability to make
decisive 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.

>> NARRATOR: For two decades,
Vladimir Putin

had defied American presidents.

Invading Georgia...

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.

>> NARRATOR: 30 years after
the fall of the Soviet Union,

Vladimir Putin was now pursuing
an all-out war

to rebuild the Russian empire.
(air raid siren blaring)

>> (speaking Russian):

(explosions pounding
in distance)

>> ...apocalyptic scenes
on the outskirts

of the capital city...

>> A nonstop onslaught over
the last 24 hours,

with massive casualties...

>> Tens of thousands of
civilians trapped in cities

under near-constant
Russian shellfire.

>> Putin wants Ukraine.

He wants this
pan-Slavic superstate

with Moscow as the capital.

He wants Ukraine.

He doesn't think it's
a real country.

I don't know how you compromise
with somebody

who just wants Ukraine.

That's not something
you could build a bridge across.

>> Ukraine is calling this
a full-scale invasion...

>> The biggest war in Europe
since World War II.

>> The world is waiting
to see just how far

Putin's 190,000 troops will
go into the country of Ukraine.

Will he stop?

>> NARRATOR: With the battle
for Ukraine underway,

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.

>> The U.S. and NATO allies

are working quickly
to arm Ukraine.

>> Russian forces caught
off guard,

apparently in disarray.

>> 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.

>> Ukraine's resolve
has shocked the world

and frustrated the Russians.

>> Putin is facing the
embarrassment of this offensive

not necessarily being pulled off
as smoothly...

>> NARRATOR: 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.

>> NARRATOR:
Mobilizing more troops.

>> President Putin suddenly
announcing

he would call up 300,000 men
for military service.

>> NARRATOR:
Waging economic warfare.

>> No gas, no oil--
nothing, he said,

over a long winter.

>> NARRATOR: 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.

It's evidence that
unfortunately, tragically,

this is likely to continue
for some time.

>> NARRATOR: Vladimir Putin,
the former KGB agent,

hellbent on rebuilding
the Russian empire,

now a dangerous pariah
on the world stage,

staring down yet another
American president

to see how far he will go.

>> Putin 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 war...

>> Will Ukraine ultimately
be left to fight this war

on its own?