President Vladimir Putin rants about Ukraine in interview with Tucker Carlson: Live

President Putin blamed the West for the failure of peace talks with Ukraine.

“We did not refuse to talk. We were open to negotiations,” he insisted. “The West. And Ukraine is clearly a satellite state of the United States. That’s clear.”

“So I want to make sure that I don’t misunderstand what you’re saying. I don’t think that’s the case. I think you’re saying that you want a negotiated solution to what’s going on in Ukraine. “What?” Carlson asked.

“That’s right,” Putin said. “And we got to the point where he produced a huge document that was signed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul and created to amend the signature to some of the articles. Not all of them. . He signed and then he himself said that we were ready to sign and that word would have ended a long time ago. A month ago. But the Prime Minister said, [Boris] Johnson came in to force us to stop it, but we missed the chance. ”

The BBC’s John Simpson has harshly denied the interview between Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin.

The acclaimed correspondent and television host posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the former Fox News host did not ask the Russian president “a single difficult question.”

He added that he had allowed Putin to “fly a drone,” which is why the Kremlin did not allow “serious people” to be interviewed.

It was reported that Tucker Carlson met with NSA leaker Edward Snowden while in Moscow. Semaphore.

The former whistleblower made headlines in the Russian media and has since sought privacy in his family life.

Snowden was first granted asylum in Russia in 2013 after leaking a trove of classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents, and was later granted permanent resident status in Russia in 2020. That year, he announced his determination to seek duel citizenship, stating: “After years of separation from his parents, neither his wife nor I want to be separated from our son,” she tweeted.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled Russian businessman, oligarch and opposition leader, wrote in the X thread: That’s why he assassinates journalists, that’s why he invaded Ukraine, and that’s why he had Tucker Carlson interviewed. ”

President Putin imprisoned Khodorkovsky on trumped-up charges in 2003 and confiscated his oil company.

“Putin and his propagandists may portray the West as Russia’s No. 1 public enemy, but the truth is that he craves Western attention and approval. Why? Because… Because it gives him legitimacy at home,” Khodorkovsky wrote in X on Thursday night. “Russians may be taught to despise the West, but at the same time many of them still see Europe and the United States as cultural models. Buy products or follow Western sports teams.”

“So when a prominent Western person says something complimentary about Putin, it carries a lot of weight among the Russian public and contributes to Putin’s approval rating. And President Putin knows it,” he added. Ta.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to negotiate a possible exchange of prisoners to be released. wall street journal Evan Gershkovitch, a reporter who was arrested on spying charges in March last year, denied the charges and hinted that the Russian government wanted to release the agents imprisoned in Germany.

Asked by Tucker Carlson if Russia would release Gershkovych, Putin said Russia was open to talks, but reiterated that the reporter had been charged with espionage.

President Putin said, “There is no taboo in resolving this issue.” “We are ready to work it out, but there are certain conditions that are being discussed between the special services. We believe that an agreement can be reached.”

He pointed to a man imprisoned in an “allied country of the United States” for a “bandit purge” that killed Russian soldiers during fighting in the Caucasus, adding: “He took our captured soldiers on the road. There were patriots who purge him in one of the capitals of Europe.”

Putin did not mention his name, but Vadim, a Russian man serving a life sentence in Germany, was convicted of killing Georgian citizen Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili in broad daylight in 2019.・It seems that Mr. Krasikov was mentioned. Chechen people.

The German judges who convicted Krasikov said he acted on the orders of Russian federal authorities, who provided him with a false identity, a false passport, and resources to carry out the attack. He said he provided it.

of wall street journal “I am a journalist and journalism is not a crime,” Gershkovic reiterated in a statement, adding that “any depiction to the contrary is complete fiction.” “We are encouraged by Russia’s willingness to seek an agreement to bring Mr. Evan home and hope this will lead to his swift release and return to his family and our newsroom.” the paper said.

Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt slammed the former Fox News host, saying the Tucker Carlson interview was “the best thing that ever happened to Vladimir Putin.”

“Tomorrow America will suffer from his spreading unrefuted and unfiltered lies. This is how democracy dies.”