In February 2007, at the Munich Conference for Global Security, Vladimir Putin threw a big - and cold - tantrum. At the podium, he denounced the unilateralism of the United States and announced the end of a unipolar world. Although virulent, his speech was not really listened to. Seven years after the obscure KGB officer's surprise seizure of power, the West still underestimates his obsession with putting Russia back at the centre of the world stage. However, when Putin saw NATO gradually moving closer to Russia's borders thanks to the accession of former Eastern bloc countries, he felt threatened and betrayed, and struck quickly and hard. It intervenes in Georgia, Ukraine and Crimea, defends its interests in Syria and Libya, and extends its influence on the African continent, notably in the Central African Republic. Tactician and opportunist, the autocrat has made foreign policy his fatal weapon, both a tool for regaining pride and for national cohesion. How far will he go?  

The hammer and the disorder 
A country ruined in the early 2000s, despised and isolated, Russia is now respected, feared... and fantasised about. Well on his way to beating Stalin's longevity record, the "tsar" Putin is building step by step, but violently, his dream of the return of a great Empire, non-aligned and autonomous. This documentary by Frédéric Tonolli (Albert-London Prize in 1996) takes a close look at the deep motivations of the man who is described as a "pragmatic realist" and not an ideologue. Between "diplomacy of the hammer" and "strategy of disorder", diplomats, opponents and observers, including former minister Hubert Védrine, independent but threatened Russian journalists, such as Dmitri Mouratov, Nobel Peace Prize winner, or lecturer Kevin Limonier, analyse Putin's unparalleled ability to interfere in the cracks of world geopolitics. It is undeniable that the Russian bear is leading the way in a new cold war.