Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his first interview with a Western journalist since the invasion, broadcast on Thursday the 8th of February, said that while Russia was determined to defend its interests “to the end”, it had no intention of expanding the war in Ukraine to other countries such as Poland and Latvia, reports Reuters.
Putin has said that Western leaders have realised that Russia cannot be strategically defeated and are thinking what to do next, adding that “we are ready for this conversation”.
Putin’s interview with conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson, which lasted more than two hours, was held in Moscow on Tuesday and was broadcast on “tuckercarlson.com” and published on “X”. In the interview, in which Putin does a lot of talking around, he speaks in Russian and his remarks were dubbed into English.
Ep. 73 The Vladimir Putin Interview pic.twitter.com/67YuZRkfLL
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 8, 2024
Asked if he could imagine a scenario in which he would send Russian troops into Poland, Putin replied:
“Only in one case, if Poland attacked Russia. Why?
We have no interests in Poland, in Latvia or anywhere else.
Why would we do that? We simply have no interests there.”
Putin spent much of the interview complaining that Ukraine came close to reaching an agreement on a cessation of hostilities at the Istanbul talks in April 2022, but, he said, Ukraine backed down as soon as Russia withdrew its troops from the Kyiv area.
“Now let them think how to change the situation”, he said, expressing concern about the situation in Ukraine, mobilisation, internal problems,
predicting that this would eventually lead to an agreement.
Russian President Putin also advised the US to address pressing domestic political issues and engage in talks with Russia. “Would it not be better to negotiate with Russia?” he said, stressing the need for an agreement, of course in view of Russia’s determination to defend its interests.
Tucker’s interview coincided with a debate among US lawmakers on additional funding for the Ukraine war effort. A 61 billion US dollar aid bill for Ukraine was advanced in a procedural vote in the Senate, facing uncertainty in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, where some members supporting former President Trump have opposed aid to Ukraine.
On the same day as the interview was published, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy also replaced Army Chief Zaluzhny.
The Kremlin has said that Putin agreed to Carlson’s interview because the former Fox News anchor’s approach differed from the “one-sided” coverage of the Ukraine conflict by many Western news services. Carlson also has said that most Western media coverage of the war is biased in favour of Kyiv.
Also read: Tucker Carlson is not ruling out interview with Putin
Also read: Zelenskyy could replace several Ukrainian officials, not only military
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