MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. US filmmaker Oliver Stone, who recently released a documentary about Russian President Vladimir Putin, could not have made a sub-quality picture, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"Oliver Stone is a very gifted filmmaker so he could not have made some low-quality picture," he said. "Let us wait and see for ourselves if this documentary opens Putin up to those who want to know more about him," Peskov added.
When asked if Stone would be able to make the West change its opinion on the Russian president, the Kremlin spokesman repeated Putin’s statement in which he said that some western countries "are overcome by hatred for Russia which borders on political schizophrenia." "Of course, it will be difficult to make them understand anything while they are going through such an acute phase, but when remission comes, it could be done," the Russian presidential spokesman added.
In response to a question if President Putin had seen the first part of the documentary which had aired in the US on Monday, Peskov said: "It was not aired in Russia, the US Showtime TV channel broadcast it yesterday, today the second part will be on air. The documentary premiered in the US, then Europe’s turn will come, as far as we know, (Russian rights) were purchased by Channel One, so we will wait until it airs here."
In an interview with The Guardian, Oliver Stone said that his four-part documentary dubbed The Putin Interviews was aimed at building "a rounded portrait of arguably the most fascinating and frightening world leader in a generation." When asked why he had not challenged Putin, Stone said that "It’s not my job to do that." According to the filmmaker, he wanted not to "change Putin’s mind, but to show it," as well as to show that "Putin is not so very different to many world leaders."