The Putin Interviews (2017) s01e02 Episode Script

1 I have concluded the ABM Treaty hinders our government's ability to develop ways to protect our people from future terrorists or rogue state missile attacks.
Today I have given formal notice to Russia that the United States of America is withdrawing from this almost 30-year-old treaty.
On what basis? The system we are contemplating would not undermine Russia's deterrent or the principles of mutual deterrence and strategic stability.
The missile defense capabilities we are developing are not designed to defend against Russia, just as the new NATO we are building is not designed to defend against Russia.
The Cold War is over.
Russia is not our enemy.
- Okay, so no rules.
- New rules.
American rules.
Oh, well, this is actually what Reagan and Gorbachev came so close to achieving in 1986.
At one point, they wanted to go all the way Complete disarmament.
Right, right.
So stop referring to them as partners, our partners.
You've said that too much.
You should wish me a happy Fourth of July, being that the, uh an American.
It's our independence day, so to speak.
So, uh, in a, in a hot war, is the US dominant? Yes or no? No.
It would, it would be a case of, uh, Russia surviving it? Even with the missile shields? This was originally proposed, you know, by John Kennedy, with Nikita Khrushchev in 1963.
- I know.
- It was a crazy time.
Uh Stanley Kubrick, a filmmaker I much admire, made a wonderful film called Dr.
Strangelove How I Learned to Love the Bomb.
Has he seen it? - No.
- Ah, you must see it.
Really, it's well worth it.
It's a classic.
Because the Mr.
Kennedy was dealing with the military system that had been growing and growing since World War II, and the generals, at that point, knew that the Soviet Union did not have the capacity to match them.
And many of them said, this is the time to hit the Soviet Union.
So there was a desire for a unilateral strike against Russia.
Kennedy said, you're crazy, and then as, as other situations developed in Berlin and Cuba, it became more dangerous.
Well, the United States has become more right wing since the Ronald Reagan era, and now we have Hillary Clinton on the left Supposed left, she's the Democratic challenger, probably will be Making very aggressive statements also against, uh, about Ukraine and comparing Mr.
Putin to, uh, Hitler.
The United States has never really had a war on its own homeland - That's true.
- And to many people, who are very important people, war is somewhat of a game.
I fear that still in the United States.
I fear the neo The neoconservative element as being so hungry to make their point, to win their case, that it's dangerous.
Uh, hello, D hello, Dimitri.
Listen, uh, I can't hear too well.
Do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little? Oh, oh, that's much better.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now then, Dimitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb.
The bomb, Dimitri.
The hydrogen bomb.
Well, now, what happened is, uh, one of our base commanders, he had a sort of Well, he went a little funny in the head, you know, just a little funny.
And, uh, he went and did a silly thing.
Well, I'll tell you what he did.
He ordered his planes to attack your country.
Yes, but, uh, the whole point of the doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret.
Why didn't you tell the world, eh? It was to be announced at the Party Congress on Monday.
As you know, the premier loves surprises.
Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Woo-woo-ha! Woo, woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! We'll meet again Don't know where, don't know when A lot of this footage was unknown at that time.
It was, you know, revealed in this movie.
Thank you for indulging me.
I thought the, uh, the Russian premier was very good.
He was Dimitri.
The concept of nuclear winter, you know, the end of the world, that was the, uh, you know, the hydrogen bomb.
The scientists, they talked about it in right after the war, and, uh, Truman went ahead anyway.
I believe that.
- At some point.
- Thank you very much.
Bye.
Okay.
Thank you so much.
There you go.
Bye-bye.
You look colorful.
You look like Mighty Mouse.
No, that's cool.
Very nice.
Yeah, we'll be, uh, on the ice, looking at you.
Any advice? But he's told all the other hockey players that he's gonna score two goals or one? Do they check him as hard as they want? You started playing hockey at 40? Three years ago.
Really? At age 50? That's pretty cool.
Oh, at age 60.
I'm sorry.
I keep thinking you're 53, instead you're 63.
You know, I couldn't skate before that.
I know.
I heard that.
You fell down one time.
You were tired.
Twice.
Tired in the legs, no? At your age? Come on.
If he gets checked, I mean, he could easily break a bone, right? What if, uh, one of the men on either team admitted In Russia that he was gay? Could he keep it quiet? Well, you have the propaganda law.
Yeah.
There's a tradition, though Whatever he says, there's a tradition There is a macho tradition in Russia, a pretty strong one.
No, that's different.
Is that true in the military as well? - No restriction in the military? - No prohibition.
I mean, if you're taking a shower in a submarine with a man and you know he's gay, then do they have a problem with that? Could I just point out, even in a society where there's some malfunction, there will be many orphans, and some of those orphans could be adopted by same-sex couples? Gay people across Russia say there's been a surge of intolerance, discrimination and violence, and it started around the time Russia's parliament passed what's become known as the "gay propaganda law.
" Moscow is not Sodom.
We are here to support normal people that want to create families.
I hear you work out almost every day or five times a week? - Seven days? No.
- Yes.
That's too much.
Swim first, then gym? Right.
Then relax the muscles.
Do you think when you swim? Do you get ideas from the unconscious? Do you find it to be meditative? This is for badminton or what? Judo master, yeah.
- Very much.
Yeah.
- Yes? Is good? So all your, uh, all your energy, your aggressive energy comes out in judo in the morning, or exercise? Does he have a trainer? - Well, I used to have one.
- Yeah.
And I think I'm a master.
Probably helps you a lot.
Yeah.
I have to raise some concerns that are raised by Foreign Affairs magazine, which I consider like the official government viewpoint.
This is the Council for Foreign Relations, they publish this, and they have all these experts who come in and they write on their fields in Russia.
Some of these questions are raised by them.
Yeah Putin's Russia, down That's, that's their point of view, yeah.
I understand.
This is their This is an official point of view, and therefore, it has it is listened to in Washington, and this is what he has to deal with.
I'm not gonna argue with that.
Why did you after 2001 Why did you acquiesce in the US military encroachment across Central Asia? He said that they were He said that they were not gonna stay forever? When was the wool pulled from his eyes? No, I mean, by 2007 in Munich, he's casting another eye on this relationship, correct? What happens between 2002-03, he has the Iraqi invasion, then he has the Ukrainian orange revolution in 2004.
What is he thinking when the Ukrainian revolution goes down? Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy Ukrainians in the streets today protested against the results of the presidential election, pitting their candidate, the West-leaning challenger Victor Yushchenko, against the pro-Moscow prime minister Victor Yanukovych.
They claim Yanukovych's victory was rigged, with reports of ballot stuffing and voter intimidation.
In Ukraine today, anti-government demonstrators finally had something to celebrate.
The parliament voted to disband the government of the candidate who has been declared the winner of the disputed presidential election.
Opposition leader Victor Yuschenko joined his supporters in a victory celebration early this morning.
With most votes counted, the Western-leaning economist leads by an insurmountable nine percentage points.
He thanked the hundreds of thousands who had taken to the streets to demand democratic change.
Earlier, his opponent, the Soviet-style prime minister Victor Yanukovych, looked defeated but conceded nothing.
He let that situation go, but then somewhere between 2004 and 2007 in Munich, the ball moves the other way.
Iraq's a disaster, Afghanistan's been a disaster.
Somewhere in there, he changes his point of view.
I can't wait to visit with, uh, my friend Vladimir Putin in Shanghai to reiterate, once again, that the Cold War is over, it's done with, and that there are new threats that we face.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah.
I know it.
We know that Bush supported the Georgian offensive in 2008.
Georgia is under attack from its neighbor Russia, and the whole day today, they've been bombing Georgia from, uh, numerous war planes, uh, and, uh, specifically targeting civilian population.
The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia.
Columns of Russian tanks and troops rolled into the American-backed former Soviet Republic of Georgia today.
Georgia attacked its then breakaway Republic of South Ossetia, with the aim of bringing it back under Tbilisi's control.
But Georgia is reported to have resumed aerial and artillery bombardment of Tskhinvali, the main town in South Ossetia.
Hundreds of civilians and more than 70 peacekeepers were killed in the following days.
Did you take a gamble? Your government launched its own attempt to retake South Ossetia, um, - just 24 hours ago.
- No, we didn't.
- Was that unwise in retrospect? - We didn't.
We didn't.
At twenty-four a.
m.
last night, Russian APCs started to cross into Georgian territory.
And there we had to act.
There we had to fire back the artillery.
There we had to take measures, because it was a clear-cut case of intervention.
Do you think that, uh, the US, uh, or NATO in any way were supporting Saakashvili to do this? Or told him to it was okay to try? As you know, Putin's a straightforward, pretty tough character when it comes to his interests.
Well, so am I.
And, uh, you know, we've had some, some headbutts diplomatic headbutts.
Most Americans think that Russia is certainly as bad as the US when it comes to, uh, surveillance.
As bad.
That's just an assumption, because of the old KGB.
You're serious about that? I mean, you don't think you're as good technically? I'm not talking about money.
I'm talking about technically.
Yeah, that's different, though.
Is Russia collecting any bulk communication in any form? Everything is sort of targeted? We're just talking about collection, not reading it, just collecting it.
Just using all the telephone system or using all the Internet system.
Fifteen percent of the population is Islamic, in Russia, that's what I'm told, and many of them are in Moscow.
So, then you're telling me that there's no bulk collection on Muslims? Yes.
Have a good night, sir.
Good night to you.
- Spasibo.
- Thank you.
- Oliver's wife.
- Nice to meet you, ma'am.
Very nice to meet you, Mr.
President.
- Your first time in Russia? - Yeah, first time in Russia, yes.
- Not in Saint Petersburg? - No, no, just in Moscow.
You must go now to Saint Petersburg.
- Okay.
Thank you.
- Bye-bye.
Um, I want to talk about Snowden a bit? You said that you're in good with Bush.
And, presumably, you were good with Obama.
You were dealing with him on Syria, you were dealing with him on Iran.
And then, uh, out of the blue, you give asylum to Edward Snowden.
So it's June 2013, you get a call, I suppose.
You hear that Snowden is on the way.
I'm sure you get calls from the US, including Obama.
How do you handle How does the situation devolve, and how do you handle it? He just disappeared? To Cuba, yeah.
And then Ecuador.
Yeah.
While he was in the plane? Why not? Did Obama get on a phone with you? Uh, let me ask you, I'm sure you must have As an ex-KGB, uh, agent You must have hated what Snowden did with every fiber of your being.
Right.
Did you agree with what he did? Did you think the, uh, National Security Agency had gone too far in its eavesdropping? But he should not have whistled? So, he's saying that he should not have whistle-blown, and he should've resigned, in principle, on the principle, like Mr.
Putin did when he resigned from the KGB? Okay.
So, uh, you do agree that the NSA went too far? And how do you feel about Russian intelligence activities in their surveillance? In a scene in the movie, we show where Snowden discusses the heat map.
Okay, so this is data collection for the month of March, worldwide, e-mails and Skype calls.
So France, 70 million.
Germany, 500 million.
Brazil, two billion.
Inside the US, 3.
1 billion e-mails and calls.
That's not including any of the telecom company data.
Okay, so what's the collection of Russia? Russia is 1.
5 billion.
Wait.
So we're collecting twice as much in the US - as we are in Russia? - Yeah, I figured it was a lot - Russia is number two, - US is number one.
Well, you must be spying on the US, because if the US is spying on you, I mean, the Americans are gonna say, I'm sure you're spying on us.
The Snowden affair in terms of the US-Russia relationship seemed to turn, was a big deal for the neoconservative movement in the US.
And the neocons seemed to focus in on Russia once again.
It wasn't too long afterward that the Ukraine issue came up.
I think I would consider Snowden a pawn in a game.
Unless they wanted him here, in Moscow, to embarrass.
Really? Very strong.
Well, one thing is clear.
I think the only place in the world where he's safe is here, in Russia.
And there's a great irony in this.
In the old days, the Russian defectors would go to the United States.
This is a reversal.
- No, I'm not saying that.
- I'm saying it's ironic.
So, uh, this is your dacha.
Your ranch.
Official state residence.
And you come here on weekends? So it's about 25 minutes, 20 minutes from Moscow.
His adoption of orthodox religion back into the Russian system, he's been a proponent of that.
I understand, but there's been a renaissance of Right.
When he comes here, does Where does he, uh, sit if he sits? Are there any chairs? Does he sit down? So how do you? The mass is while you stand.
Aha.
I see.
People don't pray in uh, kneeling.
They pray standing.
This weekend, you have guests coming over for the weekend? The two daughters are married, and they bring their husbands, so you meet your son-in-laws on the weekend? So are you a grandfather yet? Do you like your grandchildren? So, are you a good grandfather? Do you play with them in the garden? Very seldom.
Do you Do the son-in-laws argue with you? They have different opinions? They give you sort of gossip? Daughters too? Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's amazing.
You're a very lucky man.
Two good children.
Yeah.
Good.
So That's a beauty.
What is this, a race horse? Looks like a thoroughbred.
Yeah? He rides them all? Well, if they throw you, these are big horses.
Yeah.
That's dangerous.
I must've fallen off five, six times.
And here's a tiny one.
You have the largest Muslim population in Europe.
You've mentioned in the past the, uh, white, uh, the Russian ethnic population is diminishing.
Right.
You've said several times in the last two days, you know, that Russia is a democracy.
Your critics in America, and there are many, would say that Russia is not a democracy, Russia is a traditional authoritarian state and that, uh, there is, uh The parliament does not decide, does not make major decisions.
There's limited access to, uh, television for the opposition parties, that your party dominates the media.
The registration process is difficult for these opposition parties, that there's a lack of judicial independence, although that's an old problem in Russia, I gather.
These are the criticisms that are often launched at you.
I'd love you to take a chance here and respond to that.
What do you think of these candidates in the US election? No, we want to hear what you think.
This is a personal thing, uh, characters.
- How about Bernie Sanders? - Would you like that? Yeah.
I get it.
But you didn't answer my question about Sanders.
Do you like him? Aah! Yeah.
But you do realize how powerful your answer could be if you said suddenly that you prefer X candidate he would go like that tomorrow.
And if you say you didn't like Trump or something, right? What would happen? He'd win, right? You have that amount of power in the US.
Thank you, sir.
We'll see you tomorrow.
Talk about some heavier stuff.
Thank you, sir.
- Yes.
Thanks very much.
- Bye-bye.