Putin came from the slums of Leningrad where he from the start made himself prominent as a thug among street gang fighters. Gradually he advanced into politics, where the KGB took care of him and educated him into a a cool ruthless opportunist using any means to further his career. As such he got into the favours of the decaying alcoholised Boris Yeltsin, who made him his successor for the presidency of Russia. This position he has maintained by consistently persecuting opponents and critics, even abroad, like the notorious Litvinenko case in Britain, a British citizen murdered by Putin's agents. This was followed by other political murders of truth-sayers, the most prominent being the journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow, assassinated at home on Putin's birthday, like a demonstration of Putin's power. He has also been accused of bringing Donald Trump to power in America, but like all allegations of his crimes, Putin has denied them all, being safe in his absolute position and having made sure to obliterate any possible evidence. What we are dealing with here is a world mafia syndicate of the richest people in the world in the highest positions of power, like Putin, Trump, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, the Iran jihad autocracy, the Chinese communist party, Kim Jong Un and others. This documentary gives a comprehensive view and insight into Putin's career, pointing out the fact that he is nothing but a street gangster thug that as a professional opportunist has managed to replace a former regime of ruthless gangsters with another more subtle gangster syndicate with himself as supreme mafia boss.
6 Reviews
intresting story
I-am-idiot19 October 2020
Better than expected
Anti-Fascist9 August 2020
I am very familiar with the modern history of Russia, and this miniseries didn't really bring anything new to the table for me. But it summarized pretty nicely the Putin's presidency, and I was in fact positively surprised.
However, certain major events were totally omitted from the series, such as the war in Georgia in 2008, the Sochi doping scandal, the Moscow theatre hostage crisis of 2002, the Beslan school siege of 2004, and the earlier constitution change in 2012 that prolonged the presidential terms from 4 years to 6 years.
And more effort could've been put on investigating the financial arrangements between Putin and his oligarch friends, and how they have been investing their wealth in the UK and elsewhere in the west...
Anyway, any movie or series that is critical of Putin earns a pretty high score by default. The world needs much more productions like this.
However, certain major events were totally omitted from the series, such as the war in Georgia in 2008, the Sochi doping scandal, the Moscow theatre hostage crisis of 2002, the Beslan school siege of 2004, and the earlier constitution change in 2012 that prolonged the presidential terms from 4 years to 6 years.
And more effort could've been put on investigating the financial arrangements between Putin and his oligarch friends, and how they have been investing their wealth in the UK and elsewhere in the west...
Anyway, any movie or series that is critical of Putin earns a pretty high score by default. The world needs much more productions like this.
Scum Dictator Admired by Scum Trump*
leftbanker-18 October 2021
Vladimir Putin is nothing less than a fascist dictator and the idol of Trump who would have loved nothing more than to have the freedom to murder political opponents and journalists reporting the truth about him. America avoided a fascist coup by the simple fact that Trump is a complete moron and unable to think beyond a single move on the checker board while Putin can play chess at a junior level.
*If you think that calling an ex-U. S. President "scum" is disrespectful, I would have agreed with you...right up until Scum Trump denied Biden's victory in the 2020 election and then urged his moronic followers to storm the Capitol in what he hoped would be a fascist coup d'état. Trump deserves no respect.
*If you think that calling an ex-U. S. President "scum" is disrespectful, I would have agreed with you...right up until Scum Trump denied Biden's victory in the 2020 election and then urged his moronic followers to storm the Capitol in what he hoped would be a fascist coup d'état. Trump deserves no respect.
Once a bully and a thug...
csteddy28 July 2020
Decent Putin primer
ecopolst30 July 2020
Putin: A Russian Spy Story is a decent documentary on Vladimir Putin's political life from about 1995 to 2018.
Two hours of watching this three episode documentary gives the viewer a chance to follow Putin's reasonably well documented rise to power and what he does with that power. A clear UK focus shines through as events affecting UK get more attention than objectively deserved. This also leads to a few Russian opposition figures getting more coverage than natural in a documentary on Putin.
There are many interviews with friends and foes of Putin. A fair amount of old pictures and interviews of Putin himself have been dug up. There is also a tiny bit of analysis from independent Russia experts
The documentary is still not dated as of 2021. Despite the odd flaw it gives the insight into Vladimir Putin and his political ideas and abilities needed for the common person somewhat into poliitcs. Putin: A Russian Spy Story is an OK way to spend two hours if you are interested in modern Russia and don't know the details about Vladimir Putin.
Two hours of watching this three episode documentary gives the viewer a chance to follow Putin's reasonably well documented rise to power and what he does with that power. A clear UK focus shines through as events affecting UK get more attention than objectively deserved. This also leads to a few Russian opposition figures getting more coverage than natural in a documentary on Putin.
There are many interviews with friends and foes of Putin. A fair amount of old pictures and interviews of Putin himself have been dug up. There is also a tiny bit of analysis from independent Russia experts
The documentary is still not dated as of 2021. Despite the odd flaw it gives the insight into Vladimir Putin and his political ideas and abilities needed for the common person somewhat into poliitcs. Putin: A Russian Spy Story is an OK way to spend two hours if you are interested in modern Russia and don't know the details about Vladimir Putin.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
