
One-off
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Director(s):
JOHNSON (Thomas)
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Producer(s):
ARTLINE FILMS, ARTE FRANCE
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Territories:
Worldwide.
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Production year:
2025
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Language(s):
German, English, French
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Rights:
TV, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD
A geopolitical journey to the heart of a monumental project, the “Five Seas System”, a network of Russian waterways designed by Putin on the basis of Russian imperialism, linking Russia to five seas: the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Caspian Sea, the Baltic Sea and the White Sea.
Since coming to power, Vladimir Putin has pursued an ambitious yet little-known goal: restoring Russia’s greatness by reclaiming control over the “Five Seas.” Inspired by Peter the Great and Stalin, this vision aims to make Moscow a maritime empire.
From the 2008 war in Georgia to the 2014 annexation of Crimea, the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and recent tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh, each conflict follows the same pattern: using maritime regions as tools of reconquest and influence. Putin wages a hybrid war — blending military action, political and economic control, and digital interference.
With exclusive archives, expert testimony, and on-the-ground footage from Georgia, Estonia, and Finland, Putin and the War of the Five Seas unveils a neo-imperial project long underestimated by the West.
A crucial documentary for understanding a geopolitical strategy driven by nationalism, trade routes, energy ambitions, and imperial memory.