Intercepted calls showed that United States helped separatists in Russia’s North Caucasus in the 2000s, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in a new documentary in which he underscored his suspicions of the West. The two hour-long documentary, to be aired on the state-owned Rossiya-1 TV channel later today, is dedicated to Putin’s 15 years in office. It focused on Putin’s achievements as well as challenges to his rule which the producers and Putin blame on Western interference. Putin was elected Russian president on March 26, 2000, after spending three months as acting president, and was sworn in on May 7, 2000.
The documentary showed Putin interviewed at the Kremlin in the dimly-lit St Alexander’s Hall. In excerpts released shortly before the film’s broadcast, Putin said Russian intelligence agencies had intercepted calls between the separatists and the US intelligence based in Azerbaijan during the early 2000s, proving that Washington was helping the insurgents.