Washington: Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the United States to “reach an agreement” to cede Ukrainian territory to Russia to end the war, and spoke for two hours with a former Fox News anchor in an interview broadcast online on Friday that was the Kremlin's most direct appeal to American audiences since it began. His invasion two years ago.
“Wouldn’t it be better to negotiate with Russia? Reach an agreement,” Putin told Tucker Carlson, a conservative American commentator and Trump supporter, in the Russian leader’s first interview with an American media outlet since 2021. “Start by respecting our country and its interests and look for specific solutions.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for two hours, without being interrupted by the American journalist.credit: AP
Much of the interview was a familiar Kremlin history lesson about Russia's historical claim to Eastern European territory, starting in the ninth century, which Putin made little effort to distill for American ears. Putin also presented his outdated and false justifications for invading Ukraine, stressing that Russia's goal was to “stop this war” that the West is allegedly waging against Russia.
But Putin was more direct than usual about how he sees his invasion of Ukraine ending: not with a military victory, but through an agreement with the West. At the end of the interview, Putin told Carlson that it was time for talks on ending the war because “those in power in the West have come to realize” that Russia would not be defeated on the battlefield.
“If so, if realization sets in, they should think about what to do next. We are ready for this dialogue,” Putin said.
In response to Carlson's question about whether NATO might accept Russian control over parts of Ukraine, Putin said: “Let them think about how to do it with dignity. There are options if there is a will.”
The original Russian-language version of Putin's comments was not immediately released, leaving viewers to rely on dubbed translations in Carlson's broadcast.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in the Kremlin.credit: Kremlin/AP
The interview, recorded on Tuesday, was Putin's first with a Western media outlet since the start of the war in Ukraine and his first with an American journalist since 2021. While Putin has regularly given interviews to major American media outlets in his first two decades in power, his spokesman said the Kremlin Carlson chose this time because those traditional outlets took an “exclusively one-sided stance” regarding Russia.
