Then Mr. Stone brings up the thorny subject of L.G.B.T. rights, which Mr. Putin takes as an opportunity to assert both his desirability and his homophobia: He says that he would not enter a shower stall with a gay man because he wouldn’t want to tempt him, and because he is a master of judo. In other words, the hypothetical gay man would find Mr. Putin irresistible, and Mr. Putin would have to beat him up. Both Mr. Putin and Mr. Stone seem to find this scenario entertaining.

In Episode 3, Mr. Putin shows Mr. Stone his home in Sochi. Mr. Stone is duly impressed. Then they go to the Kremlin. “This is a pretty big place you’ve got here,” Mr. Stone enthuses. “Can you show me around?”

Mr. Putin obliges, taking Mr. Stone to an office where a monitor is broadcasting — perhaps on a loop — Mr. Putin’s famous 2007 speech denouncing NATO and the West, and to another office, where the Russian president keeps a portrait of his father as a young sailor in Crimea. At the conclusion of the episode, Mr. Stone recites to Mr. Putin the Russian president’s own speech about the annexation of Crimea. Mr. Stone seems to enjoy having Mr. Putin’s words in his mouth. Mr. Putin is clearly pleased to hear his own speech, albeit in English.

Condition No. 3: Shared prejudice. Mr. Stone and Mr. Putin are both terrified of Muslims. This shared view facilitates much of their conversation. In Episode 1, Mr. Stone informed Mr. Putin that William J. Casey, who led the C.I.A. in the 1980s, had a project “to excite the Muslims in the Caucasus in Central Asia.” (Mr. Stone is apparently unaware that the Caucasus and Central Asia are two different regions, hundreds of miles apart.)

In Episode 2, Mr. Stone offers his sympathy to Mr. Putin: “You mentioned earlier, the white, the ethnic Russian population is diminishing,” he says, apparently believing that Russia was, consequently, in danger. But Mr. Putin has good news: “Fortunately, we have reversed this situation. For three years running, we have had population growth, including in regions that are historically majority ethnic-Russian.” Mr. Putin practically appears to be the savior of the white race.

Condition No. 4: An inability or an unwillingness to distinguish fact from fiction. Throughout the interviews, Mr. Stone appears to ask Mr. Putin prearranged questions, probably written by the Russian president’s staff. Such scripted questions are standard fare for Mr. Putin’s annual news conference with Russian journalists.

In Episode 1, for example, Mr. Stone, after fumbling through a set of inaccurate biographical queries, suddenly asks Mr. Putin about assassination attempts against him. There had been more plots against Mr. Putin, says Mr. Stone, than against Fidel Castro. “There is a legitimate five I’ve heard about,” he says confidently. This is remarkable, because journalists who have covered Mr. Putin — including me — have not heard of five, four or even one attempt to assassinate the Russian president (though Russian law enforcement has claimed to have foiled a plot or two). But Mr. Putin is not at all surprised at the question and proceeds to answer it confidently.