Popular journalist Tucker Carlson released his highly-anticipated interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday evening, providing a glimpse into the mind of the man behind the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration has spent billions of taxpayer dollars to help Ukraine defend itself against the Russian invasion.
During the interview, Putin suggested Ukraine sparked the war in the mid-2010s and argued the recent invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was an “attempt to stop” the conflict.
“It was they [Ukraine] who started the war in 2014. Our goal is to stop this war, and we did not start this war in 2022,” Putin said. “This is an attempt to stop it.”
“Do you think you’ve stopped it now?” Carlson asked. “I mean, have you achieved your aims?”
“No, we haven’t achieved our aims yet because one of them is the de-Nazification,” Putin replied. “This means the prohibition of all kinds of neo-Nazi movements. This is one of the problems we discussed during the negotiation processes which ended in Istanbul this year.”
Carlson addressed widespread concerns that Putin’s invasion may expand beyond Ukraine, possibly into Poland, in an effort to establish greater control over the region. Putin rejected the concerns as an “imaginary Russian threat.”
“We have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else,” Putin insisted. “Why would we do that? We simply do not have any interest. It’s just threat-mongering.”
Carlson also asked Putin about the Nord Stream pipeline explosions, a sabotage effort that sent tons of Russian-owned methane gas into the Baltic Sea in September 2022.
“Who blew up Nord Stream?” Carlson asked.
“You for sure,” Putin responded.
“I was busy that day. I did not blow up Nord Stream,” Carlson quipped.
“You personally may have an alibi, but the CIA has no such alibi,” Putin replied.
