0:00:00 > 0:00:03SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN
0:00:03 > 0:00:06CHANTING
0:00:06 > 0:00:08For over a decade,
0:00:08 > 0:00:13Vladimir Putin has been the undisputed master of Russia.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21But after claims he fixed parliamentary elections,
0:00:21 > 0:00:26tens of thousands of middle class Russians took to the streets,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28demanding his resignation.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31They put on a symbol of protest -
0:00:31 > 0:00:33white ribbons.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Putin has announced his intention
0:00:57 > 0:01:02to remain in charge for at least six more years.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05This is the story of how he dominated Russia,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09tried to dominate its neighbours, and how the West dealt with him.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15It began in 1999.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Russian President Boris Yeltsin was desperate to fill a key post.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22His eyes fell on his intelligence chief.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Four months after he was appointed Prime Minister,
0:02:31 > 0:02:36Vladimir Putin was summoned by President Yeltsin.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39It was a few days before the millennium new year.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19As soon as Yeltsin resigned, Putin became President.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23He set out to restore Russia as a great power.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27It made the world uneasy about him and his country.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32He spent his first night as President with the front-line troops
0:03:32 > 0:03:36fighting to reverse Russia's humiliation in Chechnya.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE
0:04:11 > 0:04:14By the time Putin was elected President,
0:04:14 > 0:04:19Russia's forces in Chechnya had pushed the rebel fighters into the mountains.
0:04:51 > 0:04:58The mountain village of Shatoy was one of the last rebel strongholds.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03Putin's triumph boosted his popularity.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08But in Moscow, he could not be an effective President
0:05:08 > 0:05:11while the government remained a mess.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15It regularly went broke, failed to provide basic services,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and had to be bailed out by billionaire oligarchs.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Putin appointed a new prime minister
0:05:22 > 0:05:25and told him they must finally tackle Russia's biggest problem.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51The first step was to get Russians to pay their income tax.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54So Putin's ministers proposed a massive cut,
0:05:54 > 0:05:58to just 13% for all, even the rich.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12The Prime Minister himself was worried.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Putin knew that his reforms could not work
0:07:28 > 0:07:32unless he faced down Russia's business elite, the oligarchs.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37The oligarchs were used to popping into the Kremlin
0:07:37 > 0:07:39to twist government policies.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58The oligarchs who wielded most political power were media barons.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03In Putin's first month, one, Vladimir Gusinsky, was arrested.
0:08:27 > 0:08:28Gusinsky was released
0:08:28 > 0:08:31only after he agreed to sell his television network
0:08:31 > 0:08:34to a state-owned company and leave Russia.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39It was the first step to Putin's taking control of Russian TV.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Then Putin called the other leading oligarchs to the Kremlin.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12This meeting would radically change the rules of the game
0:09:12 > 0:09:13for the oligarchs.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20These men had won the decade-long struggle for Russia's natural resources.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25On the left, the CEO of Gazprom, the world's largest gas company.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29The boss of Russia's biggest oil company is next to him.
0:09:29 > 0:09:35These three made their fortunes in advertising, aluminium and oil.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38This man controlled the largest nickel company in the world.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41The leading bankers were there.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47So too was the owner of Russia's fastest growing oil company,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54He told what happened right afterwards.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55But everybody there knew Putin had just stripped one oligarch of his business
0:10:55 > 0:10:57and forced him into exile.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33The oligarchs had, Putin thought, been cut out of politics.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Now he faced an even more powerful opponent -
0:12:46 > 0:12:47America's new president.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54The challenge came soon after George W Bush was inaugurated.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59The Cold War was over but distrust still lingered.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Both sides maintained huge nuclear arsenals.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Agents lurked in both countries' embassies.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09There was an agreement between the sides over the years
0:13:09 > 0:13:12that you could have so many people within each other's country
0:13:12 > 0:13:15who were essentially spies, they were intelligence people.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17But gentlemen understand these things
0:13:17 > 0:13:20and as long as it was within limits then it was accepted.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25But the Russians had been, shall we say, ignoring the rules
0:13:25 > 0:13:29and they'd been adding more and more people.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34The FBI asked the new Secretary Of State to expel 50 Russian diplomats.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39He made an appointment with the Russian Ambassador.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43He came in just for a courtesy call.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47We drink a little tea, we shake hands, we, you know,
0:13:47 > 0:13:52we have a nice conversation. "Dobre", "How are you?", "Spasibo" -
0:13:52 > 0:13:56all the nice courtesy words that are used between Russian
0:13:56 > 0:14:00and Americans, and instead he walked out with a problem.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02A major problem.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06The Ambassador took away a list of Russians to be expelled.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Then the Secretary Of State tried to limit the damage.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29He said, "Are you really going to do this?
0:14:29 > 0:14:31"Is this how you want to start out a relationship?"
0:14:31 > 0:14:33I said, "Yes, we're going to do this,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36"and we have to have a relationship that's based on trust."
0:14:38 > 0:14:45Powell expected the Russians to expel an equal number of American spies - and that would be that.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49But he hadn't reckoned with the secretary of Russia's National Security Council,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52like Putin, ex-KGB.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28The Russians carried out their threat.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32The Americans feared it would derail the President's big idea.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34They wanted a missile defence shield
0:15:34 > 0:15:38to protect America from nuclear attack by rogue states -
0:15:38 > 0:15:40like North Korea or Iran.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43But this was banned by the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46signed when Russia and America faced each other
0:15:46 > 0:15:48as enemies in the Cold War.
0:15:48 > 0:15:49Russia and the United States
0:15:49 > 0:15:54should work together to develop a new foundation for world peace
0:15:54 > 0:15:56and security in the 21st century.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01We should leave behind the constraints of an ABM Treaty
0:16:01 > 0:16:05that perpetuates a relationship based on distrust
0:16:05 > 0:16:07and mutual vulnerability.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11President Bush sent me to Russia.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17The conventional wisdom of the nuclear priesthood
0:16:17 > 0:16:21was that Russians would never go along with this issue.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27We made the case to the Russians that missile defences
0:16:27 > 0:16:30were not about defending Russia against the United States
0:16:30 > 0:16:32or the United States against Russia
0:16:32 > 0:16:35but defending both of our populations against third countries.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48We got a fairly chilly reception.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12The Russian side have raised some serious and important questions.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17We began to give them some answers to those questions. We've done a lot of thinking about this subject.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20We'll obviously have some more thinking to do.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22'The message we brought back to President Bush'
0:17:22 > 0:17:24was that if this was going to be done,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27it was going to have to be done top-down.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30He was going to have to do it with President Putin.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38The highlight of George Bush's first presidential trip to Europe
0:17:38 > 0:17:44was another first - a summit meeting with Putin, at a castle in Slovenia.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Then they go off to be by themselves
0:18:11 > 0:18:14while the rest of our delegations are busy sitting around
0:18:14 > 0:18:17pretending to have a conference and discussing vital issues,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19but we're all just sitting there tapping our thumbs
0:18:19 > 0:18:23and our fingers on the table, wondering what these fellows are doing.
0:18:23 > 0:18:29Only the translators and the two national security advisors stayed with the presidents.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34After the initial pleasantries, Putin delivered a prophetic warning.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Putin turned quite, er, dramatically to Pakistan,
0:18:39 > 0:18:45accusing the Pakistanis, saying it wasn't just that they supported the Taliban, but in fact they were
0:18:45 > 0:18:48feeding extremists into Afghanistan
0:18:48 > 0:18:51and they were a lot of the problem.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55And basically saying this is going to explode, on your watch.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59The warning fell on deaf ears.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03Instead, President Bush pitched his idea to Putin
0:19:03 > 0:19:07that the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty had outlived its usefulness.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Despite being rebuffed, President Bush was keen to show the meeting had been a success.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31Question to President Bush, is this a man that Americans can trust?
0:19:31 > 0:19:33That's one of those trap questions
0:19:33 > 0:19:37that when you're the Staff person, you think, "Oh my goodness, I wish we'd gone over that".
0:19:37 > 0:19:42If the President says, "No, I don't trust him", then the relationship's off to a very bad start
0:19:42 > 0:19:46and if he says, "Yes, I do trust him", then people think, "Oh, well, that's naive".
0:19:46 > 0:19:48I'll answer the question.
0:19:48 > 0:19:54I looked the man in the eye - I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57We had a very good dialogue.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59I was able to, um...
0:20:00 > 0:20:02..get a sense of his soul.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05- (Good job.)- Thank you.- Good job.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12For me, as a rather practical guy and a soldier,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15I was taken aback a little bit by it.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20And thought perhaps he shouldn't have gone that far.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22And in fact, I said to him later,
0:20:22 > 0:20:28"Well, you know, you may have seen all that, but I still look in his eyes and I see KGB."
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Remember, there's a reason he's fluent in German!
0:20:31 > 0:20:36He used to be the resident in Germany and he is a chief KGB guy.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43Putin had BEEN KGB, but by now he had turned his back on communism.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55In Moscow, he took on the Communists.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59He proposed a law to legalise the right to buy and sell land,
0:20:59 > 0:21:03something the Communists had been fighting for years.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07THEY CHANT
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Russian parliamentary rules require the minister responsible
0:21:15 > 0:21:19to read out a bill before it is voted on.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22This gave the Communist members of parliament their moment.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Putin's reforms began to work.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia had a budget surplus.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Wages and pensions began to be paid regularly.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10But Russia was still far from its former superpower status.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Then came 9/11.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59In the White House bunker, Bush's national security team
0:23:59 > 0:24:02put America's military on a high state of alert.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04We're going to go to DEFCON 3.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Everyone had always feared the so-called spiral of alerts.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09We go to an alert level, the Russians follow
0:24:09 > 0:24:13and pretty soon everybody's at a very high level of alert
0:24:13 > 0:24:14and that can be very dangerous.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19And so, erm, I thought to myself I'd better get a hold of the Russians and let them know.
0:24:37 > 0:24:43I remember President Putin saying, "We know that your forces are going up on alert,"
0:24:43 > 0:24:47and it occurred to me of COURSE they know, they're watching our forces go on alert.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51He said, "We are bringing ours down, we're cancelling all exercises."
0:24:51 > 0:24:54And at that moment I thought to myself, "You know, the Cold War is really over."
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Russia now faced a difficult decision.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05NATO was going to attack Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08But NATO had no military bases close enough.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12The former Soviet republics in Central Asia did.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18We were going to need Russian help.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22It was good for Russia to give a signal to the Central Asians that
0:25:22 > 0:25:28American basing out of, say, Uzbekistan or, Kyrgyzstan would not be a problem.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36But it was a problem for Sergei Ivanov,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39recently promoted to Minister of Defence.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07For half a century, Russia had kept America out.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10Now the Americans were asking to be invited in.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Putin gathered his national security team.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06Putin then offered them the clinching argument.
0:27:50 > 0:27:56Thus, Putin opened the door to a remarkable period of cooperation with the West.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38Putin had helped the West -
0:29:38 > 0:29:42now he wanted to know what he could get in return.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45He travelled to the headquarters of NATO,
0:29:45 > 0:29:49the alliance that for 40 years had kept Russia out of Western Europe.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54In the grandeur of the Palais d'Egmont,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Putin opened the meeting by saying, "Well, when are you going to invite
0:29:57 > 0:29:59"Russia to join NATO?" And I said,
0:29:59 > 0:30:01"Well, you know - that's a fairly blunt start to the meeting."
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Putin knew that the idea of Russia in NATO
0:30:18 > 0:30:23would outrage hardliners in Washington...and Moscow.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33And I said, "Well, Mr President..."
0:30:33 > 0:30:38I said, "We don't invite people to join NATO. You apply for membership."
0:30:38 > 0:30:41So he sort of shrugged and said, "Well, Russia is not going to
0:30:41 > 0:30:44"stand in a queue with a lot of countries that don't matter."
0:30:47 > 0:30:49The limits of the relationship were now clear.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Russia and the West were allies only when it suited them.
0:30:54 > 0:31:00So despite Russia's help in the war on terror, the US went ahead with its missile defence plans.
0:31:04 > 0:31:10Colin Powell flew to Moscow to announce that America was tearing up the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16Putin looked at me with those steely eyes
0:31:16 > 0:31:18of his and he started to complain...
0:31:18 > 0:31:22"This is terrible - you are kicking out the legs from under the strategic stability
0:31:22 > 0:31:24"and we will criticise you."
0:31:24 > 0:31:27And I said, "I fully understand that, Mr President."
0:31:27 > 0:31:30And then he, he broke into a smile
0:31:30 > 0:31:33and I'll never forget it, he leaned forward to me and he said,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36'Ah, good - now we won't have to talk about THIS any more.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40"Now, you and Igor get busy on a new strategic framework."
0:31:40 > 0:31:43And I said, "Yes, Sir."
0:31:43 > 0:31:48MUSIC: "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker
0:31:50 > 0:31:55In less than six months, President Bush was in the Kremlin.
0:31:55 > 0:32:01He had come to sign a treaty that cut US and Russian offensive nuclear weapons by about a third.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06Then, Putin took his American guests
0:32:06 > 0:32:09to a command ballet performance - The Nutcracker.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14I thought, "It's summertime - why are we seeing The Nutcracker?"
0:32:44 > 0:32:47It turns out we share a love of ballet,
0:32:47 > 0:32:51but a dislike of classical ballet.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55And so he said, "Wouldn't you rather go to see Eifman instead?"
0:33:04 > 0:33:08We snuck out and went to the Eifman studios.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35We did take Rushailo, the National Security Adviser with us,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38however I don't think he likes ballet of any kind.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12And then before the lights came up, we snuck back in.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15I came to...trust that Sergei Ivanov was someone
0:34:15 > 0:34:18who was going to deliver on what he set to do
0:34:18 > 0:34:20and I think he believed the same about me.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23Personal relationships do matter.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27You speak very good English!
0:34:27 > 0:34:29Hey, there. Nice to meet you.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34A few days after the Bushes and the Putins wandered through the Kremlin,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38Russian soldiers in Chechnya carried out a routine raid on a village.
0:34:51 > 0:34:56Eight years later, this young man's remains were dug up at a Russian base.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58He'd been shot twice in the head.
0:35:00 > 0:35:06Russia's overwhelming force drove the Chechens to suicide bombings and terror attacks.
0:35:08 > 0:35:14In Moscow that autumn, a musical called Nord Ost was one of the hottest tickets in town.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20Then the war in Chechnya came to the theatre.
0:35:23 > 0:35:24GUNSHOTS
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Some 40 Chechens, men and women,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41armed with bombs and suicide belts, took over 800 theatre-goers hostage.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45They said they would kill them
0:35:45 > 0:35:48if Putin did not withdraw Russian troops from Chechnya.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24Chechens had carried out mass hostage-takings before -
0:36:24 > 0:36:26and the Kremlin had tried to negotiate.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31Putin gathered his closest advisors.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Putin had been scheduled to leave for a summit in Mexico. Instead,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12he sent his cautious Prime Minister.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19The stand-off in the theatre lasted two days.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22Putin then let loose the special forces.
0:37:22 > 0:37:28They pumped a narcotic gas into the theatre that knocked everybody out.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE
0:37:34 > 0:37:37The doctors on the scene couldn't revive the hostages
0:37:37 > 0:37:40because the secret services wouldn't tell them
0:37:40 > 0:37:42what gas they had used...
0:37:42 > 0:37:45so 129 theatre-goers died.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48All the Chechens were shot.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57The United States, since 9/11, backed Putin over Chechnya.
0:37:59 > 0:38:05President Bush spoke out very clearly that this had been a terrorist incident.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09And President Putin really did appreciate, from 2001 on,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13that the United States saw the terrorism that they were experiencing
0:38:13 > 0:38:16and the terrorism that we were experiencing as linked.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22This alliance was soon put to the test over Iraq.
0:38:22 > 0:38:27The US sought support to take the war on terror to a new battleground.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48I thought that in making that case to the Russians,
0:38:48 > 0:38:53they might not in fact join in any kind of military effort,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55I thought that was well beyond the pale, er,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58but that they wouldn't really oppose a military effort either.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04A new UN resolution justifying an attack on Iraq was coming up.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09Germany and France, firm opponents of the war on the Security Council,
0:39:09 > 0:39:11also decided to seek Russian support.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13Putin visited both countries.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48Putin said he was happy to make common cause with the Chancellor,
0:39:48 > 0:39:53but he worried that France's President Chirac would not stand firm.
0:39:53 > 0:39:54Schroeder phoned Paris.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13When Putin had visited Paris before,
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Chirac had sent an official to meet him at the airport.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20But now the French President turned on all his charm.
0:40:20 > 0:40:21BRASS BAND PLAYS
0:40:47 > 0:40:50Putin wanted Chirac's word that he would vote against the war
0:40:50 > 0:40:55unless there was hard evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
0:41:18 > 0:41:25The two presidents walked out and buried America's chances of getting UN approval.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46And at that point, we knew our efforts were...had failed.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54We didn't much like the spectacle of America's closest allies, er,
0:41:54 > 0:42:00standing with the Russians on a security interest of interest to the United States.
0:42:10 > 0:42:16The war Putin opposed was soon helping to make Russia rich.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18The price of oil steadily increased.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23Russians who'd grown up in Soviet poverty learned to love their bling.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31Putin decided to seize a share for the state - via a huge tax on oil exports.
0:42:33 > 0:42:41This started a battle between Putin and Russia's richest man, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43It became a war over democracy.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25The night before the vote on the bill to raise oil tax,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28an executive from Yukos Oil called on the Minister in charge.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12The next morning in parliament, the government withdrew its tax bill.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47But tax wasn't the only way for Putin to get at the oil wealth.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51A small oil company owned by the state, Rosneft,
0:44:51 > 0:44:54began to buy up oil fields.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57It outbid the private companies so massively that it led to
0:44:57 > 0:45:01the allegation that its officials were stealing money from the state.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04Khodorkovsky complained to Putin
0:45:04 > 0:45:07about what he thought Rosneft was up to.
0:45:13 > 0:45:18Khodorkovsky prepared a presentation on how corruption was spreading -
0:45:18 > 0:45:21even into the Kremlin.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57What followed started a political conflict
0:45:57 > 0:45:59that divides Russia to this day.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Khodorkovsky's presentation was to be televised.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07He cleared what he would say
0:46:07 > 0:46:11with both the Kremlin chief of staff and the Prime Minister.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24It was a tough presentation,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27but nothing that Putin himself hadn't said.
0:47:27 > 0:47:32Then Khodorkovsky went after one of Putin's closest Kremlin aides.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51Rosneft had done this deal with the blessing of an old friend of Putin's
0:47:51 > 0:47:56at the KGB, now his deputy chief of staff.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43A few weeks later, Khodorkovsky's oldest friend
0:51:43 > 0:51:45got some disturbing news from a contact
0:51:45 > 0:51:48in Russia's intelligence service.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17Putin issued a thinly-veiled threat to Khodorkovsky
0:52:17 > 0:52:20not to challenge him politically.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Khodorkovsky knew he was vulnerable.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00He had built his company in the 1990s, when Russian business law
0:53:00 > 0:53:02was in its infancy.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24Five months after the public confrontation with Putin,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27one of Khodorkovsky's inner-circle was arrested
0:53:27 > 0:53:31for a deal they did back in the 1990s.
0:54:17 > 0:54:22Nevzlin left Russia. Khodorkovsky stayed and fought.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26With parliamentary elections approaching,
0:54:26 > 0:54:30he bought a publishing house, poured money into the opposition parties,
0:54:30 > 0:54:35and spent most of his time promoting democracy through his foundation, Open Russia.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09But within a month, eight more of Khodorkovsky's people were arrested.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11To protect the company, he decided to merge it
0:55:11 > 0:55:14with the American oil giant Exxon Mobil.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37The head of Exxon Mobil came to Moscow.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40He told Putin about his plans.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Within hours, the police raided Yukos,
0:55:47 > 0:55:49seizing tax records going back a decade.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10Khodorkovsky's friends advised him to flee.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14Instead, he set off on a trip around Russia, campaigning for democracy.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37While Khodorkovsky was on the road,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41his deputy was called by a contact in the prosecutor's office.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50A few hours later, Khodorkovsky was arrested.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55Yukos was broken up. Its assets were seized
0:57:55 > 0:57:58and transferred to the state oil company.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25Khodorkovsky remains in prison, a symbol, to many Russians
0:58:25 > 0:58:29and to the West, of Putin's indifference to the rule of law.
0:58:29 > 0:58:33Now Putin was the unchallenged master of a stronger
0:58:33 > 0:58:36and less democratic Russia.
0:58:55 > 0:58:59Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:59 > 0:59:03E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk