Putin Takes On The World | Preview (BBC Two)

A new three-part series from award-winning film-maker Norma Percy tells the inside story of how, through a decade of clashes, the West has struggled to deal with Vladimir Putin as he tries to exert his power on the world stage.

The first episode takes us back to 2014, as Europe’s will was put to the test when Putin first attacked Ukraine and seized the Crimean peninsula.

Told by the Presidents and Prime Ministers who have traded blows with him - including David Cameron, Francois Hollande, and Ukraine’s then President Petro Poroshenko - Western leaders recall being bitterly divided over how to handle Putin after deadly clashes during the Maidan protests in Kyiv, the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 and his decision to send troops into Crimea.

The key players inside the room tell the story of the critical summits and fraught phone calls as the West is blindsided by Putin’s land-grab, and how he pressed home his advantage when he saw division in the West.

Putin Vs The West begins Monday 30th January on BBC Two.