All language subtitles for The.Putin.Interviews.Part.1.1080p.WEBRip.x264-MOROSE

(orchestra playing patriotic,
Romantic Russian-themed music)

(music fades)

♪ ♪

Newsman:
The plot thickens
this morning,

with US officials
telling ABC News

that Russian President Putin
was directly involved

in the hacking of the Democratic
National Committee.

Julian Assange:
We have said repeatedly
over the last two months

that our source
is not the Russian government.

Hillary Clinton:
Vladimir Putin himself directed
the covert cyberattacks.

-Bill O'Reilly:
Do you respect Putin?
-Trump: I do respect him.

Bill O'Reilly:
Do you? Why? Putin's a killer.

Trump: There are a lot
of killers. What, you think
our country's so innocent?

-Hello.
-Stone: How are you?

Mr. President.
Nice to see you again.

I thought maybe
you could sit over there?

-Okay.
-And I'll sit here,
and we'll see.

Play it by ear
a little bit.

And we'll improvise.

No rules about this one.

Yes!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

For over 40 years,
the United States led the West

in the struggle
against Communism

and the threat it posed
to our most precious values.

This struggle shaped the lives
of all Americans.

It forced all nations to live

under the specter
of nuclear destruction.

That confrontation is now over.

(Putin speaking)

Stone: I think a lot of
Western people don't know
much about you.

We'd like to know
about your background,

and where you came from.

I know that you were born
in October 1952,

after the war,

that your mother
was a factory worker,

and your father
had been in the war.

And I know that you lived
in a collective apartment

with other families
as you grew up.

Doing what exactly?

(Putin speaking)

He was wounded
in the war, though?

I heard he had a bit of
juvenile delinquency problems.

He was a bit
of a wild child

until he studied judo
at the age of 12.

You, uh, graduated
from, uh, high school

and I believe you went
directly to law school.

That's the Russian system?

And met
your first wife there?

You last wife.
I mean, your only wife.

And then you joined the KGB
right away in '75?

1975. Yeah, you joined,
in Leningrad.

Oh, you were s--
You had no choice?

Stone:
And you had romanticized
of course this--

There's the Soviet films
about the KGB and intelligence.

You went to Dresden
in 1985 through 1990.

But the first 10 years, uh,
you were mostly in Leningrad.

Stone: East Germany
in 1985 to '90
was pretty dismal.

(Putin speaking)

Stone:
It was a strange time.

Did you go back to Moscow?
Did you experience perestroika?

But these
are Gorbachev's ideas,

so you were influenced
by Gorbachev.

Stone:
The Soviet Union collapsed

and the Russian Federation
was formed with Yeltsin.

(Putin speaking)

Stone:
Yeah.

Stone:
Yeah.

You moved to Moscow in 1996.

And you became the head of
the Federal Security Bureau
for 13 months.

So, in that role,
you must have seen
what a mess this was.

I gather, there was
a nightmare of chaos.

Newsman: In October 1993,
Russia was on the brink
of civil war--

with parliament deputies
on one side

and Boris Yeltsin
and his supporters on the other.

Yeltsin, who controlled
tank divisions,

would give the order
to fire directly
at the parliament building

with shells pounding the offices
of the Supreme Soviet chairman

and the vice president
who sided with the deputies.

Two days of street fighting
left hundreds dead and injured.

The United States continues
to stand firm in its support
of President Yeltsin

because he is Russia's
democratically elected leader.

And in 1999,
you worked your way up
to acting prime minister.

And Yeltsin
resigned in 2000.

Just looking at, uh,
press conferences
and film of Mr. Yeltsin,

it was clearly, uh,
alcohol, uh, disease.

His brain seemed to be--

The way he spoke,
and the way he...
he stared at the camera,

the way he moved,
he looked like he was catatonic.

(Putin speaking)

(wheezing)

So, here you are,

many prime ministers
come and go,

and all of a sudden,

wow, you're
the acting prime minister.

(chuckles)
Now what?

You refused? Why is that?

Change his life,
in what way?

I mean, he's already been
a bureaucrat

in the government
for a long time.

Stone:
Oh, really?

What would you do?

Yeah, but did
you see his--

Did he see his children
during this period
and his wife?

And, uh, did you wake up
at four in the morning?
Did you ever sleep?

Really?

-No nightmares?
-(speaks Russian)

This is a discipline
from the from military,
from your KGB experience?

Stone: Your theory of life,
they say is summed up
in the philosophy of judo?

(Putin speaks)

Stone:
Not too complicated.

You have a lot
of discipline, sir.

Stone:
Okay. Well, then,
we're in 2000 now.

You've become president.
The vote was 53 percent.

You're not expected to last.

You're president of a country
which is in a dark time.

Chechenya War is going on,
it looks very bad.

One side says that it is
fighting against terrorism,

the other side says it is
fighting for independence.

And all the while,
bodies line the street
amid the rubble of war.

This is not the Middle East.

This is the break-way
Russian Republic of Chechnya,

little mentioned,
but no less horrifying.

(Putin speaking)

You're credited with, uh,
doing many fine things
in your first term.

You built up industries,

electronics, engineering,
petrochemical, agriculture.

You raised the GDP,
you raised the income.

You reformed the army.

(Stone speaking)

The privatization
was stopped.

A real son of Russia.

(translator speaking)

The oligarchs took--
underestimated him.

And when he became president,
they didn't think he would last.

He cut the poverty rate
by two-thirds.

Respect for the old people,
pensions.

In 2000, 700 rubles
was the average income,

in 2012, 29,000 rubles.

Stone:
Immensely popular in 2004,

he's reelected
with 70 percent of the vote.

And 2008, because, uh,
two terms are only allowed,

you become
the prime minister.

Well, you worked hard when
you were prime minister too.

And in 2012,
you run for president,

and you win by 63 percent?

Yeah, you're right.

Three times president.
Five assassination attempts,
I'm told.

Not as much as Castro,
who I've interviewed.

I think he must've had 50,

but, uh, there's
a legitimate five
I've heard about.

Stone: In other words,
you trust your security,

and they've done
a great job.

(Putin speaks)

Stone: Because, always,
the first mode of assassination,

you try to get inside
the security of the...
of the president.

(chuckles)

What is your fate, sir?

Have you--
Do you know?

To die in bed, maybe.

Stone:
You've had a tough day.

It's been a while.
Nice to see you.

(translating)

I think, uh, last June
was the, uh...

was the last time
I saw you.

-(translator speaking)
-(Putin speaks Russian)

-You miss me?
-(translates)

(Stone laughs)

Stone:
I'm sure you cried
about other things.

Uh, excuse me,
I just feel asleep upstairs.

Uh, I caught up
on my jet lag.

How was your day?

Holy cow! Well, you didn't have
a cabinet meeting then, did you?

There was--
I'm told there was

a national security council
kind of meeting?

I see.
A crisis or anything?

Well, I'm just asking,
'cause I'm curious,

'cause we're normally scheduled
at 3:00 p.m.,

and it's six hours
and forty minutes later.

No, but I'm saying
there's always--

there are crises
that come up?

There are things
that aren't scheduled?

Uh, that goes
to my bigger question,

'cause my producer
who's here, Fernando,

we were talking
about you earlier,

and he said,
you are an excellent CEO,

uh, Chief Executive Officer
of a company--

Russia is your company.

You kick the tires,
you deal with these problems,

and you try to solve them
on the spot.

Let's say the problem is this,
and you go into the detail here,

and the detail
sometimes gets smaller,
and you do a micro-detail,

and the micro-detail
has another micro-detail,
and before you know it,

you've lost the forest
for the trees, as they say.

That can be very irritating.
You could probably
go to bed at night,

not having solved
some of these things,
and it really drives you nuts.

He says he needs
to complete something?

Which bring us to the--
a large problem,

which is he's been doing this
as a president, prime minister,

and now president again,
for 15 years.

I'm sure he knows
the story of Ronald Reagan,

one of the most admired
presidents-- by conservatives--
in my country.

He was famous
for sticking to his schedule,

which required him,
on most nights, to come home,

in the White House
by six o'clock,

and have an early supper
and watch TV with his wife.

That is my point,
is that he was a smiley man.

He was a great greeter
and meeter.

He was very happy
eating jelly beans

and telling a good joke.

Though Reagan was a big believer
in delegating authority,

to everyone around him.

I'm just trying to make
that example because...

it's another way of living.

Well, it seems to me,
you're doing it the hard way.

Well, Reagan would disagree.

He would say
the country America was broke,

and that
it needed to be fixed,

and it was morning
in America again,

and it was his job to bring
in positive energy to America.

And he did a pretty good job
of making that feeling.

It's a feeling.
It's an illusion.

(laughter)

Well, uh, actually,
some people would argue

that Reagan made America
more broke

because the debt
grew enormously.

I forgot.

Russia's one, right?

Eighteen trillion, US?

(Putin speaks)

And about one trillion, Russia.

The food prices went up
20 percent in 2015,

and, uh, inflation
was running at 13 percent.

-Translator: 12.9 percent
to be more precise.
-Okay. Okay.

What is the Russian
Central Bank about?

What is that doing?

I thought you had
nothing outstanding.

You had no debts
to the IMF, I'm told.

Aah, you know,
you still talk as if the IMF is
a partner of Russia's.

You act as if Wall Street
wants Russia to succeed,

and I question that.

And I would ask you,

is Wall Street actively working
to destroy the Russian economy,

in the interest
of the United States?

♪ ♪

(Putin speaks)

Translator: That is
the throne of the tzar

-and the throne
for the tzarina...
-Stone: Yeah.

-...and also for
the dowager empress.
-Stone: Yeah.

You know, they say
that you want to be tzar.

This is, uh, you know,
that you're the new tzar.

They put magazine covers
out there--

You laugh, right?

-Stone: Yeah.
-(Putin laughs)

But you allowed, uh,
Charlie Rose to make a point

when he said,
you have all the power,

you can do what you want.

He made that very clear,
and then--

Because that's the way
many Americans think,

that there's
no system here.

And, uh, you
didn't correct him.

You, you--

Excuse,
excuse me.

Well, then you should
shoot the interpreter too--

That's why
we say that.

Was it you?
Yeah...

I don't think he understood
the question that Rose
was leading him to.

I mean, in other words,
in English, it sounded
like he wants the tzar,

and he took it for granted
that he was tzar.

Some have called you a tzar.

(speaking Russian)

Translator: So what? You know,
people call me different names.

Well, does the name fit?

Do you ever lose it?
(chuckles)

He says,
you're so irrational

every time you're
asked a question,

do you ever like have a day,
like a bad day? And...

(translator speaking)

(sighs)

Is that right?

(translating)

(laughs)

There you go.
Now you're going to insult

50 percent
of the American public.

The way
they're gonna take it.

I know.

So a woman to you is a--
tends to be more emotional?

You don't want to have
your emotions ever cut in
and control your reasoning?

(translating)

♪ ♪

Newsman:
Question to, uh,
President Bush.

Is this a man
that Americans can trust?

GW Bush:
Uh, I'll answer
the question.

I looked the man
in the eye.

I found him to be
very straightforward
and trustworthy.

Now, we had
a very good dialogue.

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

Stone:
What did you sense
when he was saying that?

And on 9/11,
you were one of the--

you were one
of the first to call him

and offer him condolences
and cooperation.

When President Bush,
invaded Afghanistan, uh,

President Putin cooperated
with the, uh, invasion

and set up bases
in the Caucasus and Eurasia,

in order for the Americans
to supply line Afghanistan.

And continued to do so
until recently.

Stone: Russia has
a long history in Afghanistan.

So how come you guys
did not figure out
where Bin Laden was,

and what was really happening
with Bin Laden?

Not just where he was,
but...

how weak the Al Qaeda base was
at this point in Afghanistan.

(translating)

Bill Casey, director of the CIA
under Ronald Reagan,

made it a special effort

to excite the Muslims

in the Caucasus in Central Asia
against the Soviet Union.

His plan was bigger
than just to defeat
the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

His plan was
basically regime change
in the Soviet Union.

(translator speaking)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Stone: In his mind,
what was the most dangerous
moment in the Chechen Wars?

The first one,
the second one? What years?

Stone:
The US support was covert.

You say you have evidence
that they were supporting
the Chechens.

(Putin speaks)

Zbigniew Brzezinski: I think
the administration has adopted
a hands-off attitude,

repeating like a mantra
that this is an internal
Russian affair,

which in effect legitimated
the Russian action.

And then on top of it,
senior administration spokesmen

have engaged in a vilification
of the Chechens.

And, uh, all this
while they're fighting the war
against terror in Afghanistan?

It seems like
contradictory behavior,
and strange behavior.

I guess the letter
is top secret, so, it's not
available for viewing?

(laughs)

Bill Clinton:
Today we welcome

Hungary, Poland,
the Czech Republic,

finally erasing
the boundary line the Cold War

artificially imposed
on the continent of Europe,

strengthening an alliance
that now clearly

is better preserved
to keep the peace

and preserve our security
into the 21st century.

Our goal is to help
to build a Europe

that is undivided, free,

democratic, at peace,
and secure.

GW Bush:
Today we proudly welcome

Bulgaria...

(scattered cheers)

...Estonia...

(cheering)

...Latvia...

(cheering)

...Lithuania...

(cheering)

-...Romania...
-(cheering)

-...Slovakia...
-(cheering)

and Slovenia.

We welcome them into the ranks

of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization.

(applause)

This is a special moment

in the hopeful story
of human liberty,

as America formally declares
its support for Albania

and Croatia's entry into NATO.

Stone: What I've heard
from Mr. Gorbachev

as well as American officials,
including James Baker,

there was a, a deal
with the Soviet Union

not to expand
NATO eastward.

Stone: So this was
a clear violation.

(Putin speaking)

And right now the Warsaw Treaty
has faded into oblivion.

There is no Soviet Union.

Under the rules of NATO,
I believe you'd have to share

all your nuclear information
with the United States.

Yeah. Right.

Right.

The old Soviets
were always very realistic
about American policy.

They always tried
to understand the intentions
of the Americans.

I don't know if those
think tanks still exist here.
I would imagine they do,

that Mr. Putin
gets very accurate
assessments about

what United States'
intentions are.

Stone:
Has this ever stopped?

Has this attitude
of the US ever stopped,

that they had
an enemy in Russia?

Whether it was Communism
or whether it was Putinism

or whether it was any form,
it was just the concept
of an enemy.

Stone:
It raises the question of,

you know, the broader question,
of what is the US policy?

What is its strategy
in the world?

In the whole world?

Well, uh, I can state it
for you, and you can argue
with me.

That's one thing,
I could say I think

or many learned people think
that US strategy

right now is to destroy
the Russian economy,

bring it back
to 1990s' levels.

And change the leadership
of Russia.

Make a new ally out of Russia
for the United States,

and basically,
dominate Russia,
as they once did.

And perhaps did not--
they feel they did not go
far enough

and take your nuclear arsenal
away from Russia.

I understand that Russia
will not give up.

They will go to the end
on this economy.
Under Stalin,

they gave their jewelry.

They gave their
personal possessions
down to their last dollar

to support the government
against the Nazis.

Stone:
We have the US elections
in this year,

and none of these issues,

uh, the environment,
fixing our alliances

has even been discussed
one time.

Everything in
the election rhetoric has been

get tough, be tougher,
build up our military again,

and in addition to that--

And that goes for both sides,
that includes Hillary Clinton,

who's most definitely become
a neoconservative, a hawk,

strong policies
against Russia.

She was certainly for
the Syrian intervention,
and so forth.

And we have to send
a very clear message to Putin

that this kind of belligerence,

this kind of testing
of boundaries

will have to be responded to.

In addition to that,
the Pentagon has
announced recently,

this new general has announced
that Russia is the number one
threat to the United States.

He's been very forceful
in those statements.

If you want to talk about
a nation that could pose

an existential threat
to the United States,

I'd have to point to Russia.

If you look at their behavior,
it's nothing short of alarming.

♪ ♪

(speaking Russian)

♪ ♪

(triumphant,
patriotic music playing)

(Putin speaking)

(Stone speaking)

♪ ♪

(Stone speaking)

(Putin speaking)

Do you ever see him?

Yeah.

(Stone speaking)

(translator speaking)

(Stone speaking)

(triumphant, patriotic
music continuing)

♪ ♪

(patriotic music ends)

♪ ♪