“A man who has come a long way.” This is how Vladimir Putin is qualified from the first minutes of Antoine Vitkine’s documentary, which provides clues to understand the strategy put in place by the master of the Kremlin over the past ten years to return to the fore. Putin’s revenge begins in 2012, the year of the re-election of the Russian leader, but also a pivotal year which marks his break with the West.
Vladimir Putin is, at the time, weakened. His election is tainted of suspicions of fraud and the economic situation of Russia is catastrophic, which provokes protest movements on an unprecedented scale in the country, as well as harsh criticism from the Americans. The Russian president, anxious to restore his image with his people, then tried to stem the demonstrations by placing himself as the victim of a so-called plot hatched by the United States, which he accuses of manipulating his opponents.
“It makes no sense. It’s wrong, confides in the documentary Tikhon Dziadko, an independent Russian journalist. But we understood where it came from, it’s a legacy of the Cold War. How can you explain that part of your own people are revolting against you? You say these people are traitors.“An explanation corroborated by John Sipher, former CIA station chief in Moscow. “I am cynical enough to think that Mr Putin, given his abilities dIntelligence, knew that the United States and the West were not involved, but he had to convince the Russians that the economic decline and all their problems were responsible.”
From then on, the Russian leader, more nationalist than ever, revived a cold war with the United States, yet buried since the fall of the USSR in 1991. A Soviet Union that Vladimir Poutine dream of rebuilding and whose collapse he attributes to Westerners. In this year 2012, Russia, in the grip of major economic problems, does not weigh heavily on the international scene and this affects the country’s relations with the American president at the time, Barack Obama. “He did not see Russia as an equal partner, affirms in the film Vladimir Yakunin, former member of the KGB and close adviser to the Russian president. VSThe behavior denoted a feeling of superiority, a way of saying ‘You’re not on my level, so go straight ahead!'”
Relations between the two countries are deteriorating. The Russian president, plagued by a growing sense of humiliation, seemed powerless at the time in the face of a strong America. “Humiliation is undoubtedly the common thread of this whole affair, analyzes Michel Eltchaninoff, journalist and specialist in Russian philosophy, Ce supposed feeling towards a West which would have almost organized the fall of the USSR, forgetting that the USSR collapsed under the weight of its own inefficiency.” This is confirmed by Julia Ioffe, an American journalist of Russian origin. “Putin is very Russian. Russians have an inferiority complex. [Ils se disent :] ‘The West doesn’t take us seriously, they see us as a kind of retarded little brother, who can be abused and insulted all the time.'”
Vladimir Putin’s deep resentment will turn into a desire for revenge and push him to put in place an implacable strategy in order to achieve his various objectives, namely to restore Russia’s omnipotence, to become a key player on the international. Objectives that he will achieve thanks to the Syrian conflict and the annexation of Crimea, and which will lead to the invasion of Ukraine. So many steps taken in ten years by the master of the Kremlin that Antoine Vitkine scrupulously details in his documentary.
The documentary “Putin’s Revenge” directed by Antoine Vitkine is broadcast on Sunday March 27 at 8:55 p.m. on France 5.