Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to a Western journalist for the first time since the start of the Ukrainian war. Russian leader Putin answered the questions of US journalist Tucker Carlson. Journalist Carlson shared the interview, which was eagerly awaited all over the world, on his website and social media accounts.
5 MILLION VIEWS IN 30 MINUTES
Carlson, who created a controversy after announcing that he would interview Putin, published the interview on X and received 5 million views in the first 30 minutes.
“WE ARE NOW BURGEois, LIKE YOU. THERE IS NO COMMUNIST PARTY POWER”
In an interview in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia was “deceived” by the West after the end of the Cold War and said that the aggressive NATO made five moves to expand eastward. Putin continued, “We endured all of this. We were trying to persuade them. We were saying please don’t do it. We are now bourgeois like you. We are a market economy and the Communist Party has no power. We said let’s negotiate.”
RUSSIA JOINING NATO: “I ASKED HIM CLEARLY”
“In a meeting we had with Bill Clinton (Former US President) when he was still president, I asked him, ‘Can’t we consider the option of Russia joining NATO?’ I asked. He replied, ‘You know, it’s an interesting question, I think it would be possible.’ However, when we met with him for dinner a little later, he said to me, ‘You know, I talked to my team, no, as of now, such a thing is not possible.’ ‘It is possible.’ “If he had given the answer, the process of rapprochement would have begun, and eventually, if we had been sure of the sincerity of our partners on this issue, this (Russia joining NATO) could have happened. But it did not happen. Well, what can we say if it did not happen?”
“ONE OF THE GOALS IS TO PURIFY UKRAINE OF NAZIS”
The conflict in Ukraine was fueled by the state coup in this country. The Ukrainian administration started the war in 2014. Our goal is to stop this war. We didn’t start a war in 2022, we tried to end it. For now we have not fully achieved our goals (in the special military operation in Ukraine), because one of these goals is to clear Ukraine of the Nazis. This was one of the problems we discussed during the negotiation process that ended in Istanbul at the beginning of last year.
POSSIBILITY OF PEACE
(To the question about the possibility of peace negotiations with Ukraine) The negotiation process was going on like this, and it had almost reached the completion point. However, as I said, when we withdrew our army units from the area around Kiev, Ukraine threw away all the agreements we had reached and began to comply with the instructions of European countries and the USA to fight until victory against Russia.
WILL THERE BE AN ATTACK ON POLAND AND LATVIA?
(To the question about the possibility of Russia attacking Poland or Latvia) This scenario can only come true if Poland attacks Russia. From where? Because we have no interest in either Poland or Latvia. Why do we need this? There are only threats.
SANCTIONS
The sanctions tools used by the USA do not work. We are not attacking anyone. How did the events in Ukraine begin? “It started with the state coup and the conflicts in Donbass, and we are protecting our people, ourselves, our homeland and our future.”