Putin and the Presidents (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

[Music] a major breakthrough for Ukraine a stunning retreat by Russia of humiliating losses on the battlefields of hard frankly it's a sign that they're struggling badly on the Russian side at St George Hall in the Kremlin in the midst of a crisis Russian losses are beginning to spark criticism of the Russian leader Russian officials packed the room they knew the war in Ukraine was going badly calling his actions quote detrimental to Russia's and its citizens future their leader was at a critical juncture Vladimir Putin would make it clear what his intentions were and who the

enemy really was [Music] Vladimir Putin needs to somehow justify the horrific sacrifices that Russians are making on his orders uh by broadening the aperture uh making this about something bigger into some kind of conflict with the United States with the West with NATO uh take your [Music] pick 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 it was a dramatic escalation Putin leaving no doubt his war was against the United

States and the West it is a war that he has been waging for years confronting five American presidents on a path that has brought Russia and the United States to The [Music] Brick it began during the height of the Cold War there is such change taking place in the Communist world we must take action to assist the campaign for democracy during the presidency of Ronald rean Mr gorbachov teared down this wall at the time Vladimir Putin was a young KGB officer stationed in Germany trained to fight the United States he wasn't a professional politician he

was in fact a professional agent for the KGB so he would have learned uh about the West uh in the frame of the adversary you know the the enemy or at least um certainly um all of the reasons in which they would be to be suspicious about the west from 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 thousand the feeling is the end of the Cold War is at hand imagine what it must have

been like as a young KGB officer your your country disappears or is in the process of Disappearing you're there uh on the front lines the Communist Party obviously will uh will uh lose its uh raison deta and um so it must have been devastating and I think that must have been uh a SE severe blow as we celebrate Christmas this day of peace and hope the humiliation at the hands of the US 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 US uses to cover itself as it cynically pursues its interests across the globe as it pushes its agenda across the globe Vladimir vladimirovich Putin in Moscow today an unprecedented peaceful passing of power as he ascended to the presidency vadir Putin was determined to restore Russian strength and Empire Russians are looking for a strong to lead

the 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 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 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 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 Putin was wary of the American president who had championed the spread of liberalization and democracy in Russia Putin can 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 handwave his first meeting with Clinton he was a cold fish we had no interest in dealing with Clinton Clinton felt uh insulted and rebuffed Putin didn't want to have anything to do with Clinton if Mr Clinton was hoping for a foreign policy Triumph he won't get it here later that day Clinton received a warmer reception from Putin's Mentor former president Boris yelson and he issued a warning about the new Russian President Bill Clinton looked hard into Gilson'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 poed him in his heart and I will never forget the fa the expression that came over yelton I think it really shook yelson a bit but in front of the cameras Clinton walked a careful line not revealing his concerns about Putin if you want to know what my personal assessment is I think he is fully capable of building a prosperous strong Russia while preserving freedom and pluralism and the rule of law it's a big challenge I think he's fully capable

of doing it but from the start Clinton's private fears about Putin were being realized [Music] from the very beginning you saw in Putin somebody who didn't have the values of the West Peace by piece he is dismantling the structures of democracy fragile though they were that have been put in place and reconsolidating control in the Kremlin that's not a westernizers that's not a Democrat small D that's an old fash Russian autocrat that we saw and should have seen from the very beginning literally one of the closest elections in American history it was the start of

a new presidency in the usal v will go to George W bush the governor of Texas the winner had expressed optimism about being able to get along with Putin to the new president of the United States I look forward to uh working with the you know Mr Putin and explaining my point of view and my attitude about the postc Cold War year 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 then we look forward

to working together with Russia Putin saw in President Bush someone that he could do business with he was seeking a new great power relationship that President Bush could be a leader who he could work with to redefine the International System Putin's early moves consolidating power and his past as a KGB agent didn't deter the bush team didn't bother me that Putin was KGB and the KGB you were T to think for yourself so actually that struck us as an opportunity I I don't think anybody was uh looking at this through rose-colored glasses but we thought

at the Strategic level uh there were real opportunities to work together President George Bush has called for a new approach two presidents would size each other up meeting with Russian President Vladimir at a summit in the former communist state of Slovenia this is more about the President Putin developing a personal relationship at George Vladimir Putin as someone who had I'm sure a very thick dossier on President Bush was trying to find his weaknesses appeal to his personality traits Putin went for Bush's strong Christian faith President Putin told President Bush about the time his data 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 uh and had some effect on President Bush question to um President Bush is this a man that Americans can trust I I'll answer the question I looked the man in the eye I found him to be very straightforward I was able to um get a sense of his soul he 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 were go uhoh and coni does her version of not comfortable she just reacts just for a second for the moment Putin had won over the American president he was trained not to reveal his soul to say so if he has any his life experience didn't allow him to reveal any in a him any true he to any representative of the West thank you very good job West

for him remains to be the enemy in United States and as uh the leader of the West is the Enemy Number One the countdown to war it appears is now underway and soon more fuel for Putin's grievance with the US wled attack on Iraq appears irq War America at War tonight shock and regime change at the hands of the Bush Administration the Stars and Stripes have come to town Saddam Hussein's reign of terror is over the Iraq War was absolutely a turning point in a very significant moment of rupture in the relationship between Putin and

President Bush for Putin Echoes are 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 [Applause] fight 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 under Bush that threat was extending to Putin's own backyard responsibility around the world to extend Freedom 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 uh neighboring countries regimes that would be anti-russian [Music] had seen enough he would fight back Russian President Vladimir Putin is speaking at an International Conference in Germany he do it in Munich Germany issuing a warning to America and the world and so he comes to the security conference in Munich and says basically I don't have to men wordss do I I can say what's on my mind and then he he just lashes out and he

lists all the these [Music] resentments my head snaap it was so searing and blunt and I I [Music] felt this was the real guy [Music] Putin echoed Cold War rhetoric by accusing the us of making the world unsafe Premier Vladimir Putin let no doubt who he sees as responsible for the current Global crisis Putin clearly in the 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 Russia assertiveness that we had not seen we didn't not necessarily understand that 2007 is the date where he wanted to stop that Democratic [Music] encroachment the leaders of NATO begin a two-day Summit it's been six years since the establishment of the NATO Russia Council but Bush ignored Putin's warning taken by this Summit will affect the future of the alliance

ratcheting up the conflict encouraging Georgia and Ukraine two former Soviet republics to join NATO we must make clear that NATO welcomed the aspirations of Georgia and Ukraine for their membership in NATO the Russians were obviously very very concerned that the Bush Administration was moving towards allowing both Georgia and Ukraine to get into NATO which was for them a huge Red Line Putin rushed to Bucharest to confront Bush there's this amazing moment Putin shows up early and crashes the dinner with with the NATO members he has basically shown up as the skunk in the garden and

challenging them for for what they've done in a meeting later Putin was adamant to Bush Georgia and especially Ukraine were in his sphere of influence 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 it to see it but if we it was clear if we had wanted to see it the direction that President Putin was going Putin made it clear he wouldn't accept Bush's plan for Georgia and Ukraine it basically waved the red

flag in front of the bull it was extremely provocative for Russia it provoked Russia and made Russia angry just 4 months later Putin attacked Jordan Russian troops backed by tanks and armored the Russians were prepared and perhaps even eager for a conflict with Georgia there appeared to be little to stop the troops in their ATT 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 Georg Putin seized and held nearly 5,000 square mil of Georgian territory another town is burning

more civilians have been killed from Putin's point of view this wasn't just about Georgia fierce battle broke out today of this was about Ukraine this was about what he saw to be the West's interest and you know uh eventual expansion of NATO potentially to include Ukraine and Georgia some of those Georgian soldiers were saying where is the United States as the war broke out Vladimir Putin and George W bush happened to be at the Olympics in Beijing Bush finds himself at the Olympics sitting in the same row as Putin he has his wife Laura 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 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 uh and there was little that the administration uh in President Bush's mind could do to put Putin back on that course nearing the end of his presidency Bush would leave the increasing conflict with Putin to his successor they let Vladimir Putin arguably get away with it in Georgia one message that Putin clearly takes from that in hindsight is that he is able to uh use the military as a tool of uh 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 said to land in Russia less than a year later Vladimir Putin would meet newly elected Barack Obama face to face a big meeting sizing up his third American president Shadows of a cold war will Loom over his Summit I remember their first meeting in July of 2009 at Putin's data you know just outside Moscow they're much different

personalities President Obama's initial question about 10 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 OFA way unfortunately President Putin uh 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's surprising 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 Flatout racism that he somehow thought Obama was not his equal that Obama did not deserve to be treated as his equal clearly the relationship not quite as warm as maybe he has with other world 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 he gave the Putin file to his Vice President Joe Biden Biden sometimes joked that his job as vice president was to do the things that Obama didn't want to do and that does include the subject of Russia and here's Joe Biden who's been talking about Russian issues since 1973 and they said all right Joe Biden this is your issue a senator over four decades and chair of the Foreign Relations Committee Biden like Putin had been shaped by the Cold War speaking for

myself I don't trust the Soviets I don't trust them to do anything uh um 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'd caution against being excessively optimistic about Mr Putin and his intentions 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 self Biden wary russan it's a seminal meeting in part because of the mythology

that is created out of it it's kind of a like a marker being put down I think between two men who ultimately we would find themselves in this great Clash that we in today Biden would write about the moment in his autobiography it was long and contentious Putin was ice cold calm throughout but argumentative from the start to finish well I was there with with then Vice President Biden uh the message that that he's sending is um let's not um we're not here to kid each other we need to speak clearly we need to speak

directly I'm looking into your eyes I told him smiling I don't think you have a soul he looked at me for a second and smiled back we understand each other he said and we did when Biden said that to me I hadn't heard it before and my immediate reaction was this sounds like a movie line is that what really happened and he said absolutely positively that's who this guy is and Biden wasn't done in front of students he urged the Russian people to stand up to Putin's regime the Russian people want to live in a

country that fights corruption so I urge all of you students here don't compromise on the basic elements of democracy you need not make that fyan 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 ferment trouble in my backyard it's aggravating and offensive to Putin to see that kind of action and later that year protesters right outside the Kremlin it looked like what Biden had been calling for tens of thousands came out on the streets to tell

Vladimir Putin they'd had enough there's hundreds of thousands of people who were muching the streets of Moscow shouting down with Putin [Applause] for him it was like it could it couldn't be so it couldn't happen he was thrown by the protest he was taken aback by The Passion of the opposition and had to look for a a place to point the finger he pointed it at us Putin cracked down a Russian police have arrested about 200 the arrests appear to be part of a broad and deliberate crack questions about Justice in Vladimir Putin's Russia most

repressive Russian regime since pu's opponents inside Russia fled the country Exile in England after oppon saying I'm scared that Putin will kill me others died mysterious death a discovered dead in a DC Hotel one who nearly died twice from poisoning was Vladimir kerza 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 scramblin independent journalist uh anti-corruption campaigners opposition activists opposition leaders many people have died summon strange and unexplained deaths others in just straight out assassinations Putin extended

his offensive Beyond Russia Ukraine is stuck very much in the middle in the Ukrainian territory of Crimea armed Russian troops arrived in the Crimea region his campaign began with the arrival of unmarked Russian soldiers they moved in with our what the ukrainians called Little Green Men and they were clearly by the way they handled themselves in the weapons professional military were in Russian style combat uniforms but no Insignia Russian forces in the Thousand seizing territory that Invasion sending these little green men more Russian soldiers have reportedly arrived in cria send these Russian soldiers without Insignia

into a neighboring country into Crimea was such a shock this hadn't happened since World War II Sovereign territory that belongs to Ukraine he seized Crimea and said it was now part of Russia but he didn't stop there he opened another front in Ukraine's East he used another form of deception which was to send in irregular forces mercenaries who had been recruited Putin claimed there are no Russian forces in this war but in fact he was organizing the whole thing behind the scenes Ukraine crisis looks pretty similar to World War II we are seeing a very

gross violation of international law it was just the start of what would become an unrelenting focus on finally taking Ukraine the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is getting worse and worse frighten residents have been bned to stay Indo he felt emboldened I felt he had been able to make his move in Georgia and nobody tried to do anything about it as an average of 36 people a day were killed in the conf 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 children uh perished as the result of rekindled fears about Russia's intentions in regard to its neighbors a Sovereign Nation is invaded by another country that kind of aggression is not something we should tolerate anywhere in the world at the White House president Obama was struggling to respond how do you deter behavior when the other side is basically denying that it's even taking place when the other side is saying I don't even know what

you're talking about we're not involved President Obama says he's deeply concerned on the phone Obama confronted Putin about his forces in Ukraine Tony blinkin was in the Oval Office for those calls Putin denied their presence and it was striking and flat out lineing about Russia's presence in Ukraine and Obama would say to him Vladimir we're not blind we have eyes we can see and Putin would just move on as if nothing had happened inside the administration Vice President Biden urged a tough response Joe Biden knew that in this case Vladimir Putin was acting like a

playground bully uh and would continue to act like a bully CIA director John Brennan also wanted to get tough bullies tried to intimidate and they keep moving forward unless they get their their nose blooded a little bit Mr Putin really needed to get his nose bloodied officials at the Pentagon and state department joined with Biden they advocated arming Ukraine with javelin anti-tank missiles they're all saying you should give military assistance to Ukraine you need to step up what you're doing against Russia Putin is getting the wrong message from us and uh Obama OB wouldn't do

it Biden lost instead of weapons Obama went with sanctions from Obama's perspective nobody had elected him to the White House to be focused on Russia and Ukraine and now you have your vice president bending your 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 the and said sorry this is this is just not a top priority for [Music] 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 G 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 having tested the United States resolve Putin would go even further and the candidates are once again faned out striking at the heart of American democracy candidates make a final push to short 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 and adversary to to really tarnish us leadership as you know the leader of the democratic World The Free World the West Putin's attack was aimed at Washington DC 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 Art elections and what characterized this were the variety and intensity of the techniques that they employed misinformation fake users designed to look like Americans trolls supporting

the Kremlin an army of automated bots on Twitter and targeted advertisements on Facebook and Google calculated to hurt Clinton and help her rival Donald Trump President Putin's View view of trump was a pension 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 a he's one of us well Donald Trump pulled off one of the biggest political upset in American 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 he then called from pu's point of you he won not only did the candidate he favored come out on top he has disrupted Americans faith in their own democracy so that we're all turning on each other and we're busy fighting with each other and in his mind hopefully too distracted to pose a threat to him on the world stage president Trump's held sinky sum with President

Vladimir Putin 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 cleare eyed and coldblooded as any foreign leader I have ever seen he knows exactly what he thinks Russia's national interest is and he pursues it unrelenting like we get the first images of President Trump and Vladimir Putin sitting down next to each other and president Trump um is sitting up in his chair looking as though he really really wants to get something out of this meeing

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 I that getting along with Russia is a good thing not a bad thing it was clear that in Trump Putin had a very different American president confronted with Donald Trump this this is like an open field in front of a football player carrying the football thank you than you Trump never understood that never understood what the nature of Putin's game

was I think Putin thought Trump was a fool and easily manipulable the cameras were sent away for 2 hours they met privately without any AIDS Putin didn't need the kgb's 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 afterwards when they face the press a shocking statement President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016 every us 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 uh I have uh President Putin uh 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 is everybody who was in the room with them just saw how masterfully Putin manipulated Trump people working on the case 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 back in Washington concern continues to

grow about what they said to each other behind closed doors were calling it a romance there's been some sort of romance with Putin Trump romance Trump acted in some ways as an arm of Putin's foreign policy in this period of time president Trump on the attack asking what good is NATO once again questioning the entire point to one of America's oldest alliances and Trump was echoing Putin's talking points on the key battleground of Ukraine president told leaders that qu Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world would say Ukraine is a really

corrupt country the president is saying that Crimea probably should belong to Russia because everyone speaks Russian Crimea is Russian everybody there speaks Russian and wants to be part of Russia Donald Trump paring 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 the

smackdown of NATO the humiliation of our best allies I mean the list goes on and on and on and so Putin was probably betting on a second term of President Trump and hoping that he could get his way on many things whether it's NATO whether it's Ukraine without using the instrument of War but Trump did not get a second term the Fox News decision desk can now project that former Vice President Joe Biden and with a new president elect Joseph robinet Biden frankly we did win this election an escalation of the chaos in America that

Putin helped forment the president showing no signs that he's prepared to concede this election Instead This is a contested election many people nervous uh violence Insurrection nobody loved January 6 more than the Russians did Trump gave them four years which was one big gift but January 6 was like the wrapping the beautiful 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 looks like America is weak historic meeting with Russian president soon in Geneva Vladimir Putin faced his

old Nemesis and Vlad now the president of the United States for neither of them is this their first rodeo the 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 people are so divided just months earlier they'd had an attack on the capital and all he needs to do is hold Biden off long enough so that he can continue to assemble the plan that he's putting together they're Children of the Cold War and they see

each other and their their countries through the Cold War Biden saw Putin for what he is a KGB revanchist who wants to to remake the Russian Empire I just remember the body language of them sitting in that room together and it's it's icy I mean these are two people who do not like each other Anthony blinkin now secretary of state was once again in the room the tone of the conversation was professional it was direct but uh it was very clear where we had our differences president uh Biden made very clear where we saw things

differently and so did uh so did President Putin try to determine where we have mutual interest a top priority for Biden deterring Putin in Ukraine President Biden made clear in the meeting to President Putin our commitment to Ukraine our commitment to its sovereignty to its independence uh to his territorial Integrity they wanted to park Putin but he didn't want to be parked he wanted to be the number one problem of everybody in the whole world but especially the number one priority the number one threat the number one problem that the White House was dealing with

Putin began laying the groundwork for the invasion of Ukraine and 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine's border are fueling fears of a Russian Russian forces start moving back toward Ukraine's border heavy military equipment clearly taking an aggressive posture this weekend not just the eastern border but no the all three borders Russian troops had been surrounding Ukraine for days now Ukraine border with Belarus Ukraine border with Russia Ukraine border with occupied Crimea satellite images show an increase in Russian forces on the Ukraine border at the White House tensions nearing a Tipping Point an emergency presidential briefing secret

information about Putin's plans and it was in that moment when 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 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 stop BS 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 continued to be very high 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 your planning what you're plotting and if you go ahead with what we're seeing you need to understand the cost and consequences uh to Russia will be severe and you need to know that um I mean what I say Putin's response was familiar denial they're denying uh 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 uh information we knew in real time when Putin was saying something that was in contradiction with what was actually happening Putin ignored Biden and pushed forward with the invasion 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 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 um and even if if it was there in the beginning it would not continue 30 years after the fall of the Soviet Union Vladimir Putin was now pursuing an allout War to rebuild the Russian [Music] Empire apocalyptic scenes on the outskirts of the capital city a nonstop Onslaught over the last 24 hours Mass tens of thousands of civilians trapped in cities

under near constant Russian shellfire Putin wants Ukraine he wants this pans 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 can build a bridge across Ukraine is calling this a full scale Invasion 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 with a 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 US and NATO allies are working quickly to arm Ukraine Russian forces caught off guard apparently it 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 as he but even as his army was pushed back Putin was doubling down coming out of Russia where Vladimir Putin is preparing for a longer and more intense war on Ukraine mobilizing more troops President Putin suddenly announcing he would call up 300,000 men for military service waging economic Warfare

no gas no oil nothing he said over a Long Winter raising the Spectre of nuclear Annihilation now threatening to you use nuclear weapons and Putin says I'm not bluffy it's all very concerning because what we saw was Vladimir Putin doubling and tripling down on the aggression with the mobilization uh with the purported annexation of Ukrainian territory with the loose talk about nuclear weapons it's evidenced that unfortunately tragically this is likely to continue for some [Music] time 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 would 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 [Music] for more on this and other Frontline programs visit our website at pbs.org [Music] Frontline front lines Putin and the president is available on Amazon Prime video PA [Music]