Putin vs the West, BBC, Review: An uncomfortable insight into the mind of the Russian leader

“Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but it would only take a minute with a missile.” Not the words of a Bond villain, but of Vladimir Putin, on the phone with Boris Johnson, on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine. This was one of the many insider moments revealed in the Putin vs. the West (BBC Two), presented as the story of how Putin misled the West in the decade before the war.

Awarded filmmaker Norma Percy specializes in hard-hitting political documentaries featuring the people who were in the room when the big decisions were made, from world leaders to special advisers. Unsurprisingly, Volodymyr Zelensky showed up, but Putin did not. On the British side of things, David Cameron, Theresa May and Johnson appeared. The series serves as a reminder that Johnson can be a serious politician when he’s not pandering to the cameras or using his grade-school Latin, though he was the only talking head here, addressing the camera with his hand shoved in his trouser pocket. .

The news about the events we report on – the G20 summit, bilateral meetings, phone conversations – have been given only short, official lines. The documentary provided behind-the-scenes color for those present and was fascinating. We got a real sense of the personalities involved. The British foreign policy adviser read his message about what Putin told Cameron in Downing Street: “I know you are a great country with a great history. You all think I’m not democratic like you. I’m not going to argue with you – I’m ex-KGB, I’m evil and scary with claws and teeth, and you’re all so well-mannered and so well-educated. But do you remember Abu Ghraib, David? Have you seen these pictures? What happened there was medieval.”

It was a speech that offered more insight into Putin’s view of the West than any amount of commentary by political correspondents on the nightly news.

The mix of small details and big truths is what makes Percy’s documentaries so compelling. The latter: the reluctance of some countries to support sanctions against Russia. Johnson spoke of the “magnetic pull of Putin and Russian influence, including within the EU”. First: Putin stares admiringly at the portrait Margaret Thatcher and muttered, “Ah, indeed she was the Iron Lady.” And a French diplomat describes the feeling of staring into the “completely empty eyes” of Putin’s portrait: “Suddenly you say, ‘If I were tied to a chair in front of him in the basement, I would be really afraid of this guy.'”