>>> WHEN YOU WERE IN THE KGB YOU
WERE SORT OF THE AGENCY THAT
PROTECTED THE IDEOLOGY OF
COMMUNISM ONCE COMMUNISM WENT
AWAY, YOU MADE A U-TURN.
IS THERE AN IDEOLOGY AT THE
HEART OF VLADIMIR PUTIN OR ARE
YOU ULTD MATLY A PRAGMATIC MAN?
>> IF YOU MEAN THE COMMUNIST
IDEOLOGY WE USED TO LIVE IN A
DIFFERENT COUNTRY AND A
DIFFERENT WORLD.
WE WERE BROUGHT UP WITH
DIFFERENT IDEALS.
I THINK THE COMMUNIST IDEA IS A
BEAUTIFUL ONE BUT FAIRY TALE.
IT IS CLEAR THE STATE CANNOT
EXIST UNDER THIS FOUNDATION.
IT IS ALSO ABOUT THIS THAT THERE
IS NOTHING THAT CAN SUBSTITUTE
THIS IDEOLOGY EXCEPT DEMOCRACY.
>> NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO, THAT WAS
A YOUNGER AND UNKNOWN VLADIMIR
PUTIN WHO WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT
OF RUSSIA.
THE FORMER KGB AGENT SUCCEEDED
BORIS YELTSIN AND INHERITED AN
ECONOMIC CRISIS, A WAR IN
CHECHNYA AND DETERIORATING
ARSENAL.
TO LAND A ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW
TOM BROKAW.
HE JOINS US NOW, THE AUTHOR AND
HISTORIAN MICHAEL BESCHLOSS.
TOM, YOU WERE THERE, FIRST
WESTERN JOURNALIST TO GET WORD
THAT EAST GERMANY WAS SHUTTING
DOWN, THE BERLIN WALL WOULD BE
COMING DOWN.
THE FIRST WESTERN JOURNALIST TO
INTERVIEW VLADIMIR PUTIN.
I AM CURIOUS LOOKING BACK 22
YEARS LATER WHAT ARE YOUR
THOUGHTS TODAY ON THE PUTIN THAT
YOU SAW THEN AND THE PUTIN WE
ARE WATCHING NOW?
>> HE JUST NOW CHANGED.
HE WAS A KGB ACT THEN.
HE IS OPERATING NOW AS A KGB
AGENT.
HE MAY NOT REALIZE THE NIGHT IF
BERLIN WALL CAME DOWN, THERE WAS
SUCH JOY IN THE WEST.
PUTIN WHEN TO THE HIS HOME AND
CRIED IN SORROW ABOUT WHAT WAS
HAPPENING.
THAT TELLS YOU ALL YOU NEED TO
KNOW ABOUT WHAT HE THINKS HIS
ROLE ISSAGE IT SEEMS TO ME RIGHT
NOW SHE TRYING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF A CHAOS NOT JUST IN THE
UNITED STATES BUT IN THE
AMERICAN WESTERN SITUATION WE
HAVE GOING ON, NOT JUST HERE BUT
IN EUROPE AND OTHER PLACES AS
WELL.
BUT MY GUESS IS, THAT HE IS
PROBABLY A LITTLE SURPRISED BY
THE RESISTANCE.
>> I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU ABOUT
THAT, TOM, 1989, OBVIOUSLY, YOU
WERE THERE REPORTING ON IT.
I KNOW MICHAEL YOU AND I BOTH
OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER THE
EVENTS OF 1989 AND HOW QUICKLY
HISTORY MOVED.
IT MOVED AT AN EXTRAORDINARY
PACE.
THAT SEEMS TO BE HAPPENING AGAIN
THIS WEEK AS YOU LOOK AT SWEDEN.
DECIDING THEY NO LONGER WANT TO
BE NEUTRAL.
YOU LOOK AT GERMANY NOW,
REARMING IN A SIGNIFICANT WAY
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1945.
HISTORY IS MOVING SO QUICKLY.
TOM, I WONDER, DO YOU THINK WHAT
WE ARE SEEING NOW IS A CODA TO
WHAT WE FIRST SAW IN 1989?
>> Reporter: WELL, I HOPE
MICHAEL AGREES WITH ME.
WE GENERALLY AGREE WITH MOST
THINGS.
THE FACT OF THE SMATTER WHAT WE
ARE SEEING IS CHAOS.
THIS IS A WESTERN WORLD BUT
ALMOST EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
A LOT OF IT HAS TO DO WITH THE
KIND OF JET FORM OF
COMMUNICATIONS.
YOU KNOW, EVERY 30 SECONDS THE
WORLD CHANGES.
AND UTDZ VERY HARD TOIT'S VERY H
WITH IT.
IN MANY WAYS THIS IS ANOTHER
CALCULATION ON THE WESTERN
LEADER.
HE THOUGHT HE COULD GET AWAY
WITH THIS.
IN SOME WAYS, IT HAS UNIFIED THE
UNITED STATES.
BUT THERE ARE STILL MANY WHO ARE
RESISTING.
THIS PRESIDENT AND HIS LEGIT
LEGITIMACY
LEGITIMACY, GRINNING WITH DONALD
TRUMP.
SO I THINK THAT THIS IS A
CRUCIAL TIME FOR THE COUNTRY AND
OUR SYSTEM TO THINK ABOUT WHAT
IT IS WE WANT TO SEND TO THE
COUNTRY AND TO THE WORLD.
>> MICHAEL, I TOLD THE STORY OF
HOW IN 1982, 1983, MY PROFESSOR
OF SOVIET HISTORY SAID THE
RUSSIANS WERE FAR MORE CONCERNED
WITH A XEROXED MACHINE THAN THEY
WERE WITH REAGAN DEPLOYING
CRUISE MISSILES TO WESTERN
EUROPE.
I THOUGHT ESPECIALLY LOOKING
BACK ALL THESE YEARS LATER, 40
YEARS LATER, I THOUGHT IT WAS AN
EXTRAORDINARILY INCITEFUL
OBSERVATION WHEN YOU SEE HOW
GROSS
GROSSLY VLADIMIR PUTIN
UNDERESTIMATED JUST WHAT THIS --
WHAT TOM WAS TELLING YOU ABOUT,
THIS INFORMATION AGE WAS GOING
TO DO TO HIS BEST-LAID PLANS.
>> RIGHT.
THAT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE.
I WANT TO SAY, IT IS SO GREAT TO
BE HERE WITH TOM, BECAUSE WE
AMERICANS HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH
OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT RUSSIA
FROM TOM BACK TO THE POINT WHEN HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST WESTERN
HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST WESTERN
JOURNALISTS TO INTERVIEW MIKHAIL
GORBACHEV REMEMBER IN 1991 WHEN
THE COLD WAR SEEMED TO BEENED EN
NOW THAT DEMOCRACY IS COMING TO
RUSSIA, WE WILL NEVER HAVE TO
WORRY ABOUT A COLD WAR AGAIN.
AND MANY PEOPLE SAID, THERE
WON'T BE ANOTHER TYRANT LIKE
SOME NEOSTALIN, BECAUSE RUSSIANS
NOW KNOW WHAT FREEDOM IS LIKE
AND THEY WON'T GIVE IT UP.
IF THE ECONOMY DOESN'T WORK,
THEY'LL DEMAND A TIE RANT GO AND
ALSO THAT DEMOCRACY DOES NOT
LEAD TO UNNECESSARY WARS.
AS RECENTLY AS A COUPLE OF
MONTHS AGO, JOE, TOM, I THINK
PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES HAD
SOME REASON TO QUESTION WHETHER
WE WERE ALL RIGHT.
LOOK WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING THE
LASTED TWO DAYS WITH PUTIN,
DOING SOMETHING THAT'S TOTALLY
AGAINST THE INTERESTS OF HIS
PEOPLE, TOTALLY AGAINST MODERN
FEELINGS ABOUT WHAT DEMOCRACY IS
AND STAYING AWAY FROM WARS THAT
ARE ILLEGAL AND UNNECESSARY EVEN
IN RUSSIA, WHICH WE WOULD HAVE
THOUGHT WAS A TOTAL DICTATORSHIP
UNTIL ALMOST THE LAST FEW HOURS,
IT'S BEGINNING TO CRUMBLE.
>> TOM, IN THAT HISTORIC
INTERVIEW WITH PUTIN, YOU ALSO
ASKED THE RUSSIAN LEADER ABOUT A
SUBJECT THAT HE'S REALLY RARELY
EVER TALKED ABILITY, HIS
DAUGHTERS.
LET'S TAKE A LOOK.
>> YOU HAVE TWO YOUNG DAUGHTERS.
WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY WILL THEY
BE LIVING IN 20 YEARS FROM NOW?
>> I WOULD HATE TO SEE MY
COUNTRY RUSSIA LOSE ITS
IDENTITY, ITS FACE.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT
THE CULTURAL ROOTS OF RUSSIA
THAT WE ARE SO PROUD OF AND SO
LOVE THAT FORM US AS PEOPLE,
SHAPE US AS PEOPLE BE PRESERVED
WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO THE
COMMON VALUES OF OUR WORLD.
I WOULD LIKE MY CHILDREN TO SEE
THEMSELVES AS RUSSIANS.
>> YOU KNOW, IT'S VERY
INTERESTING, TOM, YOU CAN READ
BETWEEN THE LINES NOW 20 YEARS
LATER AND SEE THAT IS VLADIMIR
PUTIN.
A MAN WHO OPENLY WEPT WHEN EAST
GERMANY BASICALLY CLOSED DOWN
FOR BUSINESS AND THE BERLIN WALL
STARTED TO COME DOWN.
EVEN THERE, READ BETWEEN THE
LINES, HE IS SAYING WE
UNDERSTAND THE COMMON VALUES OF
THE WEST.
BUT I DON'T SHARE THEM.
I DON'T WANT MY DAUGHTER TO GROW
UP IN A WESTERN WORLD HERE.
WE ARE RUSSIAN.
>> WELL, I THINK, JOE, WE HAVE
TO KEEP A COUPLE THINGS IN MIND.
JUST LOOK AT THE SIZE OF HIS
POWER.
IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT THE 11 TIME
ZONES IN RUSSIA.
IT COMES FROM THE UPPER PEOPLE
IN RUSSIA.
THEY CONTROL WHAT HE WILL DO.
THE REST OF THE COUNTRY IS WHERE
IT WAS 2082ERS IN TERMS OF
PERSONAL VIEWS AND WHAT THEY
WANT FOR THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT.
HE'S THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN THAT
I CAN REMEMBER GOING ALL THE WAY
BACK TO THE EARLY DAYS OF THE
SOVIET UNION BECAUSE I JUST
DON'T THINK HE HAS A CONSCIENCE.
NOT JUST TO HIS OWN PEOPLE BUT
TO THE WORLD.
AND TO THE IDEA OF PEACE AND WE
ARE SEEING THAT NOW.
REMEMBER, 11 TIMES THERE ARE
FULL PARTS OF IT THAT I HAVE
BEEN THROUGH EAST AND WEST NORTH
AND SOUTH WHERE THERE IS STILL
LIKE IN THE 19th CENTURY.
THEY FEEL NO CONNECTION TO THIS
MAN.
BUT HE UNDERSTANDS THAT THIS IS
A RARE OPPORTUNITY FOR HIM THAT
HE'S GOING TO TRY TO TAKE
ADVANTAGE OF AND I THINK IT'S UP
TO THE WEST TO DRAW THE LINE.
>> MICHAEL BESCHLOSS AND TOM