- President Vladimir Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson revealed his delusions, according to two Russian experts.
- President Putin tried to deny Ukraine’s sovereignty by interpreting Russian history in his own way.
- U.S. senators are working on support for Ukraine and Israel, but they may have trouble surviving in the House.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a bizarre performance fueled by Russian propaganda and imperialist posturing in an interview with right-wing media host Tucker Carlson last week.
Two Russian historians said the two-hour interview revealed little new information about the Ukraine war, which is likely to continue, and highlighted Putin’s growing paranoia. It is said that it was successful.
“Putin’s performance was bizarre,” said Robert English, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies Russia, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
For nearly half an hour, Putin rattled off his version of Russian history, trying to prove that Ukraine is not a sovereign state. Since the war began in February 2022, countless historians and analysts have refuted Putin’s claims to sovereignty.
The Russian president parroted in great detail many of the false talking points he has used over the years to reinforce his belief that Ukraine should be under Russian control.
Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and a historian of the Soviet Union and the United States, said: “Putin appears to be a delusional man who has lost touch with reality, and who has a strong relationship with Rurik, Poland and Lithuania.” He talks a lot about the Federation.” -Soviet relations.
“Mr. Carlson’s first question about the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, as if it had not spontaneously flared up and Putin invaded and started a war, captures the mood. The decision has been made,” Miles wrote in an email to BI.
The interview, distributed Thursday on Carlson’s website and on X, took place at a critical moment in Ukraine’s fight for continued U.S. support.
Mr. English said it could have been easy for Putin to blame the invasion on Russian fears about NATO’s growing presence in the region. If President Putin had acquiesced even slightly, hinting at the possibility of eventual reconciliation, he might have been able to further sway the tide against continued U.S. aid to Ukraine.
“Instead, it showed that it was Putin’s personal imperialism, not Russia’s insecurity, that caused the war,” English said. “And those watching in the West conclude that he still wants to conquer all of Ukraine and is never going to respect its sovereignty, so the West has to keep pumping weapons into Kiev. Of course you should.”
Mr English added: “He is a reasonable person and could have shown he was open to a fair compromise.” “On the contrary, he has shown himself to be both domineering and imperialist, so that a compromise with him may be impossible.”
The New Yorker’s Masha Gessen, reading the interview, pointed out the dangers of Putin’s delusions.
“However, the way President Putin explained the beginning of World War II in his interview with Karlsson shows that even though he continues to accuse Ukraine of promoting Nazism, in his heart he sees himself as Hitler. “He may think he is, but it suggests that he is probably a smarter person, a more capable person, going into the United States and forming an alliance with someone he thinks is a future president,” Gessen said. wrote.
Former President Donald Trump made comments over the weekend that heightened the potential danger of Putin’s views. The Republican front-runner said the United States should allow Russia to attack countries that don’t pay NATO countries and even “encourage them to do whatever they want.”
Meanwhile, U.S. senators are working on legislation that would include aid for Ukraine and Israel, but the prospects for passage in the House of Representatives remain uncertain.