In recent days there has been nothing else talked about foreign policy, now it is finally available: let’s talk about the interview with Vladimir Putin made by Tucker Carlson. The scoop from the former Fox News journalist has sparked a huge debate in the last few hours, considering that it is the first confrontation between the Russian president and a Western journalist since the start of the war in Ukraine. From the conflict with Kiev to the confrontation between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, there are many burning issues that will be at the center of the international debate in the coming days.
One of the most important passages concerns the invasion of Ukraine. “The Bolsheviks created Soviet Ukraine, which until then did not exist at all. Ukraine is an artificial state“, the version of Putin, who believes that “the restoration of relations between the peoples of Russia and Ukraine will take a long time, but it will happen.” After the Second World War, he added, Ukraine received part of the Polish, Hungarian and Romanian territories: “Ukraine, in a certain sense, is an artificial state created by Stalin’s will. Soviet Ukraine received a large number of territories that never had anything to do with it, primarily the Black Sea region.”
Putin spoke about his relationship with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and revealed: “I once spoke to him and said: why are you doing this? Why do you support neo-Nazis in Ukraine, when your father fought fascism on the front line? I won’t reveal what he told me, it wouldn’t be right to do so.” After highlighting that Moscow has no territorial claims against Poland, Latvia or any other country, Putin reiterated that defeating Russia is impossible and NATO should accept territorial gains: “There have been shouts about the possibility of inflicting a strategic defeat for Russia on the battlefield. In my opinion this is impossible by definition. It will never happen”.
In the long and contested dialogue with Carlson, Putin returned to talking about peace negotiations with Kiev and confirmed that the white smoke was very close eighteen months ago. Everything fell apart for the then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for which it was better to fight against Moscow. According to the Russian president, the person who signed the preliminaries of the agreement was Davyd Arakhamia, the head of the ruling Servant of the People party and advisor to Volodymyr Zelensky. “It’s very sad for me – said Putin – because, as Arakhamia also thought, we could have stopped these hostilities a year and a half ago. Where is Johnson now? And the war continues,” his words on the point.
Another dossier at the center of the international debate concerns the sabotage of Nord Stream. Putin has no doubts that the gas pipeline explosion is to be blamed on the US secret services. But not only that: Putin said he was very surprised by Germany’s silence on the dossier. “Who blew up Nord Stream? You for sure”, the words of the Russian president addressing Tucker, who replied: “I was busy that day, I didn’t blow up Nord Stream”. The Kremlin’s number one is caustic: “You may have a personal alibi, but the CIA doesn’t have one.”
Another very interesting passage from Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin concerns the United States and in particular Donald Trump And Joe Biden. Focusing on the relationship with the two stars and stripes leaders, the Russian president highlighted: “I don’t remember when I last spoke with Biden. I had a good relationship with Trump. It’s not a question of leadership, it’s a question of mentality.” Then, with a lot of sarcasm, he added about the current head of the White House: “Why should I call him? What should I talk to him about or beg him about? ‘Will you supply such and such weapons to Ukraine? Oh, I’m scared, I’m scared, please don’t hand them over.’ What can we talk about?”. Having become serious again, Putin highlighted that the last time he spoke with Biden was before the start of what he called a “special military operation”, almost three years ago. All that remains is to wait for the replies from Washington and Kiev, there are many issues on the table.