This is likely to be a very interesting interview for multiple reasons. The “Western world” has not heard much unfiltered or unscripted news about Russian President Vladimir Putin for several years, essentially since the sanctions were imposed in the aftermath of Russia’s entry into Ukraine and the subsequent war.
The backlash against Tucker Carlson has been extreme ever since his entry into Russia and visibility in Moscow was noticed. President Putin having the ability to speak directly to a Western audience is not something any of the Western government officials are comfortable with.
The following is an UPDATED version of the Carlson interview.
Tucker: The following is an interview with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Shot February 6th, 2024, at about 7 p.m in the building behind us, which is, of course, the Kremlin. The interview, as you will see if you watch it, is primarily about the war in progress, the war in Ukraine, how it started, what’s happening, and most pressingly how it might end.
One note before you watch. At the beginning of the interview, we asked the most obvious question, which is why did you do this? Did you feel a threat, an imminent physical threat, and that’s your justification. And the answer we got shocked us.
Putin went on for a very long time, probably half an hour, about the history of Russia going back to the eighth century. And honestly, we thought this was a filibustering technique and found it annoying and interrupted him several times, and he responded. He was annoyed by the interruption.
But we concluded in the end, for what it’s worth, that it was not a filibustering technique. There was no time limit on the interview. We ended it after more than two hours. Instead, what you’re about to see seemed to us sincere whether you agree with it or not. Vladimir Putin believes that Russia has a historic claim to parts of western Ukraine. So our opinion would be to view it in that light as a sincere expression of what he thinks. And with that, here it is.
Tucker Carlson: Mr. President, thank you.
On February 24, 2022, you addressed your country in your nationwide address when the conflict in Ukraine started and you said that you were acting because you had come to the conclusion that the United States through NATO might initiate a quote, “surprise attack on our country.” And to American ears that sounds paranoid. Tell us why you believe the United States might strike Russia out of the blue. How did you conclude that?
Vladimir Putin: It’s not that the United States was going to launch a surprise strike on Russia, I didn’t say so. Are we having a talk show or serious conversation?
Tucker Carlson: That was a good quote. Thank you, it’s formidably serious!
Vladimir Putin: You were initially trained in history, as far as I know?
Tucker Carlson: Yes.
Vladimir Putin: So if you don’t mind I will take only 30 seconds or one minute of your time for giving you a little historical background.
Tucker Carlson: Please.
Vladimir Putin: Let’s look where our relationship with Ukraine started from. Where does Ukraine come from?
The Russian state started to exist as a centralized state in 862. This is considered to be the year of creation of the Russian state because this year the townspeople of Novgorod (a city in the North-West of the country) invited Rurik, a Varangian (Viking) prince from Scandinavia (now Denmark), to reign.
[In other words, the Russian state was first ruled by a Viking from Denmark!]
In 1862, Russia celebrated the 1000th anniversary of its statehood, and in Novgorod there is a memorial dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the country.
In 882, Rurik’s successor Prince Oleg, who was, actually, playing the role of regent at Rurik’s young son because Rurik had died by that time, came to Kiev. He ousted two brothers who, apparently, had once been members of Rurik’s squad. So, Russia began to develop with two centers of power, Kiev and Novgorod.
[A regent is simply someone who rules a Kingdom when the Monarch is not able to.]
The next, very significant date in the history of Russia, was 988. This was the Baptism of Russia, when Prince Vladimir, the great-grandson of Rurik, baptized Russia and adopted Orthodoxy, or Eastern Christianity. From this time the centralized Russian state began to strengthen. Why? Because of a single territory, integrated economic ties, one and the same language and, after the Baptism of Russia, the same faith and rule of the Prince. The centralized Russian state began to take shape.
Back in the Middle Ages, Prince Yaroslav the Wise introduced the order of succession to the throne, but after he passed away, it became complicated for various reasons. The throne was passed not directly from father to eldest son, but from the prince who had passed away to his brother, then to his sons in different lines. All this led to the fragmentation and the end of Rus as a single state.
There was nothing special about it, the same was happening then in Europe. But the fragmented Russian state became an easy prey to Genghis Khan.
His successors, namely, Batu Khan, came to Rus, plundered and ruined nearly all the cities. The southern part, including Kiev, by the way, and some other cities, simply lost independence, while northern cities preserved some of their sovereignty. They had to pay tribute to the Horde, but they managed to preserve some part of their sovereignty.
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And then a unified Russian state began to take shape with its centre in Moscow.
The southern part of the Russian lands, including Kiev, began to gradually gravitate towards another ”magnet“ – the centre that was emerging in Europe. This was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was even called the Lithuanian-Russian Duchy, because Russians were a significant part of its population. They spoke the Old Russian language and were Orthodox.
But then there was a unification, the union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. A few years later, another union was signed, but this time already in the religious sphere. Some of the Orthodox priests became subordinate to the Pope. Thus, these lands became part of the Polish-Lithuanian state.
For decades, the Poles were engaged in the ”Polonization“ of this part of the population: they introduced their language there, tried to entrench the idea that this population was not exactly Russians, that because they lived on the fringe (u kraya) they were “Ukrainians”.
Originally, the word ‘Ukrainian’ meant that a person was living on the outskirts of the state, near the fringe, or was engaged in border service. It didn’t mean any particular ethnic group.
So, the Poles were trying in every possible way to polonize this part of the Russian lands and actually treated it rather harshly, not to say cruelly. All that led to the fact that this part of the Russian lands began to struggle for their rights. They wrote letters to Warsaw demanding that their rights be observed and that people be commissioned here, including to Kiev…
Tucker Carlson: I beg your pardon, can you tell us what period… I am losing track of where in history we are?
Vladimir Putin: It was in the 13th century.
Now I will tell what happened later and give the dates so that there is no confusion. In 1654, even a bit earlier, the people who were in control of the authority over that part of the Russian lands, addressed Warsaw (Poland) demanding their rights be observed and that they send to them rulers of Russian origin and Orthodox faith. When Warsaw did not answer them and in fact rejected their demands, they turned to Moscow so that Moscow took them away.
So that you don’t think that I am inventing things… I’ll give you these documents…
Tucker Carlson: It doesn’t sound like you are inventing it, but I am not sure why it’s relevant to what’s happened two years ago.
Vladimir Putin: But still, these are documents from the archives, copies. Here are letters from Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the man who then controlled the power in this part of the Russian lands that is now called Ukraine. He wrote to Warsaw demanding that their rights be upheld, and after being refused, he began to write letters to Moscow asking to take them under the strong hand of the Moscow Tsar. There are copies of these documents. I will leave them for your good memory. There is a translation into Russian, you can translate it into English later.
Russia would not agree to admit them straight away, assuming this would trigger a war with Poland. Nevertheless, in 1654, the Zemsky Sobor, which was a representative body of power of the Old Russian state, made the decision: those Old Russian lands became part of the Tsardom of Muscovy.
As expected, the war with Poland began. It lasted 13 years, and then a truce was concluded. In all, after that act of 1654, 32 years later, I think, a peace treaty with Poland was concluded, “the eternal peace,” as it said. And those lands, the whole left bank of the Dnieper, including Kiev, reverted to Russia, while the entire right bank of the Dnieper remained in possession of Poland.
Under the rule of Catherine the Great, Russia reclaimed all of its historical lands, including in the south and west. This all lasted until the Revolution.
Before World War I, Austrian General Staff relied on the ideas of Ukrainianization and started actively promoting the ideas of Ukraine and the Ukrainianization. Their motive was obvious. Just before World War I they wanted to weaken the potential enemy and secure themselves favourable conditions in the border area. So the idea which had emerged in Poland that people residing in that territory were allegedly not really Russians, but rather belonged to a special ethnic group, Ukrainians, started being propagated by the Austrian General Staff.
As far back as the 19th century, theorists calling for Ukrainian independence appeared. All those, however, claimed that Ukraine should have a very good relationship with Russia. They insisted on that.
After the 1917 Revolution, the Bolsheviks sought to restore the statehood, and the Civil War began, including the hostilities with Poland. In 1921, peace with Poland was proclaimed, and under that treaty, the right bank of the Dnieper River once again was given back to Poland.
[Who were the Bolsheviks? The Bolsheviks or Reds, came to power in Russia around 1917. Vladimir Lenin founded the Communist Party of Russia (Bolsheviks) which later became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party International. Lenin was born in Russia and basically became a Communist when he was 17 years old after he brother was hanged for trying to assassinate the Russian Tsar. Lenin overthrew the Russian empire, aligned with Marx & formed the Communist Soviet Union. Lenin and the Bolsheviks recognized Ukraine as a distinct nation with its own language, culture, and history, and granted it autonomy within the Soviet Union. Why?]
In 1939, after Poland cooperated with Hitler — it did collaborate with Hitler, you know —Hitler offered Poland peace and a treaty of friendship and alliance (we have all the relevant documents in the archives), demanding in return that Poland give back to Germany the so-called Danzig Corridor, which connected the bulk of Germany with East Prussia and Konigsberg. After World War I this territory was transferred to Poland, and instead of Danzig, a city of Gdansk emerged. Hitler asked them to give it amicably, but they refused. Still they collaborated with Hitler and engaged together in the partitioning of Czechoslovakia.
Tucker Carlson: May I ask… You are making the case that Ukraine, certain parts of Ukraine, Eastern Ukraine, in fact, has been Russia for hundreds of years, why wouldn’t you just take it when you became President 24 years ago? Your have nuclear weapons, they don’t. It’s actually your land. Why did you wait so long?
Vladimir Putin: I’ll tell you. I’m coming to that. This briefing is coming to an end. It might be boring, but it explains many things.
Tucker Carlson: It’s not boring.
Vladimir Putin: Good. Good. I am so gratified that you appreciate that. Thank you.
So before World War II, Poland collaborated with Hitler and although it did not yield to Hitler’s demands, it still participated in the partitioning of Czechoslovakia together with Hitler. As the Poles had not given the Danzig Corridor to Germany, and went too far, pushing Hitler to start World War II by attacking them. Why was it Poland against whom the war started on 1 September 1939? Poland turned out to be uncompromising, and Hitler had nothing to do but start implementing his plans with Poland.
By the way, the USSR — I have read some archive documents — behaved very honestly. It asked Poland’s permission to transit its troops through the Polish territory to help Czechoslovakia. But the then Polish foreign minister said that if the Soviet planes flew over Poland, they would be downed over the territory of Poland. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the war began, and Poland fell prey to the policies it had pursued against Czechoslovakia, as under the well-known Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, part of that territory, including western Ukraine, was to be given to Russia. Thus Russia, which was then named the USSR, regained its historical lands.
After the victory in the Great Patriotic War, as we call World War II, all those territories were ultimately enshrined as belonging to Russia, to the USSR.
As for Poland, it received, apparently in compensation, the lands which had originally being German: the eastern parts of Germany (these are now western lands of Poland). Of course, Poland regained access to the Baltic sea, and Danzig, which was once again given its Polish name. So this was how this situation developed.
In 1922, when the USSR was being established, the Bolsheviks started building the USSR and established the Soviet Ukraine, which had never existed before.
Tucker Carlson: Right.
Vladimir Putin: Stalin insisted that those republics be included in the USSR as autonomous entities. For some inexplicable reason, Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state, insisted that they be entitled to withdraw from the USSR. And, again for some unknown reasons, he transferred to that newly established Soviet Republic of Ukraine some of the lands together with people living there, even though those lands had never been called Ukraine; and yet they were made part of that Soviet Republic of Ukraine.
Those lands included the Black Sea region, which was received under Catherine the Great and which had no historical connection with Ukraine whatsoever.
Even if we go as far back as 1654, when these lands returned to the Russian Empire, that territory was the size of three to four regions of modern Ukraine, with no Black Sea region. That was completely out of the question.
Tucker Carlson: In 1654?
Vladimir Putin: Exactly.
Tucker Carlson: You have, I see, encyclopedic knowledge of this region. But why didn’t you make this case for the first 22 years as president, that Ukraine wasn’t a real country?
Vladimir Putin: The Soviet Ukraine was given a great deal of territory that had never belonged to it, including the Black Sea region. At some point, when Russia received them as an outcome of the Russo-Turkish wars, they were called “New Russia” or Novorossiya.
But that does not matter. What matters is that Lenin, the founder of the Soviet State, established Ukraine that way. For decades, the Ukrainian Soviet Republic developed as part of the USSR, and for unknown reasons again, the Bolsheviks were engaged in Ukrainianization. [Why?]
It was not merely because the Soviet leadership was composed to a great extent of those originating from Ukraine.
Rather, it was explained by the general policy of indigenization pursued by the Soviet Union. Same things were done in other Soviet republics. This involved promoting national languages and national cultures, which is not bad in principle. That is how the Soviet Ukraine was created.
After World War II, Ukraine received, in addition to the lands that had belonged to Poland before the war, part of the lands that had previously belonged to Hungary and Romania (today known as Western Ukraine). So Romania and Hungary had some of their lands taken away and given to the Ukraine and they still remain part of Ukraine. So in this sense, we have every reason to affirm that Ukraine is an artificial state that was shaped at Stalin’s will.
Tucker Carlson: Do you believe Hungary has a right to take back its land from Ukraine? And that other nations have a right to go back to their 1654 borders?
Vladimir Putin: I am not sure whether they should go back to the 1654 borders, but given Stalin’s time, so-called Stalin’s regime — which as many claim saw numerous violations of human rights and violations of the rights of other states – one may say that they could claim back those lands of theirs, while having no right to do that, it is at least understandable…
Tucker Carlson: Have you told Viktor Orbán (the President of Hungary) that he can have a part of Ukraine?
Vladimir Putin: Never. I have never told him. Not a single time. We have not even had any conversation on that, but I actually know for sure that Hungarians who live there wanted to get back to their historical land.
Moreover, I would like to share a very interesting story with you, I’ll digress, it’s a personal one. Somewhere in the early 80’s, I went on a road trip on a car from then-Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) across the Soviet Union through Kiev, made a stop in Kiev, and then went to Western Ukraine. I went to the town of Beregovoye, and all the names of towns and villages there were in Russian and in a language I didn’t understand – in Hungarian – in Russian and in Hungarian. Not in Ukrainian – in Russian and in Hungarian.
I was driving through some kind of a village and there were men sitting next to the houses and they were wearing black three-piece suits and black cylinder hats.
I asked, ”Are they some kind of entertainers?“ I was told, ”No, they’re not entertainers. They’re Hungarians. ‘I said, ‘What are they doing here?’ — ‘What do you mean? This is their land, they live here.’ This was during the Soviet time, in the 1980’s. They preserve the Hungarian language, Hungarian names, and all their national costumes. They are Hungarians and they feel themselves to be Hungarians. And of course, when now there is an infringement….
Tucker Carlson: And there’s a lot of that though, I think. Many nations feel upset about — there are Transylvanians as well as you, others, you know — but many nations feel frustrated by their re-drawn borders after the wars of the 20th century, and wars going back a thousand years, the ones that you mention, but the fact is that you didn’t make this case in public until two years ago in February, and in the case that you made, which I read today, you explain a great length that you thought a physical threat from the West and NATO, including potentially a nuclear threat, and that’s what got you to move. Is that a fair characterization of what you said?
Vladimir Putin: I understand that my long speeches probably fall outside of the genre of an interview. That is why I asked you at the beginning: ”Are we going to have a serious talk or a show?“ You said — a serious talk. So bear with me please.
We are coming to the point where the Soviet Ukraine was established. Then, in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. And everything that Russia had generously bestowed on Ukraine was ”dragged away“ by the latter.
I’m coming to a very important point of today’s agenda. After all, the collapse of the Soviet Union was effectively initiated by the Russian leadership. I do not understand what the Russian leadership was guided by at the time, but I suspect there were several reasons to think everything would be fine.
First, I think that the then Russian leadership believed that the fundamentals of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine were: in fact, a common language — more than 90 percent of the population there spoke Russian; family ties — every third person there had some kind of family or friendship ties; common culture; common history; finally, common faith; co-existence within a single state for centuries; and deeply interconnected economies. All of these were so fundamental. All these elements together make our good relations inevitable.
The second point is a very important one. I want you as an American citizen and your viewers to hear about this as well.
The former Russian leadership assumed that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and therefore there were no longer any ideological dividing lines. Russia even agreed, voluntarily and proactively, to the collapse of the Soviet Union and believed that this would be understood by the so-called (now in scare quotes) ”civilized West“ as an invitation for cooperation and associateship. That is what Russia was expecting both from the United States and the so-called collective West as a whole.
There were smart people, including in Germany. Egon Bahr, a major politician of the Social Democratic Party, who insisted in his personal conversations with the Soviet leadership on the brink of the collapse of the Soviet Union that a new security system should be established in Europe. Help should be given to unify Germany, but a new system should also be established to include the United States, Canada, Russia, and other Central European countries. But NATO needs not to expand.
That’s what he said: if NATO expands, everything would be just the same as during the Cold War, only closer to Russia’s borders. That’s all. He was a wise old man, but no one listened to him. In fact, he got angry once (we have a record of this conversation in our archives): ”If, he said, you don’t listen to me, I’m never setting my foot in Moscow once again.“ He was frustrated with the Soviet leadership. He was right, everything happened just as he had said.
Tucker Carlson: Well, of course, it did come true, and you’ve mentioned it many times. I think, it’s a fair point. And many in America thought that relations between Russia and United States would be fine after the collapse of the Soviet Union, at the core. But the opposite happened. But have never explained why you think that happened, except to say that the West fears a strong Russia. But we have a strong China that the West doesn’t seem to be very afraid of. What about Russia, what do you think convinced the policymakers to take it down?
Vladimir Putin: The West is afraid of a strong China more than it fears a strong Russia because Russia has 150 million people, and China has a 1.5 billion population, and its economy is growing by leaps and bounds — over five percent a year, it used to be even more. But that’s enough for China. As Bismark once put it, potentials are most important. China’s potential is enormous — it is the biggest economy in the world today in terms of purchasing power parity and the size of the economy. It has already overtaken the United States, quite a long time ago, and it is growing at a rapid clip.
Let’s not talk about who is afraid of whom, let’s not reason in such terms. And let’s get into the fact that after 1991, when Russia expected that it would be welcomed into the brotherly family of ”civilized nations,“ nothing like this happened.
You tricked us (I don’t mean you personally when I say ”you“, of course, I’m talking about the United States), the promise was that NATO would not expand eastward, but it happened five times, there were five waves of expansion.
We tolerated all that, we were trying to persuade them, we were saying: ”Please don’t, we are as bourgeois now as you are, we are a market economy, and there is no Communist Party power. Let’s negotiate.“ Moreover, I have also said this publicly before (let’s look at Yeltsin’s times now), there was a moment when a certain rift started growing between us. Before that, Yeltsin came to the United States, remember, he spoke in Congress and said the good words: ”God bless America“. Everything he said were signals — let us in.
Remember the developments in Yugoslavia, before that Yeltsin was lavished with praise, as soon as the developments in Yugoslavia started, he raised his voice in support of Serbs, and we couldn’t but raise our voices for Serbs in their defense. I understand that there were complex processes underway there, I do. But Russia could not help raising its voice in support of Serbs, because Serbs are also a special and close to us nation, with Orthodox culture and so on. It’s a nation that has suffered so much for generations.
Well, regardless, what is important is that Yeltsin expressed his support. What did the United States do? In violation of international law and the UN Charter it started bombing Belgrade.
It was the United States that let the genie out of the bottle. Moreover, when Russia protested and expressed its resentment, what was said? The UN Charter and international law have become obsolete. Now everyone invokes international law, but at that time they started saying that everything was outdated, everything had to be changed.
Indeed, some things need to be changed as the balance of power has changed, it’s true, but not in this manner. Yeltsin was immediately dragged through the mud, accused of alcoholism, of understanding nothing, of knowing nothing. He understood everything, I assure you.
Well, I became President in 2000. I thought: okay, the Yugoslav issue is over, but we should try to restore relations. Let’s reopen the door that Russia had tried to go through. And moreover, I’ve said it publicly, I can reiterate. At a meeting here in the Kremlin with the outgoing President Bill Clinton, right here in the next room, I said to him, I asked him, ” Bill, do you think if Russia asked to join NATO, do you think it would happen?“ Suddenly he said: ”You know, it’s interesting, I think so.“ But in the evening, when we had dinner, he said, ”You know, I’ve talked to my team, no-no, it’s not possible now.“ You can ask him, I think he will watch our interview, he’ll confirm it. I wouldn’t have said anything like that if it hadn’t happened. Okay, well, it’s impossible now.
Tucker Carlson: Were you sincere? Would you have joined NATO?
Vladimir Putin: Look, I asked the question, ”Is it possible or not?“ And the answer I got was no. If I was insincere in my desire to find out what the leadership’s position was…
Tucker Carlson: But if he would say yes, would you have joined NATO?
Vladimir Putin: If he had said yes, the process of rapprochement would have commenced, and eventually it might have happened if we had seen some sincere wish on the side of our partners. But it didn’t happen. Well, no means no, okay, fine.
Tucker Carlson: Why do you think that is? Just to get to motive. I know, you’re clearly bitter about it. I understand. But why do you think the West rebuffed you then? Why the hostility? Why did the end of the Cold War not fix the relationship? What motivates this from your point of view?
Vladimir Putin: You said I was bitter about the answer. No, it’s not bitterness, it’s just a statement of fact. We’re not the bride and groom, bitterness, resentment, it’s not about those kinds of matters in such circumstances. We just realised we weren’t welcome there, that’s all. Okay, fine. But let’s build relations in another manner, let’s look for common ground elsewhere. Why we received such a negative response, you should ask your leader. I can only guess why: too big a country, with its own opinion and so on. And the United States – I have seen how issues are being resolved in NATO.
I will give you another example now, concerning Ukraine. The US leadership exerts pressure, and all NATO members obediently vote, even if they do not like something. Now, I’ll tell you what happened in this regard with Ukraine in 2008, although it’s being discussed, I’m not going to open a secret to you, say anything new. Nevertheless, after that, we tried to build relations in different ways. For example, the events in the Middle East, in Iraq, we were building relations with the United States in a very soft, prudent, cautious manner.
I repeatedly raised the issue that the United States should not support separatism or terrorism in the North Caucasus. But they continued to do it anyway. And political support, information support, financial support, even military support came from the United States and its satellites for terrorist groups in the Caucasus.
I once raised this issue with my colleague, also the President of the United States. He says, ”It’s impossible! Do you have proof?“ I said, ”Yes.“ I was prepared for this conversation and I gave him that proof. He looked at it and, you know what he said? I apologise, but that’s what happened, I’ll quote. He says, ”Well, I’m gonna kick their ass“. We waited and waited for some response – there was no reply.
I said to the FSB Director: ”Write to the CIA. What is the result of the conversation with the President?“ He wrote once, twice, and then we got a reply. We have the answer in the archive. The CIA replied: ”We have been working with the opposition in Russia. We believe that this is the right thing to do and we will keep on doing it.“ Just ridiculous. Well, okay. We realised that it was out of the question.
Tucker Carlson: Forces in opposition to you? Do you think the CIA is trying to overthrow your government?
Vladimir Putin: Of course, they meant in that particular case the separatists, the terrorists who fought with us in the Caucasus. That’s who they called the opposition. This is the second point.
The third moment, a very important one, is the moment when the US missile defense (ABM) system was created. The beginning. We persuaded for a long time not to do it in the United States. Moreover, after I was invited by Bush Jr.’s father, Bush Sr. to visit his place on the ocean, I had a very serious conversation with President Bush and his team. I proposed that the United States, Russia and Europe jointly create a missile defense system that, we believe, if created unilaterally, threatens our security, despite the fact that the United States officially said that it was being created against missile threats from Iran. That was the justification for the deployment of the missile defense system. I suggested working together – Russia, the United States, and Europe. They said it was very interesting. They asked me, ”Are you serious?“ I said, “Absolutely”.
Tucker Carlson: May I ask what year was this?
Vladimir Putin: I don’t remember. It is easy to find out on the Internet, when I was in the USA at the invitation of Bush Sr. It is even easier to learn from someone, I’m going to tell you about.
I was told it was very interesting. I said, ”Just imagine if we could tackle such a global, strategic security challenge together. The world would change. We’ll probably have disputes, probably economic and even political ones, but we could drastically change the situation in the world.“ He says, ”Yes.“ And asks: ”Are you serious?“. I said, ”Of course.“ ”We need to think about it,“ I’m told. I said, ”Go ahead, please.“
Then Secretary of Defense R. Gates, former Director of the CIA, and Secretary of State C. Rice came here, in this cabinet. Right here, at this table, they sat on this side. Me, the Foreign Minister, the Russian Defense Minister – on that side. They said to me, ”Yes, we have thought about it, we agree.“ I said, ”Thank God, great.“ – ”But with some exceptions.“
Tucker Carlson: So, twice you’ve described US presidents making decisions and then being undercut by their agency heads. So, it sounds like you’re describing a system that is not run by the people who are elected, in your telling.
Vladimir Putin: That’s right, that’s right. In the end they just told us to get lost. I am not going to tell you the details, because I think it is incorrect, after all, it was a confidential conversation. But our proposal was declined, that’s a fact.
It was right then when I said: ”Look, but then we will be forced to take counter measures. We will create such strike systems that will certainly overcome missile defense systems.“ The answer was: ”We are not doing this against you, and you do what you want, assuming that it is not against us, not against the United States“. I said, ”Okay.“
Very well, that’s the way it went. And we created hypersonic systems, with intercontinental range, and we continue to develop them. We are now ahead of everyone – the United States and other countries – in terms of the development of hypersonic strike systems, and we are improving them every day.
But it wasn’t us, we proposed to go the other way, and we were pushed back.
Now, about NATO’s expansion to the East. Well, we were promised, no NATO to the East, not an inch to the East, as we were told. And then what? They said, ”Well, it’s not enshrined on paper, so we’ll expand.“ So there were five waves of expansion, the Baltic States, the whole of Eastern Europe, and so on.
[Putin is correct. Over the last 32 years, Germany has reunified and all the former Warsaw Pact countries have joined NATO. Three countries that were once part of the Soviet Union — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — have joined NATO as well.]
Vladimir Putin: And now I come to the main thing: they have come to Ukraine ultimately. In 2008 at the summit in Bucharest they declared that the doors for Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO were open.
Now about how decisions are made there. Germany, France seemed to be against it as well as some other European countries. But then, as it turned out later, President Bush, and he is such a tough guy, a tough politician, as I was told later, ”He exerted pressure on us and we had to agree.“ It’s ridiculous, it’s like kindergarten. Where are the guarantees? What kindergarten is this, what kind of people are these, who are they? You see, they were pressed, they agreed. And then they say, ”Ukraine won’t be in NATO, you know.“ I say, ”I don’t know, I know you agreed in 2008, why won’t you agree in the future?“ ”Well, they pressed us then.“ I say, ”Why won’t they press you tomorrow? And you’ll agree again.“
Well, it’s nonsensical. Who’s there to talk to, I just don’t understand. We’re ready to talk. But with whom? Where are the guarantees? None.
So, they started to develop the territory of Ukraine. Whatever is there, I have told you the background, how this territory developed, what kind of relations there were with Russia. Every second or third person there has always had some ties with Russia. And during the elections in already independent, sovereign Ukraine, which gained its independence as a result of the Declaration of Independence, and, by the way, it says that Ukraine is a neutral state, and in 2008 suddenly the doors or gates to NATO were open to it.
Oh, come on! This is not how we agreed. Now, all the presidents that have come to power in Ukraine, they’ve relied on an electorate with a good attitude to Russia in one way or another. This is the south-east of Ukraine, this is a large number of people. And it was very difficult to dissuade this electorate, which had a positive attitude towards Russia.
Viktor Yanukovych came to power, and how: the first time he won after President Kuchma – they organized a third round, which is not provided for in the Constitution of Ukraine. This is a coup d’état. Just imagine, someone in the United States wouldn’t like the outcome…
Tucker Carlson: In 2014?
Vladimir Putin: Before that. No, this was before that. After President Kuchma, Viktor Yanukovich won the elections. However, his opponents did not recognize that victory, the US supported the opposition and the third round was scheduled. What is this? This is a coup. The US supported it and the winner of the third round came to power.
Vladimir Putin: Imagine if in the US, something was not to someone’s liking and the third round of election, which the US Constitution does not provide for, was organized,
Nonetheless, it was done in Ukraine. Okay, Viktor Yushchenko who was considered a pro-Western politician, came to power. Fine, we have built relations with him as well. He came to Moscow with visits, we visited Kiev. I visited it too. We met in an informal setting. If he is pro-Western, so be it. It’s fine, let people do their job. The situation should develop inside the independent Ukraine itself. As a result of Kuchma’s leadership, things got worse and Viktor Yanukovich came to power after all.
Maybe he wasn’t the best President and politician. I don’t know, I don’t want to give assessments. However, the issue of the association with the EU came up. We have always been lenient to this: suit yourself. But when we read through that treaty of association it turned out to be a problem for us, since we had a free-trade zone and open customs borders with Ukraine which, under this association, had to open its borders for Europe, which could have led to flooding of our market.
We said, “No, this is not going to work. We shall close our borders with Ukraine then”. The customs borders, that is.
Yanukovich started to calculate how much Ukraine was going to gain, how much to lose and said to his European partners: “I need more time to think before signing”. The moment he said that, the opposition began to take destructive steps which were supported by the West. It all came down to Maidan and a coup in Ukraine.
Tucker Carlson: So, he did more trade with Russia than with the EU? Ukraine did…
Vladimir Putin: Of course. It’s not even the matter of trade volume, although for the most part it is. It is the matter of cooperation ties which the entire Ukrainian economy was based on. The cooperation ties between the enterprises were very close since the times of the Soviet Union. One enterprise there used to produce components to be assembled both in Russia and Ukraine and vice versa. There used to be very close ties.
A coup d’etat was committed, although, I shall not delve into details now as I find doing it inappropriate, the US told us, “Calm Yanukovich down and we will calm the opposition. Let the situation unfold in the scenario of a political settlement”. We said, “Alright. Agreed. Let’s do it this way”. As the Americans requested us, Yanukovich did use neither the Armed Forces, nor the police, yet the armed opposition committed a coup in Kiev. What is that supposed to mean? “Who do you think you are?”, I wanted to ask the then US leadership.
Tucker Carlson: With the backing of whom?
Vladimir Putin: With the backing of CIA, of course. The organization you wanted to join back in the day, as I understand. Maybe we should thank God they didn’t let you in. Although, it is a serious organization. I understand. My former vis-à-vis, in the sense that I served in the First Main Directorate – Soviet Union’s intelligence service. They have always been our opponents. A job is a job.
Technically they did everything right, they achieved their goal of changing the government. However, from political standpoint, it was a colossal mistake. Surely, it was political leadership’s miscalculation. They should have seen what it would evolve into.
So, in 2008 the doors of NATO were opened for Ukraine. In 2014, there was a coup, they started persecuting those who did not accept the coup, and it was indeed a coup, they created a threat to Crimea which we had to take under our protection.
They launched a war in Donbass in 2014 with the use of aircraft and artillery against civilians. This is when it started. There is a video of aircraft attacking Donetsk from above. They launched a large-scale military operation, then another one. When they failed, they started to prepare the next one. All this against the background of military development of this territory and opening of NATO’s doors.
How could we not express concern over what was happening? From our side, this would have been a culpable negligence – that’s what it would have been. It’s just that the US political leadership pushed us to the line we could not cross because doing so could have ruined Russia itself. Besides, we could not leave our brothers in faith and, in fact, a part of Russian people, in the face of this “war machine”.
Tucker Carlson: So, that was eight years before the current conflict started. What was the trigger for you? What was the moment where you decided you had to do this?
Vladimir Putin: Initially, it was the coup in Ukraine that provoked the conflict.
By the way, back then the representatives of three European countries – Germany, Poland and France – arrived. They were the guarantors of the signed agreement between the Government of Yanukovich and the opposition. They signed it as guarantors. Despite that, the opposition committed a coup and all these countries pretended that they didn’t remember that they were guarantors of peaceful settlement. They just threw it in the stove right away and nobody recalls that.
I don’t know if the US knows anything about that agreement between the opposition and the authorities and its three guarantors who, instead of bringing this whole situation back in the political field, supported the coup.
Although, it was meaningless, believe me, because President Yanukovich agreed to all conditions, he was ready to hold early election which he had no chance to win, frankly speaking, Everyone knew that. Then why the coup, why the victims? Why threatening Crimea? Why launching an operation in Donbass? This I do not understand.
That is exactly what the miscalculation is. The CIA did its job to complete the coup.
I think one of the Deputy Secretaries of State said that it cost a large sum of money, almost 5 billion. But the political mistake was colossal! Why would they have to do that? All this could have been done legally, without victims, without military action, without losing Crimea. We would have never considered to even lift a finger, if it hadn’t been for the bloody developments on Maidan.
Because we agreed with the fact that after the collapse of the Soviet Union our borders should be along the borders of former Union’s republics. We agreed to that. But we never agreed to NATO’s expansion and moreover we never agreed that Ukraine would be in NATO. We did not agree to NATO bases there without any discussion with us. For decades we kept asking: don’t do this, don’t do that.
And what triggered the latest events? Firstly, the current Ukrainian leadership declared that it would not implement the Minsk Agreements, which had been signed, as you know, after the events of 2014, in Minsk, where the plan of peaceful settlement in Donbass was set forth. But no, the current Ukrainian leadership, Foreign Minister, all other officials and then President himself said that they don’t like anything about the Minsk Agreements. In other words, they were not going to implement it. A year or a year and a half ago, former leaders of Germany and France said openly to the whole world that they indeed signed the Minsk Agreements but they never intended to implement them. They simply led us by the nose.
Tucker Carlson: Was there anyone free to talk to? Did you call the US President, Secretary of State and say if you keep militarizing Ukraine with NATO forces, we are going to act?
Vladimir Putin: We talked about this all the time. We addressed the United States’ and European countries’ leadership to stop these developments immediately, to implement the Minsk Agreements. Frankly speaking, I didn’t know how we were going to do this but I was ready to implement them.
These Agreements were complicated for Ukraine; they included lots of elements of those Donbass territories’ independence. That’s true. However, I was absolutely confident, and I am saying this to you now: I honestly believed that if we managed to convince the residents of Donbass – and we had to work hard to convince them to return to the Ukrainian statehood – then gradually the wounds would start to heal. When this part of territory reintegrated itself into common social environment, when the pensions and social benefits were paid again, all the pieces would gradually fall into place.
No, nobody wanted that, everybody wanted to resolve the issue by military force only. But we could not let that happen. And the situation got to the point, when the Ukrainian side announced: ”No, we will not do anything“. They also started preparing for military action. It was they who started the war in 2014. Our goal is to stop this war. And we did not start this war in 2022. This is an attempt to stop it.
Tucker Carlson: Do you think you have stopped it now? I mean have you achieved your aims?
Vladimir Putin: No, we haven’t achieved our aims yet, because one of them is denazification. This means the prohibition of all kinds of neo-Nazi movements. This is one of the problems that we discussed during the negotiation process, which ended in Istanbul early last year, and it was not our initiative, because we were told (by the Europeans, in particular) that ”it was necessary to create conditions for the final signing of the documents“. My counterparts in France and Germany said, ”How can you imagine them signing a treaty with a gun to their heads? The troops should be pulled back from Kiev. ‘I said, ‘All right.’ We withdrew the troops from Kiev.
As soon as we pulled back our troops from Kiev, our Ukrainian negotiators immediately threw all our agreements reached in Istanbul into the bin and got prepared for a longstanding armed confrontation with the help of the United States and its satellites in Europe. That is how the situation has developed. And that is how it looks now.
Tucker Carlson: What is denazification? What would that mean?
Vladimir Putin: That is what I want to talk about right now. It is a very important issue.
Denazification. After gaining independence, Ukraine began to search, as some Western analysts say, its identity. And it came up with nothing better than to build this identity upon some false heroes who collaborated with Hitler.
I have already said that in the early 19th century, when the theorists of independence and sovereignty of Ukraine appeared, they assumed that an independent Ukraine should have very good relations with Russia. But due to the historical development, these territories were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – Poland, where Ukrainians were persecuted and treated quite brutally as well as were subject to cruel behavior. There were also attempts to destroy their identity. All this remained in the memory of the people.
When World War II broke out, part of this extremely nationalist elite collaborated with Hitler, believing that he would bring them freedom. The German troops, even the SS troops made Hitler’s collaborators do the dirtiest work of exterminating the Polish and Jewish population.
Hence this brutal massacre of the Polish and Jewish population as well as the Russian population too. This was led by the persons who are well known – Bandera, Shukhevich. It was these people who were made national heroes – that is the problem. And we are constantly told that nationalism and neo-Nazism exist in other countries as well.
Yes, there are seedlings, but we uproot them, and other countries fight against them. But Ukraine is not the case. These people have been made into national heroes in Ukraine. Monuments to these people have been erected, they are displayed on flags, their names are shouted by crowds that walk with torches, as it was in Nazi Germany. These were the people who exterminated Poles, Jews and Russians. It is necessary to stop this practice and prevent the dissemination of this concept.
I say that Ukrainians are part of the one Russian people. They say, ”No, we are a separate people.“ Okay, fine. If they consider themselves a separate people, they have the right to do so, but not on the basis of Nazism, the Nazi ideology.
Tucker Carlson: Would you be satisfied with the territory that you have now?
Vladimir Putin: I will finish answering the question. You just asked a question about neo-Nazism and denazification.
Look, the President of Ukraine visited Canada. This story is well known, but is silenced in the Western countries: The Canadian parliament introduced a man who, as the speaker of the parliament said, fought against the Russians during the World War II. Well, who fought against the Russians during World War II? Hitler and his accomplices. It turned out that this man served in the SS troops. He personally killed Russians, Poles, and Jews. The SS troops consisted of Ukrainian nationalists who did this dirty work. The President of Ukraine stood up with the entire Parliament of Canada and applauded this man. How can this be imagined? The President of Ukraine himself, by the way, is a Jew by nationality.
Tucker Carlson: Really, my question is: What do you do about it? I mean, Hitler has been dead for eighty years, Nazi Germany no longer exists, and it’s true. So, I think, what you are saying, you want to extinguish or at least control Ukrainian nationalism. But how do you do that?
Vladimir Putin: Listen to me. Your question is very subtle.
And can I tell you what I think? Do not take offense.
Tucker Carlson: Of course!
Vladimir Putin: This question appears to be subtle, it is quite pesky.
You say Hitler has been dead for so many years, 80 years. But his example lives on. People who exterminated Jews, Russians and Poles are alive. And the president, the current president of today’s Ukraine applauds him in the Canadian Parliament, gives a standing ovation! Can we say that we have completely uprooted this ideology if what we see is happening today? That is what denazification is in our understanding. We have to get rid of those people who maintain this concept and support this practice and try to preserve it – that is what denazification is. That is what we mean.
Tucker Carlson: Right. My question is almost specific, it was, of course, not a defense of Nazism. Otherwise, it was a practical question. You don’t control the entire country, you don’t seem like you want to. So, how do you eliminate that culture, or an ideology, or feelings, or a view of history, in a country that you don’t control? What do you do about that?
Vladimir Putin: You know, as strange as it may seem to you, during the negotiations in Istanbul we did agree that – we have it all in writing – neo-Nazism would not be cultivated in Ukraine, including that it would be prohibited at the legislative level.
Mr. Carlson, we agreed on that. This, it turns out, can be done during the negotiation process. And there is nothing humiliating for Ukraine as a modern civilized State. Is any state allowed to promote Nazism? It is not, is it? That is it.
Tucker Carlson: Will there be talks? And why haven’t there been talks about resolving the conflict in Ukraine? Peace talks.
Vladimir Putin: They have been. They reached a very high stage of coordination of positions in a complex process, but still they were almost finalized. But after we withdrew our troops from Kiev, as I have already said, the other side (Ukraine) threw away all these agreements and obeyed the instructions of Western countries, European countries and the United States to fight Russia to the bitter end.
Moreover, the President of Ukraine has legislated a ban on negotiating with Russia. He signed a decree forbidding everyone to negotiate with Russia. But how are we going to negotiate if he forbade himself and everyone to do this? We know that he is putting forward some ideas about this settlement. But in order to agree on something, we need to have a dialog. Is not that right?
Tucker Carlson: Well, but you would not be speaking to the Ukrainian president, you would be speaking to the American president. When was the last time you spoke to Joe Biden?
Vladimir Putin: I cannot remember when I talked to him. I do not remember, we can look it up.
Tucker Carlson: You do not remember?!
Vladimir Putin: No, why? Do I have to remember everything? I have my own things to do. We have domestic political affairs.
Tucker Carlson: But he is funding the war that you are fighting, so I think that would be memorable?
Vladimir Putin: Well, yes, he funds, but I talked to him before the Special Military Operation, of course. And I said to him then, by the way – I will not go into details, I never do – but I said to him then: “I believe that you are making a huge mistake of historic proportions by supporting everything that is happening there, in Ukraine, by pushing Russia away.“ I told him, told him repeatedly, by the way. I think that would be correct if I stop here.
Tucker Carlson: What did he say?
Vladimir Putin: Ask him, please. It is easier for you, you are a citizen of the United States, go and ask him. It is not appropriate for me to comment on our conversation.
Tucker Carlson: But you haven’t spoken to him since before February of 2022?
Vladimir Putin: No, we haven’t spoken. Certain contacts are been maintained though. Speaking of which, do you remember what I told you about my proposal to work together on a missile defense system?
Tucker Carlson: Yes.
Vladimir Putin: You can ask all of them. All of them are safe and sound, thank God. The former President, Condoleezza is safe and sound, and, I think, Mr. Gates, and the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mr. Burns, the then Ambassador to Russia, in my opinion, a very successful Ambassador. They were all witnesses to these conversations. Ask them.
Same here, if you are interested in what Mr. President Biden responded to me, ask him. At any rate, I talked to him about it.
Tucker Carlson: I am definitely interested. But from the other side it seems like it could devolve, evolve into something that brings the entire world into conflict, and could initiate a nuclear launch, and so why don’t you just call Biden and say “let’s work this out”?
Vladimir Putin: What’s there to work out? It’s very simple. I repeat, we have contacts through various agencies. 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. It will be over within a few weeks. That’s it. And then we can agree on some terms before you do that, stop.“
What’s easier? Why would I call him? What should I talk to him about? Or beg him for what? ”You’re going to deliver such and such weapons to Ukraine. Oh, I’m afraid, I’m afraid, please don’t.“ What is there to talk about?
Tucker Carlson: Do you think NATO was worried about this becoming a global war or nuclear conflict?
Vladimir Putin: At least that’s what they’re talking about. And they are trying to intimidate their own population with an imaginary Russian threat. This is an obvious fact. And thinking people, not philistines, but thinking people, analysts, those who are engaged in real politics, just smart people understand perfectly well that this is a fake. They are trying to fuel the Russian threat.
Tucker Carlson: The threat I think you were referring to is Russian invasion of Poland, Latvia – expansionist behavior. Can you imagine a scenario where you send Russian troops to Poland?
Vladimir Putin: Only in one case: if Poland attacks Russia. Why? Because we have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don’t have any interest. Its just threat mongering.
Tucker Carlson: Well, the argument, I know you know this, is that, well, he invaded Ukraine – he has territorial aims across the continent. And you are saying unequivocally, you don’t?
Vladimir Putin: It is absolutely out of the question. You just don’t have to be any kind of analyst, it goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of global war. And a global war will bring all of humanity to the brink of destruction. It’s obvious.
There are, certainly, means of deterrence. They have been scaring everyone with us all along: tomorrow Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons, tomorrow Russia will use that, no, the day after tomorrow. So what? These are just horror stories for people in the street in order to extort additional money from US taxpayers and European taxpayers in the confrontation with Russia in the Ukrainian theatre of war. The goal is to weaken Russia as much as possible.
Tucker Carlson: One of our senior United States senators from the State of New York, Chuck Schumer, said yesterday, I believe, that we have to continue to fund the Ukrainian effort or US soldiers, citizens could wind up fighting there. How do you assess that?
Vladimir Putin: This is a provocation, and a cheap provocation at that.
I do not understand why American soldiers should fight in Ukraine. There are mercenaries from the United States there. The biggest number of mercenaries comes from Poland, with mercenaries from the United States in second place, and mercenaries from Georgia in third place. Well, if somebody has the desire to send regular troops, that would certainly bring humanity on the brink of a very serious, global conflict. This is obvious.
Do the United States need this? What for? Thousands of miles away from your national territory! Don’t you have anything better to do?
You have issues on the border, issues with migration, issues with the national debt – more than 33 trillion dollars. You have nothing better to do, so you should fight in Ukraine? Wouldn’t it be better to negotiate with Russia? Make an agreement, already understanding the situation that is developing today, realizing that Russia will fight for its interests to the end. And, realizing this, actually return to common sense, start respecting our country and its interests and look for certain solutions. It seems to me that this is much smarter and more rational.
Tucker Carlson: Who blew up Nord Stream?
Vladimir Putin: You, for sure. (L a u g h i n g.)
Tucker Carlson: I was busy that day. I did not blow up Nord Stream.
Vladimir Putin: You personally may have an alibi, but the CIA has no such alibi.
Tucker Carlson: Do you have evidence that NATO or CIA did it?
Vladimir Putin: You know, I won’t get into details, but people always say in such cases: ”Look for someone who is interested“. But in this case we should not only look for someone who is interested, but also for someone who has capabilities. Because there may be many people interested, but not all of them are capable of sinking to the bottom of the Baltic Sea and carrying out this explosion. These two components should be connected: who is interested and who is capable of doing it.
Tucker Carlson: But I am confused. I mean, that’s the biggest act of industrial terrorism ever and it’s the largest emission of CO₂ in history. Okay, so, if you had evidence and presumably, given your security services, your intel services, you would, that NATO, the US, CIA, the West did this, why wouldn’t you present it and win a propaganda victory?
Vladimir Putin: In the war of propaganda it is very difficult to defeat the United States because the United States controls all the world’s media and many European media. The ultimate beneficiary of the biggest European media are American financial institutions. Don’t you know that? So it is possible to get involved in this work, but it is cost prohibitive, so to speak. We can simply shine the spotlight on our sources of information, and we will not achieve results. It is clear to the whole world what happened, and even American analysts talk about it directly. It’s true.
Tucker Carlson: Yes. But here is a question you may be able to answer. You worked in Germany, famously. The Germans clearly know that their NATO partner did this, that they damaged their economy greatly – it may never recover. Why are they being silent about it? That is very confusing to me. Why wouldn’t the Germans say something about it?
Vladimir Putin: This also confuses me. But today’s German leadership is guided by the interests of the collective West rather than its national interests, otherwise it is difficult to explain the logic of their action or inaction. After all, it is not only about Nord Stream-1, which was blown up, and Nord Stream-2 was damaged, but one pipe is safe and sound, and gas can be supplied to Europe through it, but Germany does not open it. We are ready, please.
There is another route through Poland, called Yamal-Europe, which also allows for a large flow. Poland has closed it, but Poland pecks from the German hand, it receives money from pan-European funds, and Germany is the main donor to these pan-European funds. Germany feeds Poland to a certain extent. And they closed the route to Germany. Why? I don’t understand. Ukraine, to which the Germans supply weapons and give money.
Germany is the second sponsor after the United States in terms of financial aid to Ukraine. There are two gas routes through Ukraine. They simply closed one route, the Ukrainians. Open the second route and, please, get gas from Russia. They do not open it. Why don’t the Germans say: ”Look, guys, we give you money and weapons. Open up the valve, please, let the gas from Russia pass through for us.
We are buying liquefied gas at exorbitant prices in Europe, which brings the level of our competitiveness, and economy in general down to zero. Do you want us to give you money? Let us have a decent existence, make money for our economy, because this is where the money we give you comes from“. They refuse to do so. Why? Ask them. (Knocks on the table.) That is what it is like in their heads. Those are highly incompetent people.
Tucker Carlson: Well, maybe the world is breaking into two hemispheres. One with cheap energy, the other without it. And I want to ask you that, if we are now a multipolar world, obviously we are, can you describe the blocs of alliances? Who is in each side, do you think?
Vladimir Putin: Listen, you have said that the world is breaking into two hemispheres. A human brain is divided into two hemispheres: one is responsible for one type of activities, the other one is more about creativity and so on. But it is still one and the same head. The world should be a single whole, security should be shared, rather than meant for the ”golden billion“. That is the only scenario where the world could be stable, sustainable and predictable. Until then, while the head is split into two parts, it is an illness, a serious adverse condition. It is a period of a severe disease that the world is now going through.
But I think that, thanks to honest journalism — this work is akin to work of the doctors, this could somehow be remedied.
Tucker Carlson: Well, let’s just give one example — the US dollar, which has, kind of, united the world in a lot of ways, maybe not to your advantage, but certainly to ours. Is that going away as the reserve currency, the universally accepted currency? How have sanctions, do you think, changed the dollar’s place in the world?
Vladimir Putin: You know, to use the dollar as a tool of foreign policy struggle is one of the biggest strategic mistakes made by the US political leadership. The dollar is the cornerstone of the United States’ power. I think everyone understands very well that, no matter how many dollars are printed, they are quickly dispersed all over the world. Inflation in the United States is minimal. It is about 3 or 3.4 per cent, which is, I think, totally acceptable for the US. But they won’t stop printing. What does the debt of 33 trillion dollars tell us about? It is about the emission.
Nevertheless, it is the main weapon used by the United States to preserve its power across the world. As soon as the political leadership decided to use the US dollar as a tool of political struggle, a blow was dealt to this American power. I would not like to use any strong language, but it is a stupid thing to do, and a grave mistake.
Look at what is going on in the world. Even the United States’ allies are now downsizing their dollar reserves. Seeing this, everyone starts looking for ways to protect themselves. But the fact that the United States applies restrictive measures to certain countries, such as placing restrictions on transactions, freezing assets, etc., causes grave concern and sends a signal to the whole world.
What did we have here? Until 2022, about 80 per cent of Russia’s foreign trade transactions were made in US dollars and euros. US dollars accounted for approximately 50 per cent of our transactions with third countries, while currently it is down to 13 per cent. It was not us who banned the use of the US dollar, we had no such intention. It was the decision of the United States to restrict our transactions in US dollars. I think it is a complete foolishness from the point of view of the interests of the United States itself and its tax payers, as it damages the US economy, undermines the power of the United States across the world.
By the way, our transactions in Yuan accounted for about 3 per cent. Today, 34 per cent of our transactions are made in Rubles, and about as much, a little over 34 per cent, in Yuan.
Why did the United States do this? My only guess is self-conceit. They probably thought it would lead to a full collapse, but nothing collapsed. Moreover, other countries, including oil producers, are thinking of and already accepting payments for oil in yuan. Do you even realize what is going on or not? Does anyone in the United States realize this? What are you doing? You are cutting yourself off… all experts say this. Ask any intelligent and thinking person in the United States what the dollar means for the US? You are killing it with your own hands.
Tucker Carlson: I think that is a fair assessment. The question is what comes next? And maybe you trade one colonial power for another, much less sentimental and forgiving colonial power? Is the BRICS, for example, in danger of being completely dominated by the Chinese economy? In a way that is not good for their sovereignty. Do you worry about that?
Vladimir Putin: We have heard those boogeyman stories before. It is a boogeyman story. We are neighbors with China. You cannot choose neighbors, just as you cannot choose close relatives. We share a border of 1000 kilometers with them. This is number one.
Second, we have a centuries-long history of coexistence, we are used to it.
Third, China’s foreign policy philosophy is not aggressive, its idea is to always look for compromise, and we can see that.
The next point is as follows. We are always told the same boogeyman story, and here it goes again, though in a euphemistic form, but it is still the same bogeyman story: the cooperation with China keeps increasing. The pace at which China’s cooperation with Europe is growing is higher and greater than that of the growth of Chinese-Russian cooperation. Ask Europeans: aren’t they afraid? They might be, I do not know, but they are still trying to access China’s market at all costs, especially now that they are facing economic problems. Chinese businesses are also exploring the European market.
Do Chinese businesses have small presence in the United States? Yes, the political decisions are such that they are trying to limit their cooperation with China.
It is to your own detriment, Mr Tucker, that you are limiting cooperation with China, you are hurting yourself. It is a delicate matter, and there are no silver bullet solutions, just as it is with the dollar.
So, before introducing any illegitimate sanctions — illegitimate in terms of the Charter of the United Nations — one should think very carefully. For decision-makers, this appears to be a problem.
Tucker Carlson: So, you said a moment ago that the world would be a lot better if it were not broken into competing alliances, if there was cooperation globally. One of the reasons you don’t have that is because the current American administration is dead set against you. Do you think if there was a new administration after Joe Biden that you would be able to re-establish communication with the US government? Or does it not matter who the President is?
Vladimir Putin: I will tell you. But let me finish the previous thought. We, together with my colleague and friend President Xi Jinping, set a goal to reach 200 billion dollars of mutual trade with China this year. We have exceeded this level. According to our figures, our bilateral trade with China totals already 230 billion, and the Chinese statistics says it is 240 billion dollars.
One more important thing: our trade is well-balanced, mutually complementary in high-tech, energy, scientific research and development. It is very balanced.
As for BRICS, where Russia took over the presidency this year, the BRICS countries are, by and large, developing very rapidly.
Look, if memory serves me right, back in 1992, the share of the G7 countries in the world economy amounted to 47 per cent, whereas in 2022 it was down to, I think, a little over 30 per cent. The BRICS countries accounted for only 16 per cent in 1992, but now their share is greater than that of the G7. It has nothing to do with the events in Ukraine. This is due to the trends of global development and world economy that I mentioned just now, and this is inevitable. This will keep happening, it is like the rise of the sun — you cannot prevent the sun from rising, you have to adapt to it. How do the United States adapt? With the help of force: sanctions, pressure, bombings, and use of armed forces.
This is about self-conceit. Your political establishment does not understand that the world is changing (under objective circumstances), and in order to preserve your level — even if someone aspires, pardon me, to the level of dominance — you have to make the right decisions in a competent and timely manner.
Such brutal actions, including with regard to Russia and, say, other countries, are counterproductive. This is an obvious fact; it has already become evident.
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. I had a very good relationship with, say, Bush. I know that in the United States he was portrayed as some kind of a country boy who does not understand much. I assure you that is not the case. I think he made a lot of mistakes with regard to Russia, too. I told you about 2008 and the decision in Bucharest to open the NATO’s doors to for Ukraine and so on. That happened during his presidency. He actually exercised pressure on the Europeans.
But in general, on a personal human level, I had a very good relationship with him. He was no worse than any other American, or Russian, or European politician. I assure you, he understood what he was doing as well as others. I had such personal relationships with Trump as well.
It is not about the personality of the leader, it is about the elites’ mindset. If the idea of domination at any cost, based also on forceful actions, dominates the American society, nothing will change, it will only get worse. But if, in the end, one comes to the awareness that the world has been changing due to objective circumstances, and that one should be able to adapt to them in time, using the advantages that the U.S. still has today, then, perhaps, something may change.
Look, China’s economy has become the first economy in the world in purchasing power parity; in terms of volume it overtook the US a long time ago. The USA comes second, then India (one and a half billion people), and then Japan, with Russia in the fifth place. Russia was the first economy in Europe last year, despite all the sanctions and restrictions. Is this normal, from your point of view: sanctions, restrictions, impossibility of payments in dollars, being cut off from SWIFT services, sanctions against our ships carrying oil, sanctions against airplanes, sanctions in everything, everywhere? The largest number of sanctions in the world which are applied – are applied against Russia. And we have become Europe’s first economy during this time.
The tools that the US uses don’t work. Well, one has to think about what to do. If this realization comes to the ruling elites, then yes, then the first person of the state will act in anticipation of what the voters and the people who make decisions at various levels expect from this person. Then maybe something will change.
Tucker Carlson: But you are describing two different systems. You say that the leader acts in the interests of the voters, but you also say that these decisions are not made by the leader – they are made by the ruling classes. You have run this country for so long, you have known all these American presidents. What are those power centers in the United States, do you think? And who actually makes the decisions?
Vladimir Putin: I don’t know. America is a complex country, conservative on the one hand, rapidly changing on the other. It’s not easy for us to sort it all out.
Who makes decisions in the elections – is it possible to understand this, when each state has its own legislation, each state regulates itself, someone can be excluded from the elections at the state level. It is a two-stage electoral system, it is very difficult for us to understand it.
Certainly there are two parties that are dominant, the Republicans and the Democrats, and within this party system, the centers that make decisions, that prepare decisions.
Then, look, why, in my opinion, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, such an erroneous, crude, completely unjustified policy of pressure was pursued against Russia? After all, this is a policy of pressure. NATO expansion, support for the separatists in the Caucasus, creation of a missile defense system – these are all elements of pressure. Pressure, pressure, pressure.
Then, dragging Ukraine into NATO is all about pressure, pressure, pressure. Why? I think, among other things, because excessive production capacities were created. During the confrontation with the Soviet Union, there were many centers created and specialists on the Soviet Union, who could not do anything else. It seemed to them, they convinced the political leadership: it is necessary to continue ”chiseling“ Russia, to try to break it up, to create on this territory several quasi-state entities and to subdue them in a divided form, to use their combined potential for the future struggle with China. This is a mistake, including the excessive potential of those who worked for the confrontation with the Soviet Union. It is necessary to get rid of this, there should be new, fresh forces, people who look into the future and understand what is happening in the world.
Look at how Indonesia is developing? 600 million people. Where can we get away from that? Nowhere, we just have to assume that Indonesia will enter (it is already in) the club of the world’s leading economies, no matter who likes or dislikes it.
Yes, we understand and are aware that in the United States, despite all the economic problems, the situation is still normal with the economy growing decently, the GDP is growing by 2.5 percent, if I am not mistaken.
But if we want to ensure the future, then we need to change our approach to what is changing. As I already said, the world would nevertheless change regardless of how the developments in Ukraine end. The world is changing. In the United States themselves, experts write that the United States are nonetheless gradually changing their position in the world, it is your experts who write that, I just read them. The only question is how this would happen – painfully and quickly or gently and gradually. And this is written by people who are not anti-American; they simply follow global development trends. That’s it.
And in order to assess them and change policies, we need people who think, look forward, can analyze and recommend certain decisions at the level of political leaders.
Tucker Carlson: I just have to ask. You have said clearly that NATO expansion eastward is a violation of the promise you were all made in the 1990s. It is a threat to your country. Right before you sent troops into Ukraine the Vice-President of the United States spoke at the Security Conference and encouraged the President of Ukraine to join NATO. Do you think that was an effort to provoke you into military action?
Vladimir Putin: I repeat once again, we have repeatedly, repeatedly proposed to seek a solution to the problems that arose in Ukraine after the 2014 coup d’etat through peaceful means. But no one listened to us. And moreover, the Ukrainian leaders who were under the complete US control, suddenly declared that they would not comply with the Minsk agreements, they disliked everything there, and continued military activity in that territory.
And in parallel, that territory was being exploited by NATO military structures under the guise of various personnel training and retraining centers. They essentially began to create bases there. That’s all.
Ukraine announced that the Russians were (a law was adopted) a non-titular nationality, while passing laws that limit the rights of non-titular nationalities in Ukraine. Ukraine, having received all these southeastern territories as a gift from the Russian people, suddenly announced that the Russians were a non-titular nationality in that territory. Is it normal? All this put together led to the decision to end the war that neo-Nazis started in Ukraine in 2014.
Tucker Carlson: Do you think Zelensky has the freedom to negotiate the settlement to this conflict?
Vladimir Putin: I don’t know the details, of course it’s difficult for me to judge, but I believe he has, in any case, he used to have. His father fought against the fascists, Nazis during World War II, I once talked to him about this. I said: “Volodya, what are you doing? Why are you supporting neo-Nazis in Ukraine today, while your father fought against fascism? He was a front-line soldier.” I will not tell you what he answered, this is a separate topic, and I think it’s incorrect for me to do so.
But as to the freedom of choice – why not? He came to power on the expectations of Ukrainian people that he would lead Ukraine to peace. He talked about this, it was thanks to this that he won the election overwhelmingly. But then, when he came to power, in my opinion, he realized two things: firstly, it is better not to clash with neo-Nazis and nationalists, because they are aggressive and very active, you can expect anything from them, and secondly, the US-led West supports them and will always support those who antagonize with Russia – it is beneficial and safe. So he took the relevant position, despite promising his people to end the war in Ukraine. He deceived his voters.
Tucker Carlson: But do you think at this point – as of February 2024 – he has the latitude, the freedom to speak with you or government directly, which would clearly help his country or the world? Can he do that, do you think?
Vladimir Putin: Why not? He considers himself head of state, he won the elections. Although we believe in Russia that the coup d’etat is the primary source of power for everything that happened after 2014, and in this sense, even today’s government is flawed. But he considers himself the president, and he is recognized by the United States, all of Europe and practically the rest of the world in such a capacity – why not? He can.
We negotiated with Ukraine in Istanbul, we agreed, he was aware of this. Moreover, the negotiation group leader, Mr. Arakhamia is his last name, I believe, still heads the faction of the ruling party, the party of the President in the Rada. He still heads the Presidential faction in the Rada, the country’s parliament, he still sits there. He even put his preliminary signature on the document I am telling you about.
But then he publicly stated to the whole world: “We were ready to sign this document, but Mr. Johnson, then the Prime Minister of Great Britain, came and dissuaded us from doing this saying it was better to fight Russia. They would give everything needed for us to return what was lost during the clashes with Russia. And we agreed with this proposal.“ Look, his statement has been published. He said this publicly.
Can they return to this or not? The question is: do they want it or not?
Further on, President of Ukraine issued a decree prohibiting negotiations with us. Let him cancel that decree and that’s it. We have never refused negotiations indeed. We hear all the time: is Russia ready? Yes, we have not refused! It was them who publicly refused. Well, let him cancel his decree and enter into negotiations. We have never refused.
And the fact that they obeyed the demand or persuasion of Mr. Johnson, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, seems ridiculous and very sad to me. Because, as Mr. Arakhamia put it: “We could have stopped these hostilities, this war a year and a half ago already. But the British persuaded us, and we refused this.” Where is Mr. Johnson now? And the war continues.
Tucker Carlson: That is a good question. Why did he do that?
Vladimir Putin: Hell knows. I don’t understand it myself. There was a general starting point. For some reason, everyone had the illusion that Russia could be defeated on the battlefield. Because of arrogance, because of a pure heart, but not because of a great mind.
Tucker Carlson: You have described the connection between Russia and Ukraine; you have described Russia itself, a couple of times as Orthodox – that is central to your understanding of Russia. What does that mean for you? You are a Christian leader by your own description. So what effect does that have on you?
Vladimir Putin: You know, as I already mentioned, in 988 Prince Vladimir himself was baptized following the example of his grandmother, Princess Olga, and then he baptized his squad, and then gradually, over the course of several years, he baptized all the Rus. It was a lengthy process – from pagans to Christians, it took many years. But in the end, this Orthodoxy, Eastern Christianity, deeply rooted itself in the consciousness of the Russian people.
When Russia expanded and absorbed other nations who profess Islam, Buddhism and Judaism, Russia has always been very loyal to those people who profess other religions. This is her strength. This is absolutely clear.
And the fact is that the main postulates, main values are very similar, not to say the same, in all world religions I’ve just mentioned and which are the traditional religions of the Russian Federation, Russia. By the way, Russian authorities were always very careful about the culture and religion of those peoples who came into the Russian Empire. This, in my opinion, forms the basis of both security and stability of the Russian statehood – all the peoples inhabiting Russia basically consider it their Motherland.
If, say, people move over to you or to Europe from Latin America – an even clearer and more understandable example – people come, but yet they have come to you or to European countries from their historical homeland. And people who profess different religions in Russia consider Russia their Motherland, they have no other Motherland. We are together, this is one big family. And our traditional values are very similar. I’ve just mentioned one big family, but everyone has his/hers own family, and this is the basis of our society. And if we say that the Motherland and the family are specifically connected with each other, it is indeed the case, since it is impossible to ensure a normal future for our children and our families unless we ensure a normal, sustainable future for the entire country, for the Motherland. That is why patriotic sentiment is so strong in Russia.
Tucker Carlson: Can I say, the one way in which religions are different is that Christianity is specifically a non-violent religion. Jesus says “Turn the other cheek, don’t kill”. How can a leader who has to kill, of any country, how can a leader be a Christian? How do you reconcile that to yourself?
Vladimir Putin: It is very easy: when it comes to protecting oneself and one’s family, one’s homeland. We won’t attack anyone.
When did the developments in Ukraine start? Since the coup d’etat and the hostilities in Donbass began, that’s when they started. And we are protecting our people, ourselves, our homeland and our future.
As for religion in general.
You know, it’s not about external manifestations, it’s not about going to church every day or banging your head on the floor. It is in the heart. And our culture is so human-oriented. Dostoevsky, who is very well known in the West as the genius of Russian culture, Russian literature, spoke a lot about this, about the Russian soul.
After all, Western society is more pragmatic. Russian people think more about the eternal, about moral values. I don’t know, maybe you won’t agree with me, but Western culture is more pragmatic after all.
I’m not saying this is bad, it makes it possible for today’s “golden billion” to achieve good success in production, even in science, and so on. There’s nothing wrong with that, I’m just saying that we kind of look the same, but our minds are built a little differently.
Tucker Carlson: So do you see the supernatural at work? As you look out across what’s happening in the world now, do you see God at work? Do you ever think to yourself: these are forces that are not human?
Vladimir Putin: No, to be honest, I don’t think so. My opinion is that the development of the world community is in accordance with the inherent laws, and those laws are what they are. It’s always been this way in the history of mankind. Some nations and countries rose, became stronger and more numerous, and then left the international stage, losing the status they had accustomed to. There is probably no need for me to give examples, but we could start with Genghis Khan and the Horde conquerors, the Golden Horde, and then end with the Roman Empire.
It seems that there has never been anything like the Roman Empire in the history of mankind. Nevertheless, the potential of the barbarians gradually grew, as did their population. In general, the barbarians were getting stronger and began to develop economically, as we would say today. This eventually led to the collapse of the Roman Empire and the regime imposed by the Romans. However, it took five centuries for the Roman Empire to fall apart. The difference with what is happening now is that all the processes of change are happening at a much faster pace than in Roman times.
Tucker Carlson: So when does the AI empire start do you think?
Vladimir Putin: (Laughing) You are asking increasingly more complicated questions. To answer them, you need to be an expert in big numbers, big data and AI.
Mankind is currently facing many threats. Due to genetic researches, it is now possible to create a superhuman, a specialized human being – a genetically engineered athlete, scientist, military man.
There are reports that Elon Musk has already had a chip implanted in the human brain in the USA.
Tucker Carlson: What do you think of that?
Vladimir Putin: Well, I think there’s no stopping Elon Musk, he will do as he sees fit. Nevertheless, you need to find some common ground with him, search for ways to persuade him. I think he’s a smart person, I truly believe he is. So you need to reach an agreement with him because this process needs to be formalized and subjected to certain rules.
Humanity has to consider what is going to happen due to the newest developments in genetics or in AI. One can make an approximate prediction of what will happen. Once mankind felt an existential threat coming from nuclear weapons, all nuclear nations began to come to terms with one another since they realized that negligent use of nuclear weaponry could drive humanity to extinction.
It is impossible to stop research in genetics or AI today, just as it was impossible to stop the use of gunpowder back in the day. But as soon as we realize that the threat comes from unbridled and uncontrolled development of AI, or genetics, or any other fields, the time will come to reach an international agreement on how to regulate these things.
Tucker Carlson: I appreciate all the time you’ve given us. I just want to ask you one last question and it’s about someone who is very famous in the United States, probably not here. Evan Gershkovich who is the Wall Street Journal reporter, he is 32 and he’s been in prison for almost a year. This is a huge story in the United States and I just want to ask you directly without getting into details of your version of what happened, if as a sign of your decency you’ll be willing to release him to us and we’ll bring him back to the United States?
Vladimir Putin: We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them. We have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner. However, in theory, we can say that we do not rule out that we can do that if our partners take reciprocal steps.
When I talk about the “partners”, I, first of all, refer to special services. Special services are in contact with one another, they are talking about the matter in question. There is no taboo to settle the issue. We are willing to solve it, but there are certain terms being discussed via special services channels. I believe an agreement can be reached.
Tucker Carlson: So, typically, I mean, this stuff has happened for, obviously, centuries. One country catches other spy within its borders and trades it for one of its own intel guys in other country. I think what makes it, and it’s not my business, but what makes it different is that this guy is obviously not a spy, he is a kid and maybe he was breaking a law in some way but he is not a superspy and everybody knows that and he has been held hostage and exchange, which is true, with respect, it’s true and everyone knows it’s true. So maybe he is in a different category, maybe it’s not fair to ask for somebody else in exchange for letting him out. Maybe it degrades Russia to do that.
Vladimir Putin: You know, you can give different interpretations to what constitutes a “spy”, but there are certain things provided by law. If a person gets secret information, and does that in a conspiratorial manner, then this is qualified as espionage. And that is exactly what he was doing. He was receiving classified, confidential information, and he did it covertly. Maybe he had been implicated in that, someone could have dragged him into that, maybe he did that out of carelessness, or on his own initiative. Considering the sheer facts, this is qualified as espionage. The fact has been proven, as he was caught red-handed when he was receiving this information. If it had been some far-fetched excuse, some fabrication, something not proven, it would have been a different story then. But he was caught red-handed when he was secretly getting confidential information. What is it, then?
Tucker Carlson: But are you suggesting he was working for the US government or NATO? Or he was just a reporter who was given material he wasn’t supposed to have? Those seem like very different, very different things.
Vladimir Putin: I don’t know who he was working for. But I would like to reiterate that getting classified information in secret is called espionage, and he was working for the U.S. special services, some other agencies. I don’t think that he was working for Monaco, as Monaco is hardly interested in getting that information. It is up to the special services to come to an agreement. Some groundwork has been laid. There are people who, in our view, are not connected with special services.
Let me tell you a story about a person serving a sentence in an allied country of the U.S. That person, due to patriotic sentiments, eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals. During the events in the Caucasus, do you know what he [bandit] was doing? I don’t want to say that, but I will do it anyway. He was laying our soldiers, taken prisoner, on the road and then he drove his car over their heads. What kind of a person is that? Can he be even called a human? But there was a patriot who eliminated him in one of the European capitals. Whether he did that of his own volition or not, that is a different question.
Tucker Carlson: Evan Gershkovich, that’s a completely different, I mean, this is a thirty-two year old newspaper reporter.
Vladimir Putin: He committed something different.
Tucker Carlson: He is just a journalist
Vladimir Putin: He is not just a journalist, I reiterate, he is a journalist who was secretly getting confidential information.
Yes, it is different, but still, I am talking about other people who are essentially controlled by the U.S. authorities wherever they are serving a sentence. There is an ongoing dialogue between the special services. This has to be resolved in a calm, responsible and professional manner. They are keeping in touch, so let them do their work.
I do not rule out that the person you referred to, Mister Gershkovich, may return to his motherland. By the end of the day, it does not make any sense to keep him in prison in Russia. We want the U.S. special services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals our special services are pursuing. We are ready to talk. Moreover, the talks are underway, and there have been many successful examples of these talks crowned with success. Probably this is going to be crowned with success as well, but we have to come to an agreement.
Tucker Carlson: I hope you’ll let him out. Mister President, thank you!
Vladimir Putin: I also want him to return to his homeland at last. I am absolutely sincere. But let me say once again, the dialogue continues. The more public we render things of this nature, the more difficult it becomes to resolve them. Everything has to be done in a calm manner.
Tucker Carlson: I wonder if that’s true with the war though also, I mean, I guess I want to ask one more question which is, and maybe you don’t want to say so for strategic reasons, but are you worried that what’s happening in Ukraine could lead to something much larger and much more horrible and how motivated are you just to call the US government and say “let’s come to terms”?
Vladimir Putin: I already said that we did not refuse to talk. We are willing to negotiate. It is the Western side, and Ukraine is obviously a satellite state of the U.S. It is evident. I do not want you to take it as if I am looking for a strong word or an insult, but we both understand what is happening.
The financial support, 72 billion U.S. dollars, was provided. Germany ranks second, then other European countries come. Dozens of billions of U.S. dollars are go to Ukraine. There is a huge influx of weapons.
In this case you should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to the negotiating table, rescind this absurd decree. We did not refuse.
Tucker Carlson: Well, sure, you have already said it — I didn’t think you meant it as an insult — because you have already said, correctly, it’s been reported that Ukraine was prevented from negotiating peace settlement by the former British prime-minister acting on behalf of the Biden administration. Of course, it’s our satellite, big countries control small countries, that’s not new. And that is why I asked about dealing directly with the Biden administration, which is making these decisions, not president Zelensky of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin: Well, if the Zelensky administration in Ukraine refused to negotiate, I assume that they did it under the instruction from Washington. If Washington believes it to be the wrong decision, let it abandon it, let it find a delicate excuse so that no one is insulted, let it come up with a way out. It was not us who made this decision, it was them, so let them go back on it. That is it.
However, they made the wrong decision and now we have to look for a way out of this situation, to correct their mistakes. They did it so let them correct it themselves. We support this.
Tucker Carlson: So, I just want to make sure I am not misunderstanding what you are saying — and I don’t think that I am — I think you are saying you want a negotiated settlement to what’s happening in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin: Right. And we made it, we prepared a huge document in Istanbul that was initialed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation. He affixed his signature to some of the provisions, not to all of it. He put his signature and then he himself said: “We were ready to sign it and the war would have been over long ago, eighteen months ago. However, Prime Minister Johnson came, talked us out of it and we missed that chance.” Well, you missed it, you made a mistake, let them get back to that, that is all. Why do we have to bother ourselves and correct somebody else’s mistakes?
I know one can say it is our mistake, it was us who intensified the situation and decided to put an end to the war that started in 2014 in Donbas, as I have already said, by means of weapons. Let me get back to further in history, I already told you this, we were just discussing it. Let us go back to 1991 when we were promised that NATO would not be expanded, to 2008 when the doors to NATO opened, to the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine declaring Ukraine a neutral state. Let us go back to the fact that NATO and US military bases started to appear on the territory of Ukraine creating threats for us. Let us go back to coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014. It is pointless though, isn’t it? We may go back and forth endlessly. But they stopped negotiations. Is it a mistake? Yes. Correct it. We are ready. What else is needed?
Tucker Carlson: Do you think it is too humiliating at this point for NATO to accept Russian control of what was two years ago Ukrainian territory?
Vladimir Putin: I said let them think how to do it with dignity. There are options if there is a will.
Up until now there has been the uproar and screaming about inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield. Now they are apparently coming to realize that it is difficult to achieve, if possible at all. In my opinion, it is impossible by definition, it is never going to happen. It seems to me that now those who are in power in the West have come to realize this as well. If so, if the realization has set in, they have to think what to do next. We are ready for this dialogue.
Tucker Carlson: Would you be willing to say, ”Congratulations, NATO, you won?“ And just keep the situation where it is now?
Vladimir Putin: You know, it is a subject matter for the negotiations no one is willing to conduct or, to put it more accurately, they are willing but do not know how to do it. I know they want. It is not just I see it but I know they do want it but they are struggling to understand how to do it. They have driven the situation to the point where we are at. It is not us who have done that, it is our partners, opponents who have done that. Well, now let them think how to reverse the situation. We are not against it.
It would be funny if it were not so sad. This endless mobilization in Ukraine, the hysteria, the domestic problems – sooner or later it all will result in an agreement. You know, this will probably sound strange given the current situation but the relations between the two peoples will be rebuilt anyway. It will take a lot of time but they will heal.
I will give you very unusual examples. There is a combat encounter on the battlefield, here is a specific example: Ukrainian soldiers got encircled (this is an example from real life), our soldiers were shouting to them: “There is no chance! Surrender yourselves! Come out and you will be alive!” Suddenly the Ukrainian soldiers were screaming from there in Russian, perfect Russian, saying: “Russians do not surrender!” and all of them perished. They still identify themselves as Russian.
What is happening is, to a certain extent, an element of a civil war. Everyone in the West thinks that the Russian people have been split by hostilities forever. No. They will be reunited. The unity is still there.
Why are the Ukranian authorities dismantling the Ukranian Orthodox Church? Because it brings together not only the territory, it brings together our souls. No one will be able to separate the soul.
Shall we end here or there is anything else?
Tucker Carlson: Thank you, Mr. President.
{END TRANSCRIPT}
Again, I would review any pre-interview release transcript with a healthy dose of skepticism. There are multiple places where edits seem visible, and repeated patterns make the authenticity of the transcripts questionable. Let’s just wait and see what Carlson broadcasts.
In an ordinary and stable world, this interview would not be controversial. However, in these times where the modern information war is now the dominant battle in the USA, this interview is considered extreme and potentially a national security threat.
Why is that? What is it about information that suddenly Western governments view as inherently dangerous? Have you ever wondered what is happening behind what is visible. For the “Western alliance” to exhaust so much time and effort on controlling information, it really makes you wonder what the root of their anxiety is.
From my own research, the part that President Putin notes about the interests behind the financial sanctions is the most interesting path to follow.
PUTIN: It’s interesting to me that all the things which use to be a target of blackmail are now badges of honor.
I find this the most interesting quote .
I thought it was too soft. Surprisingly so.
Putin is a diplomat and an excellent chess player.
Why? Do you see Putin as the bad guy who needs to be taken down?
It’s just that he’s not necessarily the good guy.
I keep saying what is the point of all the claims of blackmail? Nothing is shocking anymore and the nasty stuff we do know about know one seems to care or willing or able to do anything about it.
I guess it only matters now if you are a high profile person who is vocally against something and then you’re outed as doing that very thing. Like a person who is vocally anti-abortion who has an abortion, for example. Or a person who is vocally anti-Trump who votes for Trump. 🙂 (I suspect there will be quite a few of those this year, but nobody will ever find out).
Speaking of voting for Trump, dummy Joe Rogan had better not throw his vote away this year. He admitted to voting for the Libertarian candidate in 2020, a guy who had zero chance of becoming President. Every vote that isn’t for Trump is a vote for Biden.
There is some kind of Blackmailing going from Ukraine, why else would the USA keep sending billions of dollars there?
Money. All of DC is making a killing off Ukraine, except all that has been exposed. Eh, shrug, gripe, and move on to the next horrible thing they are doing to destroy the country is my point. When Joey was VP he thought Ukraine was his, he was always over there dictating what and how to do stuff, who to fire, putting his son on boards that he didn’t have a clue about. We know about the billions being laundered, we know about the high sex trafficking that goes through Ukraine, we know about the bioweapon centers, we know about the arms and drug trafficking, I am sure I am forgetting something, but what more do we need in terms of blackmail?
Maybe that’s why President Putin brought up blackmail!
laundry, of course.
Then consider the actions of
the EU.
They have jeopardized their
economies and their defense
capabilities….just to support
Ukraine.
The EU leadership is even
Worse in their support of
Ukraine than the US is🤷♀️💁🤷♀️
Except they don’t spend any money… EU 20 Billion US 460 Billion.
Politicians diddling kids. Ukraine is a sex trafficking hub.
Assange explained one of the primary reasons in 2011. It is just not his theory but in the Wikileaks Chelsea Manning files and US State Dept Cables, that you can read yourself:
Julian Assange Stop the War Interview 8 October 2011
So, they shut Afghanistan down and opened up shop again in Ukraine, it is simple as that.
The Chinese wanted Ukraine’s farmland, that’s where the Bidens ( aka. the China bagmen) got involved.
The Donbas is rich in
coal and Natural Gas.
I see the connection between
Bidens and the Natural Gas
especially with
Hunters dealings in “energy “😂
to be one of my -case in point
Also, if the farmland was so important
then the US would not have sent
depleted Uranium munitions to
Ukraine which contaminated a
resource which would be a priority
(the farmland) that they wanted.
Russia Does Not Seem to Be After Ukraine’s Gas Reserves | RAND
☝️☝️☝️☝️
2nd largest reserve in Europe.🤷♀️💁
Russia will acquire the Russian speaking eastern Uraine. Inevitable. Should have been negotiated without the slaughter.
The slaughter is the Junta’s purpose.
#DaysOfDepopulationAndRoses
Depopulation ukraine of -ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS- ….600,000+ include russians soldiers…(vietnam war-58,000 + in the 1964-1975 saaaaaaaaaaad……but..but neocons include V*cious V*cky N and mic are very happy about it……
Ring around the rosie
Pockets full of posies
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down.
It’s a type of plague.
Thats for sure.
Ring Around the Rosie: Metafolklore, Rhyme and Reason | Folklife Today
☝️☝️
It already has.
Tom Longo directs us to study the route of Carlson, etal, and the sanity and safety on ‘common ground’.
.
The Great Reset Is Dead, Long Live The Great Reset
…what happens when Carlson and Putin discuss the lies of foreign policy, of the nature of the conflict in Ukraine, the grievances between Russia and the West and find out they have more in common than they are supposed to?
Carlson didn’t break the internet with his interview of Russell Brand, nor with Alex Jones, but he is taking what’s left of the comfortable lie that the media is anything other than court stenographers putting it in a paper bag, dropping it on our doorsteps, and lighting it on fire. It’s been so long since we saw anyone do journalism that we barely understand what it looks like when we see it.
Carlson, like Brand, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Jerome Powell, Jamie Dimon, or any of the others I give credit to in this blog, aren’t perfect men.
We killed that guy over two thousand years ago.
We don’t need them to be perfect men. If you need that, I suggest you seek professional help.
What we need is for them lead where they can when they can. They just need to give us the tools needed to cross the chasm and find common ground. Let us then build a public square that looks nothing like the one that we’ve been allowed to protest in up until now…
https://tomluongo.me/2024/02/05/the-great-reset-is-dead-long-live-the-great-reset/
Longo nails it in that piece….. now to get to that 16% common ground phase…
Right…bridge the gap….!
Annie, thanks for sharing that !
Happy Birthday to Me! Here I thought it would be a boring evening this year. Thanks Tucker! God Bless You for taking the arrows.
Happy Birthday!
Mine is tomorrow.
Right back at ya! Hope you have a Cheery and Happy one.
Repeat: There’s something very special about February babies. Says this February baby (in about 2 weeks).
Happy birthday to you and us!
Happy Birthday to you, too!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
And I pray that all your guns will always be left alone!
There’s something very special about February babies. Says this February baby (in about 2 weeks).
Happy birthday to you and us!
‘Couldn’t agree more…mine’s coming on the 25th…Oh man…78
Happy Birthday, Guns!!! How you feeling after your surgery on Wednesday???
You sound nice and spry! Blessing to you, pal!
Cheers, happy birthday to me also – 74 years ago. Have a good day.
🎂🎉🥳🎊
Funny, I don’t remember anyone being bothered by the NBC interview of Putin (link below)
Exclusive: Full Interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin
Megan Kelly Putin interview, No problems here
Confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Part 1 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News
Confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Part 1 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News (youtube.com)
Chris Wallace interviews Russian President Vladimir Putin
https://yt3.ggpht.com/xrMXuR2ARUKOvvMKeB2XAFMt6rchyUkiEn2G2J1DtWjL5zVxKW9H4jlkQdBdBoqTi_WmU5_dGQ=s88-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj
Fox News
No problemo
Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson are good friends.
I don’t trust either if them.
Most of them are. They attack each other on Tv and then go out for cocktails and dinner when the show is over. One day I near about lost my lunch when Rush mentioned he had Kelly in his home for dinner. Anyone can invite who they want to their home, but it just made me feel ick. I really dislike her.
It also opened my eyes when Rush told the story of being hailed to NY by Schumer and Rubio, they were trying to coerce him into supporting amnesty. Rush made it sound like he had no choice but to drop everything and go. Another ick for me. All these people are threaded together so much more than people ever think or realize.
I remember when Putin implied that the U.S. was behind the Maidan Coup. Kelly sad something like: “Well the U.S. has denied any involvement in that.”
Putin chuckled and said: “We have thousands of intelligence sources in Ukraine. We know who did the training and who carried out the operation. We know everything.”
I suspect that a substantial number of the Treehouse agree with Putin’s purported positions on every issue, with the exception being, most likely, his views on the conflict in Israel.
If Putin is hinting that the warmongering “elites” who run psy-ops in Ukraine as well as in the USA, are the same “elites” running psy ops in Israel, then maybe Putin knows something that we don’t?
After all, the “elites” are very sneaky, right? Patriot Act, anyone? And who can forget the mark of the beast?
^^^^^^🎯💥💥💥
Every comment you’ve made today has had outstanding observations.
This one is the most prescient.
👍
I have continued to qurstion how the Oct. 7th Hamas operation could possibly have occurred without NSA, CIA, Mossad, IDF, etc. having advance knowledge, and I am far from the only one.
So, maybe there is NOTHING that Putin and we disagree on?
Me and you both, brother.
And the rest of the 5 eyes, particularly the UK.
Are not Saudi Arabia-Pakistan-US-Israel intelligence organizations linked? Think 9/11 and 10/7. What do they care about murdering innocents whether they are Americans or Israeli’s.
Touché.
Egypt and Jordan both claim that they warned Israel of coming attacks a few days before they occurred. I question how Egypt and Jordan could have that information and pass it along to Israel and the US with CIA/NSA/DIA had “no idea”.
💥
You can be sure he knows a great many things we do not.
which is why the 4rth Branch didn’t want Tucker to interview Putin. I am so anxious to see what they TRY to do to him for the flagrant act of journalism.
That’s a broad assumption; one that swamp members could easily use to declare this site, and those who read it and/or post here are members of Putin’s army, or something.
I suspect a substantial number of the Treehouse are seekers of truth, which has no agenda, and are willing to go where truth leads them.
I’m in full agreement with Putin except on his friendship with Xi. He’s correct about the Israeli Hamas conflict.
Putin’s comments on Israel make him sound like he is a card carrying member of the squad.
But of course. Iran is his ally.
PUTIN:
“I’d tell them worrying about climate change is like complaining about the weather. If you don’t like the climate, move. If you are worried about the weather, get an umbrella.”
“Your southern border is managed better than the 2020 election.”
“In Russia we do not have mail in ballots.”
Some of Putin’s answers in this questionable transcript should have evoked riotous laughter from Tucker. In many of Tucker’s interviews he responds with a high pitched yikes, almost uncontrollable laugh. Only one lol is noted in the transcript…it seems too rigid?
TUCKER: Are you in any communication with Trump?
PUTIN: (using my made up response)
Since you have been touted as his running mate by some in your country…can I say I am in communication with him right now?
I think this Tucker/Putin interview just sealed Tucker’s future as NOT being Trump’s running mate. Methinks Tucker likes it that way. 🙂
This is only transcripts. Also edited. Wait for the actual interview tonight. Which will also have edits but be more realistic.
Agree! Transcript seems good, hearing will be the must!
Wonder how many here will change their tune once they learn that the transcript was 100% fake.
not soo funny…..Adolf never talk/meet with- uncle Joe(stalin) even after they sign up treaty in Aug..1939…same goes between “jb”and pres.Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (for obvious reason from him) in both cases end up with direct/not direct wars….hmmmm
Fascinating how the Obama/Brandon administration has started claiming that Russia is putting out fake news regarding Bio Weapons testing in Africa. I don’t believe in coincidence’s and if these people are claiming they are not doing it chances are really good they are .
I already ASSUMED the barstuds have been bioweopons testing in Africa, for years.
Didn’t everybody?
Somewhere around 2015, the Garbage Elites flipped on Putin.
They had assumed he would join their Nation-Hating Globalist Club. After all, he had been helping Obama with Iran and paying massive bribes to the Clintons. (In fairness, the Biden’s didn’t care; they kept taking the bribes.)
But when Putin asserted himself as a Russian patriot and would not give Syria over to Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood, it was Game On.
That’s when Pompeo, Esper and Milley lied to PDT about poison gas to get a Syria strike.
Russia has become more powerful under the installed turnip Biden.
The Biden regime is destroying the US dollar and fossil fuels.
Pukin Putin is a communist dictator and so is the Washington DC. corrupt politicians.
I refuse to be led astray with Tucker’s interview. Russia is in bed with DC. That’s why the installed Biden regime ALLOWED Tucker to go to Russia.
Be careful of stupid shiny objects.
Thank you Sundace for explaining the true intent of DC’s sanctions on Russia.
So all the revealing of the warmongering DC Uniparty and inept Biden against a peace loving Russia was planned by the warmongering DC Uniparty and inept Biden?
”communist dictator “❓❓❓❓
Did you forget the /sarc label?
😂😂🤷♀️💁
Although I have talked with some
really ignorant people who really
think that 🤷♀️💁🤷♀️🤔🤔
Its like they really don’t know
that the USSR fell in 1991😂😂😂🤷♀️💁🤷♀️
“Thats why the installed Biden regime ALLOWED Tucker togo to Russia.”
You miss a major point of Sundances recent posts on his trip to Russia!
Its frankly not up to the U.S. Government; you go to the Russian embassy, request a visa, and go.
WE do not have to ask the U.S. Government for permission, thats NOT how it works, and the U.S. Government has no such travel restrictions.
You think our government respects our rights?
They are trying to put the greatest President in my lifetime in prison for non crimes with made up laws..plus
J6 and pro life political prisoners, charging a father that demanded accountability because his daughter was raped by a Trans freak, taking catholics license plate numbers in parking lots etc.
China has become more powerful under the Turnip…. which was the Turnips whole purpose of being installed.
Weaken the US Patriots and strengthen His and Hunter INC. money laundering partners.
Ukraine is a money laundering operation for the uniparty.
LOL!
“The backlash against Tucker Carlson has been extreme ever since his entry into Russia and visibility in Moscow was noticed.”
Translation: “He’s over the target.”
Although I really like Putin‘s (supposed), responses, that sounds way too scripted. I think I’ll wait and watch the interview tonight.
I was puzzled by how short the responses seemed, he is usually not that terse and clipped.
coupel different sources i trust now saying its a fake and can be confirmed to be generated by ChatGPT language engine.
You know that second revelation (that Russia is officially anti-gay) surfaced during the Sochi Olympics.
Exactly. The 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
Putin made statements condemning homosexuality prior to the games.
The worldwide left lost their collective minds and have hated Putin ever since.
A turning point.
Like the 2002 memorial service for Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) who, along with his family, died in a plane crash. The demons turned the memorial into a campaign rally. The repubs in attendance sat there looking extremely uncomfortable..
i was adopted…in 1952. i am so thankful that gays and trannies were not able to adopt back then. i feel fortunate.
common sense
Yes, Sundance, the sanctions quote jumped out at me. It says clearly that he sees Russia’s main enemy as the globalist oligarchs that many have shortened to Davos. Like the “pandemic” lockdowns and the clot shot, the sanctions were a unified, orchestrated, obviously planned effort by international thugs, the same ones that brought us (“I’m a citizen of the world”) Obama, BLM, the steal of 2020 and, obviously, the Ukraine “project.”
TUCKER: That’s true. Will you be watching?
PUTIN: The game will not be shown in Russia.
TUCKER: So you won’t get to see Taylor Swift either then?
PUTIN: No. We have been given a reprieve.
LOL. As an old cold warrior, 11 years in that war, we won – the Soviets fell -I would like to get back to the notion of the peace dividend – where we can have normal commercial peaceful relations with the Russians. To be sure, they have their problems with corruption – like we don’t? Have you seen the green new steal? But to think all this Russia, Russia, Russia! crap is just a continuation of the Hillary BS is disgusting.
Hildabeast should be tied to a chair and have her watch the interview, on a loop, for 7 days….only interspersed during rewinding, with President Trump speeches.
LOL, one of the conservative journalists quoted the new title she was awarded yesterday:
“Senior Demon Hillary Clinton”
Actually, I like that idea. I would add something to hold her eyelids open.
Exactly what I was thinking! 👍
Financial sanctions and BRICS are the only thing we should be paying attention to.
You notice that Tucker does not do a deep dive into these subjects.
Only Sundace explains it with awesome detailed research.
A great read.
Patrick Buchanan: Is Putin’s Russia an ‘Evil Empire?’
https://www.livingstonparishnews.com/opinion/opinion-patrick-buchanan-is-putins-russia-an-evil-empire/article_0f85de9c-8f99-11e8-9e87-03dc7e5f8bf5.html
I’d elect Putin over the Democrat Biden easy, but Trump will smash Biden or else. Life in Russia may be comfortable than living in a Blue City in a Blue State.
Imagine being a white person and voting Democrat…. Like how F*cking stupid do you have to be?
Democrats are trying to enslave us all…. and beat down the white people economically via racist Govt’ Policy.
Bannons Warroom also going to livestream the interview…just announced
TUCKER: So you won’t get to see Taylor Swift either then?
PUTIN: No. We have been given a reprieve.
I don’t care who you are or what you believe, but that is funny!
The stock market has been rather uneventful since the first of the year with a slight “up” bias. However, I have a longer term sell signal with an 80% probability. I don’t think most people pay that much attention to the stock market. The average person depends on their “Planner” at that is the extent of it.
I am at a loss to see what this has to do with this thread,enlighten me.
Have you ever made a mistake and posted something in the wrong thread?
Gibbs rule #18. I personally see the connection.
Particularly since Russia’s election is coming soon.
That’s all this guy posts…. nobody is asking for his stock tips, etc…. Especially when it’s just the Communist puppet Govt’ propping up the market with money printing/ Fraud and not his advice that is providing any real value. Anyone recall the Tulip era?
I don’t mean to sound snarky…so forgive me if I do, some thoughts to consider:
This is politics. And entertainment.
Politics involves your salary, income, level of debt, inflation, deflation, utility costs, and housing costs and your so called savings account..food and gas….Sanctions and global commerce also affect the previous…Did I leave anything out? The top dow stocks have their fingers into global investments, including Russia (do we wonder why there is a thing called ‘corporate law’ or ‘international law’???. K Street and the wheeling and dealing in DC. And 10% at 1600.
Ukraine involves Russia. Ukraine involves CONgress…with the multitude of war mongering.
ya gotta think deep…Tucker and Putin talkin’….politics…Just my own uneducated humble opinion.
And I refuse to pay a planner…the stingy scots in me…
A great read on Orthodox Christian Russia’s military operations assisting secular Syria in its war against the terrorists sponsored by the CIA-Saudi Arabia & Co. Some of the terrorists are an Al-Qaeda affiliate which we were told was responsible fro 9/11 and launched a Orwellian War On terror against, yet never seemed to really do much against them. These charts show Russia’s aggressive airstrikes against Al-Qaeda & ISIS which is another CIA-Saudi- Globalist construct
Russian Airstrikes in Syria
(September 30, 2015 – September 19, 2016)
Genevieve Casagrande, ISW Syria Research Analyst,
and the ISW Syria Team
Institute for the Study of War
For more ISW publications visit UnderstandingWar.org
https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Russian%20Airstrikes%20Maps%20SEPT%202015-SEPT%202016.pdf
“Tucker: So you won’t get to see Taylor Swift either then? PUTIN: No. We have been given a reprieve.”
‘Nuff said.
Vladimir Putin will continue to be vilified until he accepts a Rothschild owned central bank.
advertised to look like a UFC fight. Cmon people, what happened to your instincts.
This is what the Cabal thinks of us…
Now you know that is just a coincidence, lol 😂.
Besides, he had to get some practice on a pilot broadcast before his upcoming role, right?
Corny Booger. 😁 In the top photo, Corny looks like the donkey from Shrek.
“Are you not entertained?” 😁
Uniparty & money laundering.
Kolomoiski made Zelensky a TV star then a president, he stood up the nazi Azov Battalion which after Nuland’s coup ran to eastern Ukraine & Crimea to kill ethnic Russians, and pumped money to Biden via Burisma.
Zelensky has not stood up to the Azov battalion. He is allied with them.
He made them an official part of the military.
He is scared of them. They are exactly like Hitler’s SS. Listen to Putin tonight tell you that the Nazi SS was comprised of many Ukrainians. Naziism never went away; it flourished among militant Ukraine leftwing radicals.
Read the comment again, j x said that Zelenskyy “stood up” the Azov Battalions meaning that the battalions were to stand – to (get ready for action), not that he stood up to them.
That’s great! I also love the one that shows little z with the caption “How I Made One Billion Dollars Working From Home.”
That second one is just too “funny”.
Anything that throws the Libs into a tizzy is good, MP.
Media cabal is capable of pretending to be tizzied if the distraction helps keep the electorate entertained. The ultimate objective is to keep everyone believing in the false narrative that the war in Ukraine is real. Regardless of whether or not they support it. The important part is that you believe in the foundation of the lie. Much like the way they do it for the war in Covid or for the safe and secure elections narrative. There never was a covid pandemic and Biden didnt win.
271 more days
This is why you must believe the lie:
The Senate just voted 67-32 in favor of advancing a $95B foreign aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and Taiwan without the border provisions.
You dont have to agree with supporting the war, you just have to believe there is a war.
Nor defunding the IRS Gestapo they created.
Touché btw
I encountered some cognitive dissonance on this thread 2 days ago about the “Ukraine Theater Production”.
Ruder Finn’s ops in the Balkans and especially Kosovo is an example of war theater
i’m not a Russophobe.
…..same people still run everyting! BINGO!
Hilarious! Can’t wait to hear it. The FJB administration is NO FRIEND to ANYBODY except themselves.
Sundance, your skepticism on the veracity of that scrip is well justified. As I wrote in the thread yesterday it seems to have started out after Tucker’s first trip into what is assumed to be the Kremlin, when he went in to sort our procedure. It has been widely trashed since primarily as that is not the way Putin phrases things when someone like Tucker gives him the space. Besides which TCN security on content will be as tight as a drum.
In case anyone here thinks that Tucker is regarded other than how we regard him, this is a clip of Russians being interviewed on the subject. There could be as many Russians watching this as Americans. This could be the biggest internet event to date, I hope TCN publishes their number of hits like X will.
A higher percent of Russians will watch the interview than Americans will watch the interview. Most American will want the fake summary version(s).
Can Americans name any Russian TV personality? Yet we’re expected to believe random Russians on the street know Carlson?
US media is global while Russian media is domestic. Not a good comparison.
Scott Ritter was swarmed in Russia and even had to change his routes due the security risk posed by being on the FSB Myrotvorets list. The reason that Putin and the Russian people (and Global South) have not written off the West entirely is because of people like Ritter, MacGregor, Sachs, Lira, Johnson, McGovern, Carlson and DJT, etc. Those folks are true national assets and are keeping the West from being ostracized entirely. The folks in Washington should be thanking them profusely, as they are the ones saving the West’s reputation and paving the way for any future Western reproachment with the rest of the world.
I believe The World will
be watching 👏👏👏
Great clip with the on
the street interviews!
I stopped reading after it got confusingly repetitious, but also because that statement distracted me and discolored much that followed. This is mostly because 20 years in the USAF during the Cold War conditioned me to recognize and read between the lines of brainwashing doublespeak.
Background is that for centuries Russian leaders have considered Ukraine to be “South Russia” or “Little Russia” and that Muscovy was the “original” Russia – from Rus’ as in Kievan Rus’ (as originally transliterated) – which of course is about a thousand years old – whereas “Russia North” itself is at least a couple of centuries junior.
But in point of fact, when Putin says he only wants what is his, he considers Ukraine to be his. Thus his invasion (dating back 10 years and more) is right and righteous for the Russian people. Putin is also, in mental (as well as physical) stature, too suggestive (to me) of a certain other pair of diminutive (yet utterly narcissistic) invaders in “recent” European history.
Much of the rest of Putin’s blathering certainly makes as much sense as anything that any of us can say about braindead Biden.
THE Ukraine is Russian soil. The Chernobyl meltdown occurred in Russia at the time and only recently has Ukraine been an independent nation.
Basically that whole part of the world has centuries of history about who owns what and we as a newcomer to the world scene would be very foolish to get involved in such arguments even if we knew for sure who was right and who was lying.
Okay, so we did get involved…except it wasn’t we as in we-the-people, it was our enemies in the federal government who involved America. So Putin is the enemy of my enemy, and while I’m not going to say he’s my friend, I’d rather listen to him than to my own fraudulent government.
“… I’d rather listen to him than to my own fraudulent government”
amazing that we’ve come to that point, huh?
Very good point there at the end. And at the beginning. And everywhere between.
As a “PS” to my first reply to you, academia.edu has a huge amount of world history at one’s fingertips.
It also helps a bit to have Russian, Ukrainian or Polish friends/acquaintances, as I’ve had here and there.
“THE”? There is no “the” in Russian or Ukrainian.
In 1986 (and all around 1986) Ukraine was formally called (by the Soviets) Ukrainian SSR, R as in Republics, plural. (Again no “the” in the name because articles don’t exist in any Slavic language that I’ve ever delved into).
Ukraine was also independent in 1917. Before that, post-Kievan Rus’, it was pretty much divided between Poland and Russia. For example, “thank you” in Ukrainian – jakuyu (close phonetic) – is far more related to Polish “jenkuya” (phonetic) than Russian “spasiba”. Etc etc etc.
And etc…..
Your last paragraph falls in line with Putin’s points about the Duchy/Kingdom of Poland – Lithuania.
Hope you listened carefully to the REAL interview tonight and learned the true history of Ukraine’s relationship with Russia over centuries and the most recent 20 years.
“Contrary to longstanding accusations we do not meddle in your elections. We don’t need to because the same people end up running things anyway.”
Makes sense. Why would they need to put out any energy or influence when the election ultimately won’t change who is running the show in DC. Putin also sees the UniParty Kabuki theater and it’s stranglehold.
We’ve noticed this ourselves since Trump came on the scene and started disrupting their applecart. The Democrat Communist Party is busy destroying the US Constitution and weakening America for the globalist cabal and the GOP are the stooges who play the role of the spineless losers in this twisted theater. Of course Putin would go along with that and wouldn’t want to muck up the works.
but … but … but …
Macedonian content farmers !
He would eviscerate Biden in a debate.
So would a 12 year old child.
So would my puppy dog, but I wouldn’t put her through the stress and anguish.
PUTIN: The BRICS would exist anyway. It’s a natural reaction to the western trading block. It’s a counterweight. When the
dollar is weaponized against states there will be a natural alternative to it. That’s what we want.
TUCKER: Is that why you and Russia have been targeted?
PUTIN: It’s more complicated than that but I’m sure it’s a good part of the reason. Whenever the dollar is endangered the United States takes extreme measures. It cannot afford to have the dollar fail. He hit the nail on the head
The most obvious thing about Biden Regime, HRC, etc… they pushed Russia into China partnership….. because China is the Democrats big money partner via outsourced manufacturing and businesses… so instead of making China the bad man, they claim Russia is…. By pushing Russia and China together they made China even stronger… this was all calculated and orchestrated by HRC, Biden, Pelosi, Obama, etc.
Putin is quite funny with a dry sense of humor.
But obviously doesn’t suffer fools and will excoriate you when not following his reasoning
We will be watching
Larry Johnson writes that he hears from a reliable source that the transcript is a fake, probably AI generated. We’ll see tonight.
That is a direct lie.
I just read that article.
Johnson stated he is inclined to believe the transcript is real.
He then stated, “however it is possible that it was AI generated.”
Don’t post falsehoods!
If this transcript is real (I have my doubts) then why is Tucker asking about Taylor Swift in limited time that he has and then “Thanks for your time! Bye!”
If real I don’t know if that is genius or just totally taking things not serious.
We’ll see tonight.
If real, its a light hearted way of ending the interview.
It’s on brand for Tucker. He always asks pop culture stuff in interviews.
I prefer Treeper California Joe’s ‘Moon of Alabama’ translation of Putin’s interview.
The translation is divided over 5 posts, but the first one can be found on page 2 of the comments, the other 4 pages of the interview following closely:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/02/06/tucker-carlson-goes-to-the-forbidden-zone-to-interview-public-enemy-2-vladimir-putin/comment-page-2/#comment-10563017
.
This is edited out in SD’s transcript
That transcript is completely fake. It got wide distribution because too many were quick to be “first on the block” to post it.
Suckers.
Even if you don’t believe half of what Putin says, it’s still going to be a compelling interview. People will see that he is not the devil that Hillary and Obama are.
I personally can’t see the difference. He’s a USSR-trained devil, so in some ways he’s a little better at conflating truth and sensibility.
Lookup one of Putin’s past speeches and the speeches of Joe Biden’s/Hillary/Obama, and you are saying you can’t see any difference other than Putin conflating truth and sensibility better? [basically saying Putin is the better liar]
You have to listen more intently then. Sure there are lies and diversions (they are politicians) however Putin’s world view I find a lot more pragmatic and based and straightforward than the web of lies any of the US counterparts can produce. Also I find Putin addresses shared values, religion, family, heritage and culture, border security (e.g. NATO moving further East). In my opinion some of the cornerstones of Western civilization that are ALL currently under attack and being absolutely destroyed in the USA.
I wouldn’t pay any attention to Wolfman, he’s probably a Biden supporter… if you know what I mean.
Better educated and articulate
always wins.
Most people don’t know that
his first degree was in law,
then economics
degree.
Biden and most of his psychopath
juveniles are as dumb as a box
of rocks.
Same with those in our propaganda
media. 🤡🤡🤡
Atleast he loves his country and people…. HRC and Obama are Evil as F*ck…. and hate everyone who isn’t laundering free money to them. If you can’t see any difference between them you have some serious issues.
If these transcripts are close to factual, no wonder the Deep State is shitting bricks! And no wonder Our President enjoys Putin’s company! What a great sense of humor! WAY TO GO TUCKER!!!
From Larry Johnson web site – read the comments – very smart people comment on his substack:
https://sonar21.com/transcript-of-tuckers-interview-with-president-putin/
This just posted at State of the Nation. It reads legit. If this is a fake it is well done. I’m inclined to believe it is real. However, is it possible this was an AI generated interview courtesy of ChatGPT? What do you think?
UPDATE — I have confirmed with someone who has firsthand knowledge of the interview that this is a FAKE. Yep. Seemed too good to be true and was written in a fairly clever fashion. Looks like this in a demonstration of what AI via ChatGPT or some other platform can do. In any event, let’s see what the real one is like when it is released in a little less than 9 hours. I plan to do a live stream analysis once it is out.
From comments – some very smart and connected people on his substack:
This can’t be a full transcript as the i’view is reported to be two hours long? I read this in five minutes.
With repeats!
An AI giveaway?
Putin’s answers are rarely that short and succinct. He’s the Great Explainer.
Exactly. Smells like AI/Chatgpt generated. Who would do that? Perhaps those who want us guessing what is real and what isn’t. Distraction.
Don’t know whether it’s legit or not but what looks like the same transcript was posted here on Feb. 5: https://amg-news.com/bombshell-tucker-carlsons-exclusive-interview-with-vladimir-putin-in-moscow-full-transcript-released/
His remarks about climate change seem inconsistent with what he’s said about this in the past. He sounds pretty glib here but my impression is that he and the rest of Russian leadership take it seriously, even if they don’t display the same hysteria about it that the West does.
This transcript was available already three days ago…..so my guess is the real interview will be different
Undoubtedly fake – probably AI generated as you suggest. The question and answers are trite. Both men are highly intelligent and Putin loves to be discursive.
Seeker:
What is not said or covered in this interview is more important than what is said. Nothing much about Ukraine is discussed and that was to be a main topic for this interview. So many minutes of the real interview are missing from this transcript. Plus the answers sound too glib and not serious Putin. The real interview is much longer than this short fake summery.
So this very brief AI generated fake is a great short distraction from the real longer interview. Playing very strongly on Americans laziness and seldom read long articles. Americans always want a summary even if it misses most of the true value. Russians however will listen to the entire interview and have a ton more patience than Americans – fast and brief and fake.
It’s very cool that Tucker has more freedom to do journalism and Fox is still paying him $20m a year.
I feel like the transcript went out to give the people what they wanted / needed to hear, like at least open some minds. If the interview turns out NOT to be a true reflection of the so called excerpts, oh well, the horse has already been let out of the barn … and the marketing for TuckerCarlson.com will have been huge.
Read this earlier this morning:
https://sonar21.com/transcript-of-tuckers-interview-with-president-putin/
“…UPDATE — I have confirmed with someone who has firsthand knowledge of the interview that this is a FAKE. Yep. Seemed too good to be true and was written in a fairly clever fashion. Looks like this in a demonstration of what AI via ChatGPT or some other platform can do. In any event, let’s see what the real one is like when it is released in a little less than 9 hours. I plan to do a live stream analysis once it is out….”
They must be super freaked out, and in reaction to their fear, the control dial is cranked up!
Who was it confirmed by? A person named “someone”?
I refreshed Larry’s post, no additional information, but copied & pasted several of the comments, of which I agree with. I had forgotten I’ve read some of Putin’s interviews released throughout the Ukraine fiasco.
“This can’t be a full transcript as the i’view is reported to be two hours long? I read this in five minutes.”
“I have a feeling that some parts in the beginning I have seen before. Not sure it’s Putin’s style, I read many of his speeches, but could be the translation made it a bit rigid.”
“Putin’s answers are rarely that short and succinct. He’s the Great Explainer.”
“Pretty appalling to read followup replies to this.
People. Get this. Focus carefully.
Do you really think the two men said to be talking really said the exact same words, verbatim, twice, a few minutes apart?”
“Way too short responses
way too simple answers
way too short”
“They seem very short answers for Putin.”
“Why would anyone use some crappily made ‘transcript’ posted by the ‘who-the-f-is-that’ on a ‘wtf’ website instead of waiting and listening for the real deal?
I’m sorry, Larry, no Russian reading this would consider it a 0,0000001% legit.
This is not the way Mr.P. speaks and formulates his ideas into sentences.
His ‘replies’ hera are way too short and simple, and it’s looks more like interrogation than interview.”
Maybe the transcript is fake, but this update sounds even faker.
This should be some good information. Hopefully Tucker will be much less Tuckerish and more respectful so we will get some interesting info.
TUCKER: Who would you like to see as the next president of the United States?
PUTIN: Once again it is not for us to say or get involved. Contrary to longstanding accusations we do not meddle in your elections. We don’t need to because the same people end up running things anyway.
This is the same Putin that I read about in Oliver Stone’s “The Putin Interviews” published in 2017. Every ounce of that book made a whole lot of sense, something our Amerikan government no longer does to me.
Then the Left attacked their own, Oliver Stone, which was very telling. His documentary “Ukraine on Fire” is also very damning. So, of course… the Establishment attacks and suppresses. Nowadays, we should always listen when someone’s voice is being suppressed, duct taped, wealth stolen, devices confiscated, muzzled, gagged, and beaten.
A.I.T.O – America in title only.
That edit here
“{EDIT ?}
PUTIN: I remember laughing to his jokes when he was a comedian in Russia. Let’s go back to laughs.”
is definitely Tucker referencing Zelensky.
tucker…”if you could vote would it be trump or biden and why?”
putin…”interesting question. yesterday i got an absentee ballot from joe.”
Let’s say we have good sources that confirm that but it’s plain for anyone to see for themselves.
Game over. I know Putin may be a dictator, but he’s not dumb. He can see what’s really going on. The gig is up leftists.
Tucker is a SHOWMAN, he is in SHOW BUSINESS, and by these asshats very publically denouncing his interview with Putin, all they are doing us hyping up interest IN it,…
Much like the Indictments gave PDJT the media coverage they were denying him, by refusing to cover his rallies.
They DO attempt to manipulate, in order to control public opinion, they just aren’t very GOOD at it.
exactly
its the NEWS BUSINESS
they are NEWS STORIES
stories are narratives which need drama
Be Controversial: Always a Little, Sometimes a Lot
https://www.dynamic.gop/p/129-dynamic-gop-playbook
Dutch, one of their tricks as well is to get all of this hype built up before said event. Then the event happens. The event doesn’t stir the emotions higher than the hyped-up interest. People are then disillusioned.
And the tricksters move on simply ignoring it all. And the people move on too forgetting it all.
Very effective.
charlie kirck just asked who gets a bigger audience…..tucker or the super bowl.
Considering that people around
the World will be more interested
in the interview and not a US football
game………..💁🤷♀️
It will also highlight the priorities
that Americans place on what
is more important.
Further feeding the narrative that
Americans are more interested in
being “entertained “ by sports
than what is going on around the
world and in their own country.
Amplifying the opinion that we
are a country where the majority
is uninformed and under educated.💁🤷♀️💁
No brainer.
Interesting that Putin said our football is sometimes unnecessarily violent. Or words to that effect.
That was a stupid statement.
The priorities of most are warped.
Not that many people care about the Super Bowl. Just in pockets of the country where the teams are. An exception is in CA where Super Bowl Sunday has always been like a religious holiday. Pretty much everything shuts down, which is why it has always been a great day to go skiing.
Super bowels? wots that? Asking for ( many) Scots.
A traditional American game that is similar to jousting.
Not an accurate reading of who Carlson clearly is. This is a mission for him. He’s an entertaining guy, so that’s part of it, but there’s nothing manipulative or disingenuous about what he’s been doing for a long time.
And you know this is a “mission” for him how?
He’s been wanting to interview Putin for quite a while now. As he’s pointed out Zelensky is Churchill on a pedestal and Putin is demonized yet there are two sides to this story. Tucker want people to hear the other side. As Vivek Ramaswamy pointed out in the debate:
A: Ukraine isn’t a democracy.
B: The regions in conflict haven’t been part of Ukraine since 2014.
C: Neither Nimrata nor DeSantis could name the regions they would send American troops into to fight Russia.
D: The news media hasn’t been telling the truth.
I think that Vivek sparked a lot of interest in finding out what is really going on!
I thought that was Halley and Christi.
Probably all 4 including Scott, too. They all has a dumb shocked look on their face!
I want to hear the other side too. What truthseeker doesn’t?
b. or Russia since 1954/1991. Little green men not withstanding. How many nations recognize Luhansk and Donetsk as independent countries? As parts of Russia? Tell a lie often enough-it is still a lie.
Part of Ireland wanted to be independent from the UK. Part didn’t! It took a while but they got what they wanted. Same thing with Donetsk and Lugansk.
Keep blowing smoke. You’re outing yourself.
Or, better yet what his MOTIVES may or may not be.
I fall back to my default position (when I am able to exert self control, which is admittedly not 100%) of LIKE what the messenger says, or even “love” it, but resist the temptation to love the messenger.
Whether its Tucker, Elon, Vivek, Brandt, or a politician like Hawley or Gaetz,…
And you know Tucker is on a “mission” how?
And what about all that excellent reporting on J6 he promised?
Or about the border, Ukraine corruption, or the stolen election?
Keep drinking the Kool Aid of his obvious avoidance of certain subjects, unlike our Sundance.
I don’t think anyone not pretending, can deny or miss the topics he DOESN’T cover, and like the dog that didn’t bark, the silence is deafening!
Again, MOTIVE; WHY is he studiously avoiding certain topics, while seeming to pull the tigers tail on others?
Is SOMEBODY telling him to ignore certain topics, and if so WHO, and are they threatening him, or bribing him?
SOMETHING ‘screwy’ is going on with TC, but WHATS behind it?
Exactly.
And my replies above are to someone who made factually false statements about Larry Johnson’s blog article today on the preceding page.
👁️ – you know what I mean?
I know EXACTLY what you mean, and I agree.
The vagaries of randomised timing and placement of comments, can sometimes confuse, but I’m with ya all the way.
I think it would be really interesting if someone able to discern marionette strings (like Sundance, though I know he doesn’t do that sort of thing) were to interview Tucker.
Excuse me. TC had an extensive interview w the head of Capitol Police who was denied the National Guard, extra troops, critical intell, etc. And he’s been blackballed.
At the moment I’m at a loss for which topics Carlson is glaringly not covering.
They may come to me after I post this comment.
Or maybe not.
J6 tapes, J6 prisoner interviews, stolen election (multiple people that have uncovered evidence), border crisis and military age males coming thru, Ukraine extortion for starters.
Need more?
But we have everyone else covering that. He’s covering something no one else is. Is that okay? Need more?
No one covering what Putin says or does? 😂😂😂😂
Got it.
And Tucker’s gift? A large audience on those subjects I listed that you deflected from his covering. 😜
Nice try.
You are blinded by hatred for Tucker for whatever reason. I guess you never watched his FoxNation shows. That is on you.
How is skepticism hatred? This hate bs is what the left has drummed up to make common sense damnable. F that whole approach.
Black Knight is lying about what Tucker has covered in the last few years. That simply must be due to hatred… as he is not stupid.
I advise caution on someone and it’s “HATRED!”
Sounds like a Leftist talking point to me.
😂😂😂😂😂👁️
Catch up!
Your lies are definitely not due to your respect of a reporter. More so the opposite.
Well let’s see. Who has interviewed Putin lately? 😷Mask up dude. You’d probably rather have Jake Tapper interview him.
I could GAF less.
With that statement, you have conceded this jousting match.
He has covered all those on his shows and in interviews.
Regarding the border crisis, Tucker Carlson’s interview with Brety Weinstein was very informative.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/02/01/brett-weinstein-discusses-the-possibilities-behind-the-invasion-at-our-southern-border/
Brett Weinstein
Where have you been? He has covered those topics for years now. Just because you haven’t watched those shows doesn’t make you right in your assertion.
He has interviewed J6 prisoners who are out, but none currently locked up.
It seems you are throwing unwarranted accusations.
BS
You are a liar.
Lotsof love for the Black Knight but I’m not interested in Putin’s musings on J6, stolen elections, Congressional corruption, or border crisis… not his circus, not his clowns.
Now, if we hear nothing about NATO expansion and bio-labs, I will be disappointed.
Does anyone actually want to watch interviews with j6 prisoners?? Be boring as shit. can’t blame TC for going for more interesting material.
What about the rest of the subjects I brought up?
Still waiting!
Those interviews have been very enlightening.
I don’t live 24 / 7 on social media, I have a job and life which interfere with my time to conjure up new conspiracies.
I just proved TC interviewed the head of Capitol police, which was all about J6.
Second, he did a full segment on the border crisis and “military age males”!
So I (we) proved two large portions of your hypothesis false in 5 seconds. He can’t cover everything. His interviews with the PMs of Hungary and Argentina are MUST WATCH TV.
What are those topics? Please inform those of us ignorant not getting it.
You hit it, IFA. Nearly everyone who disagrees with dutchman and Black Knight are ignoramuses that must be enlightened by their self – proclaimed superior intellect <sarc>. What they actually offer are simple bullying tactics. I call them the Scut Farkas and Grover Gill of the Treehouse world. If you do not understand that reference, look up the cult classic movie A Christmas Story.
Why worry about Tucker – of course, he is an entertainer and wants
attention via clicks on his product.
I particularly don’t care about Tucker. I do care about what Putin
has to say.
Write on the blackboard 100 times –
Tucker is a media personality
Putin is a world leader
Absolutely. Anyone who hasn’t listened to him over the hundreds of hours in interviews/speeches the last few years are ignorant to this fact and why he is so invested. He truly loves this nation in its original form.
Tucker Carlson is also a journalist and a reporter.
Tucker’s interview tonight sure got the Senate to quickly pass Ukraine aid package!. As Sundance reminds us, nothing is coincidental. Wonder how many Republicans would have dared vote in favor After tonight.
I believe they would have passed it nonetheless. Just look at their names. Kennedy was a disappointment though.
And a damn good on at that. I just think some of these people just hate the way his says “rather”.
One*. He says*
Boy, you sure are promoting and protecting TC real bad, and it shows.
😂😂😂
Thankyou Mr Ryan