Putin's first interview for a Western journalist since after the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russia's President Vladimir Putin appeared in a long interview with renowned American journalist Tucker Carlson.

The Russian president first appeared in an interview with a Western journalist since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin started his interview by describing Russia's history and praising his country.

American journalist asked Putny about the current situation his country declared war on Ukraine.

Moscow's leader accused the United States and other Western countries of prolonging war.

According to Putin, there were peace talks with Ukraine that “almost finalised”, but then Ukraine “struck all these agreements and applied the instructions of Western countries, European countries and the United States to fight Russia until the bitter end of”.

Putin blamed former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson left the British assembly in June 2023, but the Russian president claimed that during his time as prime minister, the British had discouraged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from signing a peace agreement in the early phase of the conflict.

The fact that [Ukraine] applies Mr. Johnson, former prime minister of Great Britain, seems ridiculous”, Putin said. In a video published prior to the interview, journalist Carlson said he was encouraged to talk to Putin, in part because the American public “had no idea why Putin invaded Ukraine or what his intentions are now”.

In December, the Kremlin had said that engagement in peace talks with Ukraine was <x0-humanistic”. Ukraine has said peace can only be based on the full withdrawal of Russian soldiers from its territory.

In the interview, however, Putin said Russia and the United States will speak “through various agencies” about the end of the conflict. According to Putin, Russia's order for the US is: “if you really want to stop fighting, you should stop donate weapons. It'll be over in a few weeks. ”

The Russian president said the last time he had talked with American counterpart Joe Biden was prior to the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“said to him, then, I believe you're making a huge mistake with historical proportions through the support of everything that's happening here, in Ukraine, through the postponement of Russia” Putin said.

For the last time, Putin had interviewed a Western media in 2021 when he spoke to a CNBC journalist.

He mainly no longer talks with independent media, including Russian and international, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

By 2021, he has conducted interviews for only Russian, Chinese and Kazakh media. /Signal