CBC journalist Terence McKenna is the narrator of Putin’s Journey, a new documentary that revisits the period in which the dream of Russian democracy disappeared while exploring Vladimir Putin’s path from childhood poverty to KGB agent in the Soviet Union.Supplied
This past New Year’s Eve marked 25 years since Boris Yeltsin resigned as president of the Russian Federation. Vladimir Putin, then prime minister, stepped into the position on an acting basis – and has ruled over Russia in one role or another ever since.
The authoritarian leader has retained and increased his grip on the world’s largest country by cultivating a personality cult at home, launching brutal wars abroad and suppressing dissent to the extent of murdering political opponents.
Putin’s Journey, a new two-hour CBC News documentary premiering Friday, revisits this period in which the dream of Russian democracy disappeared while exploring Putin’s path from childhood poverty to KGB agent in the Soviet Union, then from part-time taxi driver to the presidency in post-Soviet Russia.
The Globe and Mail spoke to Terence McKenna, the documentary’s narrator and writer and a CBC veteran of more than 40 years, about the unlearned lessons of Putin’s quarter century in power.
At the end of the documentary, you conclude: “It’s far from clear the democratic world has the political will to stop him.” Is Putin in power until he dies?
There’s not much evidence to contradict such an idea. Generally, I think dictators tend to die in bed, are able to stay in power once they eliminate all opposition and create a sufficient level of fear. The West has always underestimated the Putin threat – that’s one of the things I wanted to show in this program.
Where are the moments you show where Western leaders could or should have stepped up?
I think when he started murdering people in the West like Alexander Litvinenko [in 2006]; Western governments did almost nothing. So, of course, he continued on to try to murder the Skripals in the U.K. and to murder Alexei Navalny in Russia. I’m just talking about the cases in which there’s overwhelming evidence that points to him sanctioning these operations.
Putin has retained and increased his grip on Russia by cultivating a personality cult at home, launching brutal wars abroad and suppressing dissent to the extent of murdering political opponents.Supplied
When else might Western leaders have drawn a line?
In our program, François Hollande, the former president of France, makes the point that when Putin supported Bashar al-Assad and chemical weapons were used in Syria, [Barack] Obama backed down from his supposed red line saying that chemical weapons should never be used. That led directly to him thinking he could invade Crimea and, when that caused little reaction, he tried to take over all of Ukraine.
What about now?
When he invaded Ukraine, and NATO expanded into Finland and Sweden, there was a lot of congratulation as to how NATO was now standing up to him and his invasion was a massive miscalculation. You now have Donald Trump, who has made it very clear that he really has not much use for NATO and has conveyed that to Putin. More and more NATO is looking like a bit of a paper tiger to Putin.
There’s a discussion in the documentary about whether Putin would use nuclear weapons – and that chilling clip of him saying: “Yes, it would be a disaster for the world … but why do we need such a world if Russia is not there.” Do you think that he would?
It’s a hot political topic. In the documentary, you have former United States National Security adviser John Bolton suggesting quite strongly he’s bluffing, while Putin has said specifically, “I’m not bluffing.” This is one place where Chinese President Xi Jinping has criticized Putin – saying nuclear war should not be threatened, should not even be discussed. I think Putin realizes he would pay an enormous price if he did employ a nuclear weapon, so, from that point of view, I guess I consider it less likely.
What did you personally learn new about Putin while making this documentary?
A lot of this stuff about his youth. I was quite taken with the story of him cornering a rat when he was growing up. He talked about chasing a rat and the rat turned around and attacked him and gave him a real scare – and he learned the meaning of the word cornered.
What else did you find particularly remarkable in your research?
I was intrigued by his ability to take KGB approaches and techniques and apply them to political life. A major one that we explore is the Yury Skuratov affair in 1999 when he apparently entrapped the Russian prosecutor-general with what they call a “honey trap.”
Right, the threesome in the hotel …
Drawing Skuratov in with two prostitutes and filming the whole thing and using it to blackmail him and force him out of power, to remove him as an obstacle.
An obstacle to then Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who Skuratov was investigating. That’s why Yeltsin appointed Putin as prime minister, right? That was Putin’s path to power – being someone who Yeltsin knew would give him immunity?
That was a very important part of it.
There’s a few moments in the documentary where you talk about major turning points for Putin when he cracked down even more on dissent. One was after the violent death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi – which he would watch the video of over and over. Is there any possibility that Putin’s hold on power could be a big house of cards?
Vladimir Kara-Murza, the Russian journalist and opposition figure who went to jail and then was released, keeps pointing out that things seem unchangeable in Russia until the moment they change very quickly. He and a lot of people have this view – and this is a hope that keeps them going, frankly – that revolutions often happen out of nowhere and happen very quickly. Syria was the most recent example. Personally, I’m more skeptical.
Putin’s Journey premieres Friday, Jan. 17 on CBC (at 8 p.m. local, 8:30 NT) and CBC Gem; and again on Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. ET on CBC News Network.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
