president of russia Vladimir Putin Using former FOX News interview Host Tucker Carlson He urged Washington to recognize Russia's interests and persuade Ukraine to negotiate.
Putin also said Russia was willing to negotiate a possible prisoner exchange that would free the Wall Street Journal reporter. Evan GershkovichHe was detained in March last year on charges of espionage, which he denies, and has hinted that the Russian government wants to free spies jailed in Germany.
Most of the interviews published Thursday focused on Ukraine. war is approaching the two-year milestone. President Putin said the invasion of Ukraine, which Kiev and its allies described as an unprovoked act of aggression, was necessary to protect Russian-speaking people in Ukraine and prevent the country from posing a threat to Russia by joining NATO. He repeated that claim.
Putin pointed out that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has refused to meet with the Kremlin. He argued that it was up to the United States to stop arms supplies to Ukraine and persuade Kiev, which he called a US “satellite,” to open for negotiations.
“We have never refused negotiations,” Putin said. He said: “We should tell the current leadership of Ukraine to stop and come to the negotiating table.”
President Putin warns that Western powers will never succeed in inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia in Ukraine, hiding plans for Russia to attack Poland and other NATO members denied the claim.
This was President Putin's first interview with a member of the Western media since taking office. Full-scale invasion of Ukraine Two years ago.
White House national security secretary John Kirby sought to minimize the impact of Carlson's interview ahead of its release. And you shouldn't take what he says at face value. ”
President Putin has significantly limited his contact with international media since starting the Ukraine war in February 2022. Russian authorities have cracked down on independent media, forcing the closure of some Russian media outlets, blocking others and ordering scores of foreign reporters to leave the country.Two journalists working for U.S. news organizations — The Wall Street Journal Gershkovitch and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberties. Ars Kurmasheva — in prison.
Asked by Karlsson if Russia would release Gershkovych, President Putin said the Russian side was open to dialogue, but reiterated that the reporter had been charged with espionage, a charge that Gershkovych denied. I'm denying it.
President Putin said of Gershkovych, “He was caught red-handed while secretly obtaining confidential information,'' adding that he did not rule out the possibility that the journalist would return to Japan.
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 him by name, but he was convicted in 2019 of killing Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, 40, a Georgian-Chechen national, in broad daylight, and is serving a life sentence in Germany. It seems that he is referring to Vadim Krasikov, a Russian man who is Ethnicity.
The German judges who convicted Krasikov said he acted on orders from 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.
In a statement, the Wall Street Journal reaffirmed that Mr. Gershkovic “is a journalist and journalism is not a crime,” adding that “any depiction to the contrary is purely fictional.” “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.
