got a platform to spread his propaganda.
Putin in an interview with Carlson in the Kremlin/Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin told American presenter Tucker Carlson in an interview that Moscow will fight for its interests "to the end", but added that he has no intention of invading other countries.
Carlson, one of the prominent supporters of former President Donald Trump who holds pro-Russian positions, is the first American media personality to interview Putin since the outbreak of war in Ukraine two years ago.
The interview, which lasted about two hours, took place in the Kremlin on Tuesday, and was published on Carlson's website tonight (Friday).
In an interview in which Putin was able to deliver his message almost without interruption, the Russian president claimed that the leaders of the West understood that they were not capable of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.
According to him, they are now wondering what they should do.
"We are ready for this dialogue," added Putin, who urged the United States to stop the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
Washington has already sent more than $110 billion in military aid, and another large aid package is stalled in Congress due to the objections of parts of the Republican Party.
The President of Russia even expressed his assessment that an agreement could be reached for the release of the imprisoned American journalist Ivan Gershkovich, who has been detained for almost a year and is on trial for espionage.
According to Putin, the intelligence services of Russia and the United States are in talks regarding Gershkovich and there is progress on the matter.
Critics of Carlson's interview with Putin cited Gershkovich and other reporters who have been jailed or paid with their lives for doing real journalism in Russia, while the former Fox News anchor, who peddles a long list of conspiracy theories, was received as a star in Moscow.
The last interview of the Russian president with an American media outlet was in October 2021, with Heidley Gamble of the CNBC network.
The interview included a monologue in which Putin reviewed Russian history for about half an hour, and about its relations with Ukraine, Poland and other countries.
He was asked if he sees a scenario where he orders his forces to invade Poland, a NATO member, and replied: "Only in one case, where Poland attacks Russia.
Why?
Because we have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else.
Why would we do that?
We have no interest in that."
Putin, who spoke in Russian and dubbed into English, devoted a large part of the interview to accusing Ukraine of withdrawing at the last minute from an agreement to end the war at talks held in Istanbul in April 2022. According to him, it withdrew at the moment when Russian forces withdrew from the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.
"Now let them think about how to turn the situation around," said the Russian president, who next month will run for another term in elections known in advance. "We are not against it.
It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
The incessant recruitment in Ukraine, the hysteria, the internal problems, sooner or later this will end in an agreement."
Addressing the American public, he said that the United States has its own burning problems to worry about a war in Ukraine. "Isn't it better to negotiate with Russia?
reach an agreement.
Understand already the situation that is developing today, understand that Russia will fight for its interests to the end."
The United States has already made it clear that it rejects Putin's terms for negotiations, but it seems that the Russian president is betting on Trump's return to the White House and his willingness to dialogue with Moscow.
"There have been examples. Fight for the success of such talks," Putin said about the possibility of the release of journalist Gershkovich. In December 2022, Moscow released WNBA star Brittany Griner, who was imprisoned for drug offenses, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bot. Putin hinted that he wanted Gershkovich in exchange Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in 2019 of the murder of an opponent of the Chechen regime in Berlin, although he did not mention him by name.
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Russia
Vladimir Putin
The war in Ukraine