‘Uproar and screaming’: Vladimir Putin takes control of Tucker Carlson interview
NATO must accept that a Ukraine victory over Russia is ‘impossible’ Vladimir Putin tells Tucker Carlson, who was forced to listen quietly as the Russian president lectured him on history.
Defeating Russia in Ukraine is “impossible” and NATO must accept Moscow’s territorial gains there, President Vladimir Putin has told US talk show host Tucker Carlson.
In a two-hour interview with the former Fox News host — coming just ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — Mr Putin also said a deal “can be reached” on imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
“Certain terms being discussed via special services channels,” he said, while insisting that the reporter is a spy — something the Journal and US government vehemently deny.
Carlson had trumpeted the interview as a triumph – it was the first one-on-one interview of Mr Putin by someone from the Western media since 2019.
However Carlson, who is close to White House candidate and former president Donald Trump, asked few tough questions and largely listened while the Kremlin leader lectured him on his views of Russian history, portraying the country as a victim of Western betrayals.
During the wide-ranging history lesson that took in pre-Soviet Russia, Ukraine and Poland, Carlson repeatedly asked how the history was relevant to Ukraine today. In response, Mr Putin shut him down, asking: “Are we having a show or a serious discussion?”
Mr Putin defended his decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022. And he said the West now realises that Russia will not be defeated, despite US, European and NATO help to Ukraine.
“Up until now, there has been the uproar and screaming about inflicting a strategic defeat to Russia on the battlefield. But now they are apparently coming to realise that it is difficult to achieve, if possible, at all. In my opinion, it is impossible by definition,” he said.
He also aimed a message at the US Congress, where Trump-dominated Republicans are increasingly reluctant to keep backing Ukraine with weapons and other military aid.
“I will tell you what we are saying on this matter and what we are conveying to the US leadership. If you really want to stop fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons,” he said.
When asked if Moscow would consider invading other countries in the region — NATO members Poland and Latvia — or generally across the European continent, Mr Putin said that was “out of the question.” “We have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don’t have any interest. It’s just threat mongering,” Putin said.
A war with Poland, he said, would happen “only in one case: if Poland attacks Russia.”
Asked about a possible change in leadership after the US election, where Biden is expected to face off against Trump in a rematch of their 2020 contest, Putin indicated he would see little change.
“You just asked me if another leader comes and changes something? It is not about the leader. It is not about the personality of a particular person.”
Carlson rarely pushed back in his interview — recorded Tuesday and posted on Carlson’s own website — and did not challenge Putin over his relationship with Mr Trump.
While president and since being defeated by Joe Biden, Mr Trump has repeatedly praised Mr Putin and failed to condemn the invasion of Ukraine — saying that if he was re-elected he would be able to solve the war in “24 hours,” though not saying how.
By contrast, Mr Biden has branded Mr Putin a “war criminal” and has made backing for Ukraine’s elected, pro-Western government one of the key priorities of his presidency.
AFP
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