Putin, Russia and the West - Season 1

Charting Vladimir Putin's rise to the top in Russian politics and how he has maintained his hold on power despite growing unrest in the country, including allegations of electoral fraud and thousands of protesters taking to the streets of Moscow. The programme features interviews with some of his senior colleagues and Western politicians he has clashed with, analysing how Putin became a key ally of the West after becoming president despite his earlier spell in the KGB.

Former Ukraine president Leonid Kuchma tells the inside story of his country's 2004 elections and admits to being Putin's ally. The programme explores how Russian-backed candidate Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner at the expense of his opponent Viktor Yushchenko, sparking the Orange Revolution. Plus, Kremlin officials of the time tell how they clamped down on human rights groups and critics of Putin to ensure that those events did not bring about a similar uprising in Russia.

An insight into the 2008 armed conflict between Russia and Georgia over the South Ossetia region. The countries' respective presidents at the time, Dmitry Medvedev and Mikheil Saakashvili, recall the intense behind-the-scenes negotiations that led up to the war, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's efforts to broker a ceasefire. In Washington, DC, former Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice describe how they considered the consequences of offering military support to their Georgian allies.

The inside story of Barack Obama's campaign to win over Dmitry Medvedev, and a look at the Russian president's own complex relationship with the country's prime minister Vladimir Putin. Officials on both sides recount how a phone call between Obama and Medvedev sealed a new treaty on nuclear weapons, and there is also an insight into how Putin was eventually nominated to run for the presidential election in 2012. Last in the series.