The Putin Files: Gleb Pavlovsky

Watch former Putin adviser Gleb Pavolvsky's candid, full interview on Putin and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election - all part of "The Putin Files", FRONTLINE's media transparency project. Explore Pavlovsky's full interview and interactive transcript here:www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/in...
Explore the complete "Putin File" experience here: www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/int...

[@Fallen7Pie]

For those skipping around the videos in this series this interview has one of the more interesting perspectives. I recommend closed captions for added clarity

[@TampaDave]

Thank you. The captioning in this series is great, none of that auto-generated salad that is more distracting than helpful.

[@89carloom]

This is by far the best interview of the series.

[@VladVexler]

Yes Pavlovsky’s thoughts are especially important at this time!

[@amandaboozer6454]

Right?!?

[@KristinaKarina]

I like these phrases,”Yeltsin’s kiss was a toxic one…”, very old world, very well informed by history.

[@garfieldfarkle]

At 5:57, the character Stirlitz was the protagonist in an excellent 12-part Soviet TV series aired in the early 1970s titled, "17 Moments in Spring." It is available on KZbin with English subtitles.

[@vlera8447]

Thanks!

[@garfieldfarkle]

@@vlera8447 It's a great series. That's no hyperbole. It's like a great book - you start getting toward the end and you want it to go on and on. You see there's 75 pages left in the book and you want a couple hundred more. The same is true with this production. You get near the end and want 2 or 3 more hours of it. I normally don't care for programs with subtitles, but this is so good it's not a problem. The acting is great, the settings and scenery is great and it has gorgeous theme music that will stay with you.

[@fortuna7469]

Thanks for the tip!

[@amandad401]

This is absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing.

[@vinm300]

Apartment Bombings Why not ask about FSB officers planting bombs ? Following a phone call from a vigilant citizen on the night of 22nd September 1999, police found bags containing 200kg of explosives in the basement of a residential building in Ryazan. As the job of disposing of the bags was left to the local police, de-activating the explosives was carried out by Ryazan police’s engineering department. Their detectors showed that the bags contained hexogen. The detonating fuse was made with an electric clock set to set off at 5.30am and contained a shell from a shotgun filled with gunpowder. That same day, local FSB officers created and published composite pictures of the suspects and soon identified and arrested them. But those who planted the bombs turned out to be... Moscow FSB officers!

[@jeffhampton7405]

…and Russian government removed all traces of the rubble immediately in the original bombings, everyone who looked into it was killed or arrested, and Putin’s party voted unanimously to shut down official investigations in the Duma. I don’t buy into conspiracy theories typically, but it’s hard to see this any other way. Especially since it allowed the government to postpone elections and hand control to Putin.

[@supersupersomething]

This. This is an excellent series but one place it falls EXTRAORDINARILY short is not talking about Who actually did the bombing. WHICH IS EVERYTHING.

[@vinm300]

@@supersupersomething "Who actually did the bombing" I've often wondered why more people don't mention the arrest of Moscow FSB officers caught planting a live bomb.

[@nemesisferrari8537]

WHO Was in charge of the FSB at that time? Wasn't he Patrushev ? But Putin was neither head of FCB, neither President. He was just prime minister,

[@vinm300]

@@nemesisferrari8537 Putin has been KGB / FSB his whole life. You are very naive.

[@caesarforlife1663]

The Russian perspective is so more enlightening. I think this is easier to watch at a higher speed and with captions.

[@pergamonrecordings]

This man shows that even Russian intellectuals largely underestimated the political ambitions of Putin in the murky waters of post communist Russia.

[@TampaDave]

You are right, he played his cards close to his chest until he had the power to move.

[@AlloBruxelles]

Nope. You did not listen carefully. A lot was luck, circumstances, opportunism

[@KristinaKarina]

He’s a Kingmaker. He’s above it - there were two candidates, and both of them were chosen by him and his peers. And now, the rat is out of the cage.

[@ailuros]

@@TampaDave I think Putin mutated a lot. He was a different person 22 years ago.

[@johnryan8645]

Really one of the most insightful film essays around!

[@DarkVadimjke]

This guy was actually Putin's adviser

[@hojoinhisarcher]

Stunning!

[@dorothypearlman2704]

But was fired as per Wikipedia

[@deabow]

Instead of "extraordinary state" the interpreter should have translated to "state of emergency"

[@catsupchutney]

thanks, I knew I was missing something. I came here to see if that phrase was explained.

[@SHrepairs]

yeah, but who knows what the inflection in Russian is. "extraordinary state" is still applicable to the situation, but not as culturally relevant to us obviously.

[@mercedesmartin1269]

SHrepairs but “extraordinary state” isn’t an actual turn of phrase so it makes for an unclear translation. Unless “extraordinary state” is a thing I don’t know about because I don’t know jack about this topic. I’m learning how to interpret, otherwise I wouldn’t care enough to contest this haha

[@TampaDave]

It is 'state of emergency' in the captions.

[@RobBCactive]

I figured that but I prefer extraordinary state as a state of emergency has more legitimacy. I am a native English speaker and over translation can hide meaning.

[@HaoSci]

The name of the interviewee in the title of this video is misspelled; it should be "Gleb Pavlovsky" . "s" and "k" need to be switched.

[@timsullivan4566]

HowKci - Thansk for your kuggektion when you kaid: "k" and "s" need to be kwitched." At firkt, wakn't kure that I pokkekked the necekkary ksillk, but ko far I thins it worsk osay. Kure, ignoring "Kpell-Check" tasek kome getting uked to, and I akkume there'k a few more sinsk that'll need ironing out ... but what the fucs - khit happenk!

[@TampaDave]

Tim Sullivan -- Benny Hill, is that you?

[@TampaDave]

You will be happy to know it is spelled correctly in the English Subtitles, each time he begins an answer.

[@AH-he2xw]

Very clever! Kudos

[@anthonyheller9711]

*Gleb Pavlovsky - typo in description.

[@manatee2500]

Excellent, thank you Frontline.

[@TampaDave]

THIS SERIES IS AMAZING! Really, where else can you go to get so many different people's viewpoints on one person? It is like a free college course online. And such an important person to the destiny of so many in the world. As was his predecessor, whom he emulates, Stalin. He is so much like Mussolini that it would be interesting to study "il Duce" next. And, of course, the outstanding name in the history of Autocratic Despots, Hitler. Putin considers the U.S. to be his adversary, at best; clearly has no problem with having us as an enemy. A clear picture arises in this series from several viewpoints of a complex man: street-fighter, spy wanna-be, wily bureaucrat, corruption-rich autocrat, with a hand on the levers of power for 140 million people over 1/8 of the world's developed area. And a man with a well-developed sense of paranoia. Putin lucked out big time when world oil prices rose sharply. Oops, then they fell again, so Putin is forced to try to work on the cheap. He would naturally rely on "asymmetric" warfare (most bang for the buck). Cyber warfare can run on just a few rubles. Offer all the criminal hackers limited immunity, payment of peanuts, talking points, identify targets, etc. (Obviously no need to teach them anything about the English Language, such as spelling, grammar, word-usage, etc. Not one of them has any idea why there are three ways to spell "their", "they're", and "there". Just pick whichever is easiest to type. Their new chant is "I am not a bot, Ima malineal! You troll!") So Russia has become the #1 world power in cyber warfare. US military (and even the National Guard*) have a certain strength in this area, with leading edge technology and well-trained cyber troops. And i expect that our expertise has grown in the last few years, and will blow up now, with the attacks on our infrastructure. It appears Putin has already begun an undeclared cyber war on the US, so part of "infrastructure" is the scramble to harden our vital systems against cyber attack by foreign states. Even though Russia now has an economy equal to Portugal or Italy, Putin can force his will on other countries, even the US, with cyber warfare. And he can force his will militarily on any country except the US or China. Any country the world will LET him do, if he wants them, he can take them. Yeah, let's find out ALL WE EFFING CAN!! We need to look waaay DEEPER into his soul than Georgie did. THANKS FRONTLINE! * Check out the National Guard website for cool info about cyber defensive and offensive job categories and training. This looks like a super way for a person with computer skills to serve his/her country. Raise your hand if you want to learn how to hack Russia, or how to un-hack us from Russia.

[@amandaboozer6454]

@@TampaDave I appreciated your comment. Very well said.

[@thechristinediane]

This is 1999's Russian Steve Bannon.

[@AndyRhodes1]

Very interesting interview.

[@KolyaMart]

Clarifying interview.

[@yolifer_omg]

Now I miss Kiriyenko's vision and humble point of view on these wonderful files🕰️

[@flexabu]

This guy is saying that they did market research on what kind of stereotyped character would be most popular with Russians then found Putin to fit that role?!?

[@omg9261]

Kind of. They needed a likeable guy to be sold to people in order to pass the power from Yeltsin to their chosen guy (in order to keep things as they were ) and in order to prevent a communist president from happening. There were many players in the game : oligarchs, different clans, Yeltsin family and they all wanted to keep the balance as it was at the moment. They wanted to have a loyal guy without "surprises" and they wanted to save the country from communism.

[@opaul7500]

*What a magnificent specimen of a YESSS-MAN!*

[@KristinaKarina]

Wow! The Kingmaker

[@-boiadeiro-]

а на русском есть версия? Глеб Олегович очень умный

[@kashmirha]

So who is Putins team, who are the so called king makers? Even if they individually can not be compared to Putin? Who are those people? That would be good to understand. What powers convinced Medvedev? An I mean surnames with family names, not labels, and names of groups and institutions...

[@yolifer_omg]

There are a lot of Saint Peterburg families involved but Don't even try to ask They want us to believe Putin alone killed half the world

[@terencewinters2154]

I dont think putins moves are random situationally for a moment . They went from reactive to proactive see 2nd reply

[@amandaboozer6454]

I’d actually argue the opposite. I think that they went from proactive to reactive based on how paranoid he’s become.

[@terencewinters2154]

@@amandaboozer6454 proactive is not always good when your motives are bad . Ie you can't do a good thing by doing a bad like trespassing on ukraine and biting off more than you can chew. Proactive in its largest sense means you undertake something . He undertook this war not to take on nato or Europe which he needs for oil revenue but out of motives of irredentism and revanchism . Yes he is now paranoid because his war has become toxic to his whole system and egotistical nationalism . He totally is in a reactive position to those results accomplishing neither of his goals a revenue submission hold on Europe and reabsorbtion of Ukraine . So if he is to save face he'll look for a diplomatic out like Stalin did in Finland in 1940 and 44 . The reactive posture propaganda he spews is not believed by the average russian ie that he's fighting ww2 all over again against an aggressor state nazi Germany. Russias ( putins ) territorial integrity is not matched by reality. This is where he personally is detached from reality believing his hegemony entitles his state to what he can gain by force . It did not work on Finland and won't work on ukraine any longer. He had an opportunity and an offer to work with nato but saw his state as too big to fail. Is this paranoia or just a machiavellian miscalculation ? " war begins when you want ( proaction) but it does not end when you want " ( machiavelli ) or in the way or terms you want. He can prolong this war to his nations and ukraines everlasting regret. He has the dark triad features evidenced in revanchism and irredentism a sort of make Russia great again MRGA ( lol not MAGA ) through conquest. He s going from peter the great to Catherine the great historically speaking without the same contextual political understanding though the geography is pretty much the same. Maybe he thought he could be both but western Europe nato is not having it and most importantly neither is Ukraine which is more than a fledgling proto- nationalistic state. He totally underestimates china's Mongolian silk road and belt ambitions and in the far east. 12 time zones ! He can't manage the land and resources he's already got its a huge scaling problem and to destroy his friendly grain belly neighbor is sheer stupidity.

[@amandaboozer6454]

@@terencewinters2154 Thanks for explaining that, I really appreciate it!

[@vanjamatic3972]

Extraordinary state = State of emergency

[@KyaniMosaic_Crone]

Hereunder 27:52 he's not even aware that he's perfectly describing a psychopath when he's describing Putin's ability to read a person & quickly adapt to be exactly what he needs to be to get his way. After being married to a psychopath charm & this type of adaptability are major red flags for me. As well as the eyes. When the eyes & upper part of their face doesn't match what they are trying to convey with a smile or words that's a 2nd good clue. Even when he's supposedly at ease his eyes are a major red flag George W. Bush was an easy mark. Putin read his Christianity & used it to his advantage. He thought Bush was putty in his hands & the cross would seal the deal. My ex-husband also had go to stories to use on Christians or anyone else who was an easy read. Whatever he saw they were really into or passionate about he had stories already practiced to use on them & those are what he went with. Putin does the same thing. For as much as they all like to think they are different & above everyone else they all have the same tricks like they use the same playbook.

[@amandaboozer6454]

I was thinking the SAME THING!!!!!

[@franny5295]

Do you think he'll use nukes? I do but I hadn't thought of it from this angle.

[@omg9261]

Love comments like this one. Although I don't quite agree in this case. I used to live with a psychopath too and that observation about prepared stories is so on point, mine did it too. But with Putin I rather think he is a paranoid-type of personality. And the manipulative tricks he uses, he was taught at a kgb academy ( I don't what it's called, but there was one, he was trained). To me he looks perfectly paranoid (I also used to be in long deep and relationships with a man like that. Putin fits the profile perfectly, they are really similar).

[@laurie9557]

Interviewer is doing a very poor job.

[@bigsilverorb3492]

It's hard not to cry when I see a real Russian. Damn how did you lose the nation...

[@cydoman8014]

The actual case was Obama asked Vice President Biden to assess the government in Ukraine, which had undergone a "velvet revolution" resulting in the ouster of Puppet Yanukoviche. The corruption in Ukraine made interactions with the new government problematic. The more advanced US technology was not seen as safe for export until Ukraine had tightened training, secured storage and proven maintenance capabilities. That effort to improve the military security and training in Ukraine and the work on addressing the corruption in Ukraine, especially the Eastern portions, was started in the Obama-Biden second term. Recall that Trump had been advised Ukraine had met the requirements placed by Congress on getting certain parts of the aid package started in the Obama-Biden administration and the new Zelenskyy administration was frantic to know when the help would arrive. Trump resisted calling Zelenskyy until some members of Congress started asking about it. As we all later discovered Trump had deliberately withheld the aid to better put pressure on the new President to create false dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had been given a job on the board of a small oil business called Burisma to help the business navigate the laws of incorporation in Delaware which was a big help in attracting foreign investors. Incorporation in Deleware is an asset to foreign businesses because it signals good corporate governance practices, a qualifying requirement in the State of Delaware. Burisma had hired a new President known for his ability to root out corruption in companies in the Eastern European area. He was a graduate of Yale University, like Hunter Biden, and a former employee of Merrill Lynch, a Wall Street firm. Trump however was more interested in shaking down the new President to comply with Trump's need for dirt, thinking Biden would be his opponent in the 2020 election. Trump got Impeached for his illicit actions but was not convicted by a Senate dominated by Republicans who did no investigation, due to McConnell's protection of Trump. Trump was actually recorded by the listeners of his conversation blackmailing Zelenskyy but he never was given consequences for his attempted blackmail. In fact Trump later sent the names of two wealthy oil men to the Ukrainian State owned (and very large) oil drilling company using Governor Perry as his delivery boy. Trump included the message he thought these two gents would make good board appointees. One of the Americans turned his appointment to the board into a very lucrative contract for drilling rights on a great piece of land sitting on a lot of oil. Republicans have offered no interest whatever in pursuing that action, despite Trump's own personal lawyer, Giuliani, being closely involved. Wonder what happened to that business deal when Putin invaded Ukraine? Maybe Trump knows something about it. If not, Giuliani and Perry should. Might make fascinating reading. The public needs to know if Trump was dealing for his own gain or if Putin was pissed that someone else might get to Ukraine's lush oil fields before he could.

[@simonlee8889]

you are either deranged or deluded... no, come to think of it, you're both.

[@uriyvich]

in all these Putin files, one a few things should seem very clear, soviet Russia only died in principle, not in attitude and ethics. you could've spared the surprise and asked the common people in all the post soviet states and they could've told you the same thing 10 years before the date of the file. wilfully oblivious to the geographic and historical contexts that govern the post soviet climate.

[@blairhakamies4132]

Impressive indeed. 🌹

[@patrickfaas2329]

Terrible to hear two people talking at the same time. Use subtitles, please.

[@monklast9752]

Ok

[@helenhaubensack-bitterli3733]

his overly long pauses r extremely telling

[@damonarc5019]

Waiting for the translator to catch up...

[@danielgermano3505]

More like measuring his words, carefully!

[@eveb.6568]

He is, true to his russian nature, drinking alcohol during the interview. ....

[@sarapennicino3738]

N were wr

[@michaelesq.atpcfii.9862]

He lives in Russia, obviously his viewpoints are going to be influenced or he could end up in jail.

[@amandaboozer6454]

I definitely don’t think that he lives in Russia. I bet he’s in hiding somewhere. I tried to Google search to see if I could find any info about what country he currently lives in, and I can’t find anything.

[@xino_z]

@@amandaboozer6454 I don't think it matters, as they will travel for revenge. Unfortunately.

[@JulioBa100]

Plj

[@cydoman8014]

Notice that revenge, anger, threatening, overkill is equal in this person's eyes to leadership, strength, expertise. But when violence is answered by chaotic violance, kids died. Somehow that got lost in the picture. That is not a successful response. Sufficiency in a job performance is not looking like John Wayne. Military enforcement to rescue innocent children in a volatile situation. It needs cool heads, thought out tactics, experience. Russia cannot expect to be treated with respect if they elect leaders who are not competent to lead successfully. If there is wide spread corruption, what has Putin done to correct it - clean it out of the system? If corruption in government is not given consequences in ways seen as effective and resulting in effective change, there is a problem with administration. Russians cannot succeed in a world where information is created but only to replace the reality of truth. The first thing Russians need to correct is the control that produces truth in government information and intersection. That is where the transparency requirements for all government must start: Transparency, Accurate information, Absolute respect for any citizen engaging in government, as the citizens are the only acceptable authority for establishing government, and authentic authority is a requirement of government.

[@mrgyani]

56:30 - wow, he uses the N-word for Obama

[@amandaboozer6454]

Yeah, sadly, I’m not surprised at all. Racism and sexism are pretty bad in Russia from what I’ve seen😞

[@MichaelT-]

In russian language this scary N-word is just a neutral word for black people. There is racism in Russia, but it's not the case.

[@omg9261]

​@@amandaboozer6454it's not racism, he just doesn't know it sounds offensive. I'm from Russia too. There are very few african people there and people simply don't know what are the right words. (I know because a friend, who studied International relationships, SPECIFICALLY explaned to me which are the correct words and which are the offensive ones; before that I also used the N word extensively without meaning anything bad, I just thought that's the word).

[@mrgyani]

One of the most revolting interviews I have heard..

[@helenhaubensack-bitterli3733]

he prevaricates and evades too much

[@TampaDave]

Hmmm. RT used those same words to describe him. I'm sure that is a coincidence. I'd like to see you talking on tv about someone with the power to disappear you or give you radiation poisoning, you might ponder your answers, too.

[@bob3ironfist]

@@TampaDave don't try reasoning with russian bots. Just report and move on.

[@alenaumka8947]

The interpreter is rubbish.

[@dylanreece7991]

No he's not, he's already interviewed 20 experts as you can see in the other Frontline videos, and he is asking thoughtful and straightforward questions which have to be translateable, and getting incredible answers. Just because he is speaking slowly and isn't from England doesn't mean he's is not a good interviewer. Wanker.

[@Oddfellowspodcast]

I don't trust this guy. He deflects on the questions.

[@ThunderAppeal]

Sickening unhealthy obsession by PBS. This would easily be called clinical by any normal psychologist.

[@TampaDave]

Your comment would be seen as Psychological Projecion. There's nothing irrational about wanting to know the details about whether a foreign power who considers us his enemy has already begun a cyberwar against us.

[@ThunderAppeal]

@@TampaDave Russia has been instrumental in helping the US 'maintain its superiority in space', considering that for the last several years Russia has been lifting off US astronauts in to space. If you think that makes Russia think the US is an 'enemy' youre an idiot and you deserve every misfortune coming to you. A few dissatisfied citizens go crying to the west about their sad lives in Russia, there are *plenty* of Americans who would gladly complain about their life in the US if they knew how much better they could have it elsewhere.

[@TampaDave]

@@ThunderAppeal this series is not about a few dissatisfied people, they have been on the scene and knew who said what to whom. Many of them were key actors in Putin's history, on his side of the pond or ours. The episodes of the people who know the most, are the ones that have the most pro-Russian and pro-Putin commenters, such as, yourself. This helps people to know which ones to watch most carefully.

[@markofsaltburn]

@@TampaDave Don’t waste your energy on trolls.

[@ThunderAppeal]

@@markofsaltburn Go back to your video games and stop bothering normal people.