Tucker starts the interview by asking Putin why he invaded Ukraine, "and the answer we got shocked us."
Putin proceeded to delve into the history of Ukraine, going back to the middle-ages. Tucker pushed back, saying "I'm not sure why it's relevant to what happened two years ago," to which Putin continued with the history lesson.
"But why didn't you make this case for the first 22 years as president, that Ukraine wasn't a real country?" Tucker asked.
"The Soviet Union was given a great deal of territory that had never belonged to it,
The trigger for the Ukraine war: "Initially, it was the coup in Ukraine that provoked the conflict... They launched the war in Donbas in 2014 with the use of aircraft and artillery against civilians. This is when it all started."
Getting to the meat of the Ukraine war, Putin told Carlson that "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 civilized West as an invitation for cooperation and association."
"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."
Vladimir Putin: I already said that we did not refuse to talk. We're willing to negotiate. It is the western side, and Ukraine is obviously a satellite state of the US. 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 going to Ukraine. There's a huge influx of weapons. In this case, you should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to a negotiating table, rescind this absurd decree. We did not refuse.
Tucker: Sure, but you already said it. I didn't think you meant it is an insult because you already said correctly, it's been reported that Ukraine was prevented from negotiating a peace settlement by the former British Prime Minister acting on behalf of the Biden administration. So, of course they're a satellite. Big countries control small countries. That's not new. And that's 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 they did it under the instruction from Washington. If Washington believes it to be the wrong decision, let it abandon it. Let it find the 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: So I just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding what you're saying. I don't think that I am. I think you're saying you want a negotiated settlement to what's happening in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin: Right. And we made it. We prepared the huge document in Istanbul that was initialed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation. He had fixed 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. 18 months ago. However, Prime Minister Johnson came, talk to 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?
On his last conversation with Joe Biden: "Well, yes, he funds, but I talked to him before the special military operation, of course... 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."
On the possibility of global conflict: "It goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of a global war and a global war will bring all humanity to the brink of destruction."
On the concept of de-nazification: "De-nazification... means the prohibition of all kinds of neo-Nazi movements... We have to get rid of those people who maintain this concept and support this practice and try to preserve it."
On Russia's territorial ambitions: "We simply don't have any interest [in Poland, Latvia, or anywhere else]. It's just threat mongering."
Tucker: "Who blew up Nord Stream?"
Putin: "You for sure."
Tucker: "I was busy that day. I did not blow up Nord Stream."
Putin: "You personally may have an alibi, but the CIA has no such alibi."
Tucker: I just gotta ask you one last question. And that's about someone who is very famous in the United States. Probably not here. Evan Gershkovich who's the Wall Street Journal reporter. He's 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 the details of it or your version of what happened, if, as a sign of your decency, you would 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."
Tucker: I just gotta ask you one last question. And that's about someone who is very famous in the United States. Probably not here. Evan Gershkovich who's the Wall Street Journal reporter. He's 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 the details of it or your version of what happened, if, as a sign of your decency, you would 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."
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