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Vladimir Putin: Video portrait by Neil Macdonald

As tensions escalate between Russia and Ukraine, experts say Russian President Vladimir Putin's secret police background could provide clues as to his next move.

'There are a lot of mediocre men who have become tyrants, and he's one of them,' author says

A portrait of Putin

11 years ago
Duration 14:52
Neil Macdonald's special report on Vladimir Putin's twisted way to power and what he might do with it.

As tensions escalate between Russia and Ukraine, experts say Russian President Vladimir Putin's secret police background could provide clues as to his next move.

In conversations with the CBC's Neil Macdonald, former CIA director Michael Hayden, author Masha Gessen, former KGB general Oleg Kalugin and businessman Bill Browder discuss Putin's KGB past, distrust of the the West and corruption in Russia.

Watch Macdonald's report using the video player above.