Four Corners: Season 2023, Episode 23

2023 - 23: Putin and the Presidents

This week Four Corners investigates his decades-long clashes with American presidents.

The documentary from Frontline filmmaker Michael Kirk and his award-winning team reveals how the miscalculations and missteps of multiple American presidents over two decades paved the way for Putin's attack on Ukraine.

This is the story as seen through the eyes of people who were in the room. It draws on in-depth conversations with insiders from five U.S. presidential administrations, former U.S. intelligence leaders, diplomats, Russian politicians, authors and journalists.

Putin and the Presidents traces how, prior to launching the war on Ukraine, Putin tested the waters by provoking and defying American presidents for 20 years — cyberattacking Estonia, invading Georgia, seizing Crimea, and interfering in a U.S. presidential election.

The report provides unique insight into the icy relationship between Putin and current U.S. President Joe Biden, and into the evolution of the Russian leader's grievances with the U.S. and the West.