The Putin Interviews

I have concluded the ABM Treaty

hinders our government's ability to develop ways

to protect our people from future terrorists

or rogue state missile attacks.

Today I have given formal notice to Russia

that the United States of America

is withdrawing from this almost 30-year-old treaty.

On what basis?

The system we are contemplating

would not undermine Russia's deterrent

or the principles of mutual deterrence and strategic stability.

The missile defense capabilities we are developing

are not designed to defend against Russia,

just as the new NATO we are building

is not designed to defend against Russia.

The Cold War is over.

Russia is not our enemy.

- Okay, so no rules. - New rules.

American rules.

Oh, well, this is actually what Reagan and Gorbachev

came so close to achieving in 1986.

At one point, they wanted to go all the way...

Complete disarmament.

Right, right.

So stop referring to them as partners, our partners.

You've said that too much.

You should wish me a...

happy Fourth of July, being that the, uh... an American.

It's our independence day, so to speak.

So, uh, in a, in a hot war,

is the US dominant? Yes or no?

No.

It would, it would be a case of, uh,

Russia surviving it?

Even with the missile shields?

This was originally proposed, you know, by John Kennedy,

with Nikita Khrushchev in 1963.

- I know. - It was a crazy time.

Uh... Stanley Kubrick, a filmmaker I much admire,

made a wonderful film called Dr. Strangelove

How I Learned to Love the Bomb.

Has he seen it?

- No. - Ah, you must see it.

Really, it's well worth it.

It's a classic. Because the...

Mr. Kennedy was dealing with the military system

that had been growing and growing since World War II,

and the generals, at that point, knew

that the Soviet Union did not have the capacity to match them.

And many of them said, this is the time to hit the Soviet Union.

So there was a desire for a unilateral strike against Russia.

Kennedy said, you're crazy,

and then as, as other situations developed in Berlin and Cuba,

it became more dangerous.

Well, the United States has become more right wing

since the Ronald Reagan era,

and now we have Hillary Clinton on the left...

Supposed left, she's the Democratic challenger, probably will be...

Making very aggressive statements also against, uh, about Ukraine

and comparing Mr. Putin to, uh, Hitler.

The United States has never really had a war on its own homeland...

- That's true. - And to many people,

who are very important people, war is somewhat of a game.

I fear that still in the United States.

I fear the neo... The neoconservative element

as being so hungry...

to make their point, to win their case, that it's dangerous.

Uh, hello, D... hello, Dimitri.

Listen, uh, I can't hear too well.

Do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little?

Oh, oh, that's much better.

Yeah. Yeah.

Now then, Dimitri, you know how

we've always talked about the possibility

of something going wrong with the bomb.

The bomb, Dimitri.

The hydrogen bomb.

Well, now, what happened is, uh,

one of our base commanders,

he had a sort of...

Well, he went a little funny in the head,

you know, just a little... funny.

And, uh, he went and did a silly thing.

Well, I'll tell you what he did. He ordered his planes...

to attack your country.

Yes, but, uh, the whole point of the doomsday machine

is lost...

if you keep it a secret.

Why didn't you tell the world, eh?

It was to be announced

at the Party Congress on Monday.

As you know, the premier loves surprises.

Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!

Woo-woo-ha!

Woo, woo-hoo!

Woo-hoo!

A lot of this footage was unknown at that time.

It was, you know, revealed in this movie.

Thank you for indulging me.

I thought the, uh, the Russian premier was very good.

He was... Dimitri.

The concept of nuclear winter, you know, the end of the world,

that was the, uh, you know, the hydrogen bomb.

The scientists, they talked about it in... right after the war,

and, uh, Truman went ahead anyway.

I believe that.

- At some point. - Thank you very much. Bye.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

There you go.

Bye-bye.

You look colorful.

You look like... Mighty Mouse. No, that's cool.

Very nice.

Yeah, we'll be, uh, on the ice, looking at you.

Any advice?

But he's told all the other hockey players

that he's gonna score two goals or one?

Do they check him as hard as they want?

You started playing hockey at 40?

Three years ago. Really? At age 50?

That's pretty cool.

Oh, at age 60. I'm sorry.

I keep thinking you're 53, instead you're 63.

You know, I couldn't skate before that.

I know. I heard that.

You fell down one time.

You were tired.

Twice.

Tired in the legs, no?

At your age? Come on.

If he gets checked, I mean, he could easily break a bone, right?

What if, uh, one of the men on either team admitted...

In Russia... that he was gay?

Could he keep it quiet?

Well, you have the propaganda law.

Yeah.

There's a tradition, though...

Whatever he says, there's a tradition...

There is a macho tradition in Russia,

a pretty strong one.

No, that's different.

Is that true in the military as well?

- No restriction in the military? - No prohibition.

I mean, if you're taking a shower in a submarine

with a man and you know he's gay,

then do they have a problem with that?

Could I just point out, even in a society

where there's some malfunction, there will be many orphans,

and some of those orphans could be adopted

by same-sex couples?

Gay people across Russia say there's been a surge of intolerance,

discrimination and violence,

and it started around the time Russia's parliament passed

what's become known as the "gay propaganda law."

Moscow is not Sodom.

We are here to support normal people that want to create families.

I hear you work out almost every day

or five times a week?

- Seven days? No. - Yes.

That's too much.

Swim first, then gym?

Right. Then relax the muscles.

Do you think when you swim?

Do you get ideas...

from the unconscious? Do you find it to be meditative?

This is for badminton or what?

Judo master, yeah.

- Very much. Yeah. - Yes? Is good?

So all your, uh, all your energy, your aggressive energy

comes out in judo in the morning, or exercise?

Does he have a trainer?

- Well, I used to have one. - Yeah.

And I think I'm a master.

Probably helps you a lot. Yeah.

I have to raise some concerns

that are raised by Foreign Affairs magazine,

which I consider like the official government viewpoint.

This is the Council for Foreign Relations,

they publish this, and they have all these experts

who come in and they write on their fields in Russia.

Some of these questions are raised by them.

Yeah...

Putin's Russia, down...

That's, that's their point of view, yeah.

I understand.

This is their... This is an official point of view,

and therefore, it has... it is listened to in Washington,

and this is what he has to deal with.

I'm not gonna argue with that.

Why did you... after 2001...

Why did you acquiesce

in the US military encroachment across Central Asia?

He said that they were...

He said that they were not gonna stay forever?

When was the wool pulled from his eyes?

No, I mean, by 2007 in Munich,

he's casting another eye on this relationship, correct?

What happens between 2002-03,

he has the Iraqi invasion,