Russian Godfathers
3 Titles
Russian Godfathers examines how, in the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, the state-owned assets and resources of the superpower were snapped up by a tiny group of smart, ruthless, ambitious and well-connected men, who abruptly joined the ranks of the very richest people in history. This is the inside story of the world's highest-stakes poker game, upon which the fate of the entire nation of Russia hangs in the balance. President Putin and seven of the world's richest men are locked in a battle to run Russia. On one side is the President with the support of a people disgusted to find that seven men effectively owned their country, and on the other are the billionaires who are deploying all their power and wealth to try to wrestle back control.
- ChannelDocumentary Channel
- BroadcasterSky Network Television
- Broadcast PlatformTelevision
Latest Titles
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Episode 3Friday 30 January 2009Final part in the formidable series on Putin's fight with the oligarchs. Shot a year before the murder of Litvinenko, this film examines Putin's fight with the only serious rival for the presidency,Yuri Luzhkov. The crew follow Luzhkov, the renegade billionnaire Mayor of Moscow as he takes the fight to Putin showing both the ruthless methods in which Putin crushes his opposition and the extreme corruption that exist at the highest levels of Russian government.
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Episode 2Friday 23 January 2009This part follows the trial and conviction of Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Khodorkovsky's grinning face was famously beamed across the world from behind the bars of the court's cage, and this episode reveals the tactics that Putin used to suppress the oil baron and separate him from his company and wealth.
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Episode 1Friday 16 January 2009Broadcast a year before the Litvinenko murder, this fascinating series lifted the lid on the struggle that still continues between Putin, and his adversaries, the Russian Oligarchs. The first part follows exile and Litvinenko associate Boris Berezovsky as he campaigns to fight Putin in the Media and along Russia's borders. Under threat of arrest Berezovsky travels to revolutionary Ukraine for the campaign to elect Yuschenko.
Broadcast Platform
- Television
Programme Name
- Russian Godfathers
Channel
- Documentary Channel
Broadcaster
- Sky Network Television
Description
- Russian Godfathers examines how, in the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, the state-owned assets and resources of the superpower were snapped up by a tiny group of smart, ruthless, ambitious and well-connected men, who abruptly joined the ranks of the very richest people in history. This is the inside story of the world's highest-stakes poker game, upon which the fate of the entire nation of Russia hangs in the balance. President Putin and seven of the world's richest men are locked in a battle to run Russia. On one side is the President with the support of a people disgusted to find that seven men effectively owned their country, and on the other are the billionaires who are deploying all their power and wealth to try to wrestle back control.