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Los Angeles, May 18 (IANS) Two-time Academy Award-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky is working on a new series that charts the rise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The producer describes it as "the actual, horrifying story of how the man who changed the world got the power to do so," reports 'Variety'.
Produced by Rodnyansky's L.A.-based production shingle AR Content, 'All the Kremlin's Men' is based on the bestseller by acclaimed reporter Mikhail Zygar, the former editor-in-chief of Russian independent station TV Rain, which was banned and disbanded in the first week of the war in Ukraine.
The book is based on an extraordinary series of interviews with Putin's inner circle.
The series will tell the story of how an unassuming ex-KGB officer became one of the most feared politicians in the world, drawing back the curtain on what goes on behind the Kremlin's walls and revealing how Putin and his inner circle operate.
It offers a timely look at the events that shaped the Russian president on his ascent to power, foreshadowing Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
"In a situation when the fate of Europe and the New World Order is decided in real time on the battlefield of Ukraine, the war that shook the foundations of modern society was launched by one man: Putin," said Rodnyansky.
Describing the series as a Russian "House of Cards," he added: "The show will chart not just the machinations of the various players. At its core, the story will trace the evolution of Putin's mind."
Even as he clamped down on domestic media, the former KGB operative in East Germany did initially try to woo the West, said the producer. But after the Iraq War, and particularly the so-called colour revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, Putin felt betrayed.
"The war that he wages in Ukraine is the direct result of this feeling," said Rodnyansky.
"All the Kremlin's Men' will show to the international audience how step by step, Putin's mind dissolved into conspiracy theories, and how people around him exploited his deep fears and mistrust of Western values, which he always saw as cynical lies."
Rodnyansky-produced 'Beanpole' won the best director prize in Cannes' Un Certain Regard in 2019.
