Putin, Russia and the West
| Putin, Russia and the West | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Politics |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Norma Percy |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company | BBC |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Two |
| Release | 19 January – 9 February 2012 |
Putin, Russia and the West is a four-part British documentary television series first shown in January and February 2012 on BBC Two about the relationship between Vladimir Putin's Russia and the West.
The series is produced by Norma Percy, whose previous series include The Death of Yugoslavia, Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace, and Iran and the West.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Taking Control" | 19 January 2012 | |
|
Newly elected President of the United States George W. Bush famously declared in June 2001 that he had looked Putin in the eye and 'got a sense of his soul'. It is revealed that on the same occasion, Putin had given Bush a prophetic warning about Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban. Contributors include: Condoleezza Rice, Sergei Ivanov and Gerhard Schröder. | |||
| 2 | "Democracy Threatens" | 26 January 2012 | |
|
This episode focusses on the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, the subsequent Orange Revolution, and Russia's involvement in it. | |||
| 3 | "War" | 2 February 2012 | |
|
In August 2008, the Russia–Georgia war broke out. This episode discusses the political implications of this conflict for Russia's relationship with the West. | |||
| 4 | "New Start" | 9 February 2012 | |
|
After Barack Obama was elected President of the United States in November 2009, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev attempted to improve Russia–United States relations. | |||
Reception and reaction
United Kingdom
After watching its first episode, the U.K.-based Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky labeled the documentary "unequivocally pro-Putin". Writing on his blog on the Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy website,[1] Bukovsky went on to criticize the documentary as "nothing less than a party political broadcast for Putin and his United Russia party" and "an utter apology for Putin and his regime" before concluding that "if Putin had asked his propagandists to come up with a film they couldn't have done better". Bukovsky also talked of being mystified why BBC licence payers' money was spent on the film, and called for a UK parliamentary inquiry.[2] Furthermore, Bukovsky addressed former Tony Blair's chief-of-staff Jonathan Powell admitting in the BBC documentary that the 'spy rock' found in a Moscow park had indeed been used by British intelligence officers and the subsequent inclusion of the admission in a documentary by Russian journalist Arkady Mamontov as follows: "I don't have any doubt that this is an FSB operation. They deftly used the BBC film to resurrect old propaganda just when mass demonstrations are going on in Moscow before the presidential election".[3]
Russia
Much of the reaction to Putin, Russia and the West documentary in Russia concerned the new revelations by Jonathan Powell about the 'spy rock' episode from 2006.
Andrei Illarionov, Putin's economic adviser turned political opponent, wrote on his LiveJournal blog: "This whole story is like a game in which the public only knows part of the information. And it looks like a game with players other than the Russian authorities".[3][4]
Journalist and popular blogger Anton Nosik went further on his LiveJournal blog, accusing the filmmakers of Russian state money through the PR agency Ketchum Inc., which has a contract to "improve the image of Russia in the West".[3][5]
See also
- Georgia (country)–Russia relations
- Russia–Ukraine relations
- Russia–United States relations
- Russia–United Kingdom relations
References
- ^ Bukovsky, Vladimir (25 January 2012). "О Би-Би-Си, ФСБ и шпионском камне". Ekho Moskvy. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ^ Harding, Luke (1 February 2012). "BBC criticised over 'pro-Putin' documentary". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ^ a b c Davidoff, Victor (30 January 2012). "British Spy Story Tailor-Made for an Election Year". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ^ Illarionov, Andrei (29 January 2012). "Что признала Британия?". LiveJournal. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ^ Nosik, Anton (19 January 2012). "Шпионский камень". LiveJournal. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
External links
 | This article related to a BBC television programme is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |