All language subtitles for Tucker Carlson Interviews Vladimir Putin

the following is an interview with the

president of Russia Vladimir Putin shot

February 6 2024 to about 700 p.m. in the

building behind us which is of course

the Kremlin the interview as you will

see if you watch it is primarily about

the war in progress the war in Ukraine

how it started what's happening and most

presently how it might end one note

before you watch at the beginning the

interview we asked the most obvious

question which is why did you do this

did you feel a threat an imminent

physical threat and that's your

justification and the answer we got

shocked us Putin went on for a very long

time probably half an hour about the

history of Russia going back to the 8th

century and honestly we thought this was

a filibustering technique and found it

annoying and interrupted him several

times and he responded he was annoyed uh

by the interruption but we concluded in

the end for what it's worth that it was

not a filibustering technique there was

no time limit on the interview we ended

it after more than 2 hours

instead what you're about to see seemed

to us sincere whether you agree with it

or not Vladimir Putin believes that

Russia has a historic claim to parts of

Western

Ukraine so our opinion would be to view

it in that light as a sincere expression

of what he thinks and with that here it

is Mr President thank you on February

22nd 2022 you addressed your country in

a nationwide address when the conflict

in Ukraine started and you said that you

were acting because you had come to the

conclusion that the United States

through

NATO might initiate a quote surprise

attack on our country and to American

years that sounds paranoid tell us why

you believe the United States might

strike Russia out of the blue how did

you conclude

that it's not that America the United

States was going to launch a surprise

strike on Russia I didn't say that are

we having a talk show or a serious

conversation here's the quote thank you

it's a formidable

serious because your basic education is

in history as far as I understand

yes so if you don't mind I will take

only 30 seconds or 1 minute to give you

a short reference to history for giving

you a little historical backgr

please let's look where our relationship

with Ukraine started from where did

Ukraine come

from the Russian State started Gathering

itself as a centralized

statehood and it is considered to be the

year of the establishment of the Russian

state in

862 when the town's people of no invited

a varangian prince rurick from

Scandinavia

Terrain in 1862 Russia celebrated the

1,000th anniversary of its

statehood and in no there is a Memorial

dedicated to the 1,000th anniversary of

the

country in 882 roric successor Prince

Oleg who was actually playing the role

of regent at ruri's young son

because ruri had died by that time came

to

Kia he asked two brothers who apparently

had one's been members of ruri's

squad so Russia began to develop with

two centers of power Kev and

novaro the next very significant date in

the history of Russia was

988 this was the baptism of Russia when

Prince Vladimir the great grandson of

ruri baptized Russia and adopted

Orthodoxy or Eastern

Christianity from this time the

centralized Russian state began to

strengthen why because of the single

territory integrated economic

ties one and the same language and after

the baptism of Russia the same faith and

Rule of the prince the centralized

Russian state began to take

shape back in the Middle Ages Prince

yaroslav the wise introduced the order

of succession to a

trone but after he passed away it became

complicated for various

reasons the trone was passed not Direct

ly from father to eldest son but from

the prince who had passed away to his

brother then to his sons in different

lines all this led to the fragmentation

and the end of rose as a single

state there was nothing special about it

the same was happening then in

Europe but the fragmented Russian state

became an pre to the Empire created

earlier by King

ishan his successors namely batan came

to Rose plundered and ruined nearly all

the cities the southern part including

Kiev by the way and some other cities

simply lost Independence while Northern

cities preserved some of their

sovereignty they had to pay tribute to

The Horde but they managed to preserve

some part of their sovereignty

and then a unified Russian state began

to take shape with its Center in

Moscow the southern part of Russian

lands including

Kiev began to gradually gravitate

towards another magnet the center that

was emerging in

Europe This was the Grand duy of

Lithuania it was even called the

Lithuanian Russian duche because

Russians were a significant part of this

population they spoke the old Russian

language and were

Orthodox but then there was a

unification the union of the grand duy

of Lithuania and the kingdom of

Poland a few years later another Union

was

signed but this time already in the

religious

sphere some of the Orthodox priests

became subordinate to the pope th thus

these lands became part of the Polish

Lithuanian

State during decades the poles were

engaged in polonization of this part of

the

population they introduced their

language there tried to entrench the

idea that this population was not

exactly Russians that because they lived

on the French they were

ukrainians originally the word Ukrainian

meant that the person was living on the

outskirts of the state along the fringes

or was engaged in a border patrol

service it didn't mean any particular

ethnic

group so the polls were trying

to in every possible way to poize this

part of the Russian lands and actually

treated it rather harshly not to say

cruy all that led to the fact that this

part of the Russian lands began to

struggle for their rights

they wrote letters to Warsaw demanding

that their rights be observed and people

be commissioned here including to KF I

beg your pardon can you tell us what

period I'm losing track of where in

history we

are the Polish oppression of

ukra it was in the 13th

century now I will tell you what

happened

later

and give the dates so that there is no

confusion and in 1654 even a bit

earlier the people who were in control

of the authority over that part of the

Russian

lands TR waro I repeat demanding that

they sent them to rulers of Russian

origin and Orthodox faith when Warsaw

did not answered them and in fact

rejected their demands they turned to

Moscow so that Moscow took them

away so that you don't think that I'm

inventing

things I'll give you these documents

well I I it doesn't sound like you're

inventing and I'm not sure why it's

relevant to what happened two years ago

but still these are documents from the

archives

copies here are the letters from bdan

hitz the man who then controlled the

power in this part of the Russian

lands that is now called Ukraine he

wrote to Warsaw demanding that their

rights be

upheld and after being refused he began

to write letters to

Moscow asking to take them under the

strong hand of the Moscow SAR there are

copies of these documents

I will leave them for your good memory

there is a translation into Russian you

can translate it into English later

Russia would not agree to admit them

straight away assuming that the war with

Poland would start nevertheless in

1654 the pun Russian assembly of top

clergy and land owners headed by the

SAR which was the representative body of

the power of the old Russian State

decided to include a part of the old

Russian lands into Moscow

Kingdom as expected the war with Poland

began it lasted 13 years and then in

1654 a truce was

concluded and 32 years later I think a

peace treaty with Poland which they

called Eternal peace was

signed and these lands the whole Left

Bank of Neer including Kia went to

Russia and the whole right Bank of

Nipper remained in

Poland under the rule of Catherina the

great Russia reclaimed all of its

historical lands including in the South

and

West this all lasted until the

revolution before World War

I Austrian general staff relied on the

ideas of Ukrainian isation and started

actively promoting the ideas of Ukraine

and the Ukrainian

their motive was obvious just before

World War I they wanted to weaken the

potential enemy and secure themselves

favorable conditions in the Border area

so the idea which had emerged in Poland

that people residing in that territory

were allegedly not really Russians but

rather belonged to a special ethnic

group ukrainians started being

propagated by the Austrian general

staff as far back as the 19th century

theorists calling for Ukrainian

Independence

appeared all those however claimed that

Ukraine should have a very good

relationship with

Russia they insisted on

that after the 1917

Revolution the biks sought to restore

the statehood and the civil War Began

including the hostilities with

Poland in 1921 peace with Poland was

proclaimed and under that treaty the

right Bank of Nipper River once again

was given back to

Poland in 1939 after Poland cooperated

with

Hitler he did collaborate with Hitler

you know Hitler offered Poland peace and

a treaty of

friendship an alliance demanding in

return that Poland gave back to Germany

the so-called dancing caror which

connected the bulk of Germany with East

Prussia and

CSG after World War I this territory was

transferred to Poland and instead of

Danzig a city of dun

emerged Hitler asked them to give it

amicably but they refused of course

still they collaborated with Hitler and

engaged

together in the partitioning of

Czechoslovakia but may ask you you're

making the case that that Ukraine

certainly parts of Ukraine eastern

Ukraine is in effect Russia has been for

hundreds of years why wouldn't you just

take it when you became president 24

years ago you have nuclear weapons they

don't if it's actually your land why did

you wait so long

sure I'll tell you I'm coming to that

this briefing is coming to an end it

might be boring but it explains many

things I just don't know how it's

relevant

good I'm so gratified that you

appreciate that thank

you so before World War II Poland

collaborated with Hitler and although it

did not yield to Hitler's demands it

still participated in the partitioning

of Czechoslovakia together with Hitler

as the polls had not given the daning

corridor to Germany had went Soo far

pushing Hitler to start World War I by

attacking them why was it Poland against

whom the war started on 1st September

1939 Poland turned out to be

uncompromising and Hitler had nothing to

do but start implementing his plans with

Poland by the way the USSR I have read

some archived documents behaved very

honestly it asked Poland's permission to

Transit its troops through the Polish

territory to help chos

Slovakia but the then polish foreign

minister said that if the Soviet plans

flew over Poland they would be downed

over the territory of

Poland but that doesn't matter what

matters is that the War Began and Poland

felt prey to the policies it had pursued

against Czechoslovakia as under the

well-known molotto ribbon trop PCT part

of the territory including Western

Ukraine was to be given to

Russia thus Russia which was then named

as USSR regained its historical

land after the victory in the Great

Patriotic War as we call World War II

all those territories were ultimately

enshrined as belonging to Russia to the

USSR as for Poland it received

apparently in compensation the lands

which had originally being

German the Eastern parts of

Germany these are now Western lands of

Poland of course Poland regained access

to the Baltic Sea and

danzik which was once again given its

polish

name so this was how this situation

developed in 1922 when the USSR was

being

established the bik started building the

USSR and established the Soviet Ukraine

which had never existed before

right

Stalin insisted that those republics be

included in the USSR

as autonomous

entities for some inexplicable reason

Lenin the founder of the Soviet state

insisted that they be entitled to

withdraw from the

USSR again for some unknown reasons he

transferred to that newly established

Soviet Republic of Ukraine some of the

lands together with people living there

even though those lands had never been

called Ukraine and yet they were made

part of that Soviet Republic of Ukraine

those lands included the Black Sea

region which was received under

Catherina the great and which had no

historical connection with Ukraine

whatsoever even if we go as far back as

1654 when these lands returned to

Russian Empire that ter was the size of

three to four regions of modern Ukraine

with no Black Sea region that was

completely out of the question in

1654 exactly well I'm just you obviously

have encyclopedic knowledge of this

region but why didn't you make this case

for the first 22 years as president that

Ukraine wasn't a real

country the Soviet Union was given a

great deal of territory that had never

belonged to it including the Black Sea

region at some point when Russia

received them as an outcome of the Russo

Turkish

Wars they were called new Russia or no

Ria but that does not matter what

matters is that Lenin the founder of the

Soviet state established Ukraine that

way for decades the Ukrainian Soviet

Republic developed as part of the

USSR and for unknown reasons again the

Bolsheviks were engaged in Ukrainian

isation it was not merely because the

Soviet leadership was composed to a

great extent of those originating from

rather it was explained by the general

policy of indigenization pursued by the

Soviet Union same things were done in

other Soviet republics this involved

promoting national languages and

National cultures which which is not bad

in principle that is how the Soviet

Ukraine was created after the World War

II Ukraine received in addition to the

lands that had belonged to Poland before

the war part of the lands that had

previously belonged to Hungary and

Romania so Romania and Hungary had some

of their lands taken away and given to

the Soviet Ukraine and they still remain

part of Ukraine so in this sense we have

every reason to affirm that Ukraine is

an artificial state that was shaped at

st's will do you believe Hungary has a

right to take its land back from Ukraine

and that other nations have a right to

go back to their 1654

borders I'm not sure whether they should

go back to the 1654

borders but given Stalin's time

so-called Stalin's regime which as many

claim saw numerous violations of human

rights and violations of the rights of

other states

one may say that they could claim back

those lands of theirs while having no

right to do that it is at least

understandable have you told Victor

Orban that he can have part of

Ukraine never I have never told him not

a single

time

we have not even had any conversation on

that but I actually know for sure that

hungarians who live

there wanted to get back to their

historical

land moreover I would like to share a

very interesting story with

you I digress it's a personal one

somewhere in the early 80s I went on a

road trip in a car from then lenning R

across the Soviet Union through Kiev

made a stop in Kiev and then went to

Western

Ukraine I went to the town of

bavo and all the names of towns and

Villages there were in Russian and in

the language I did not understand in

Hungarian in Russian and in

Hungarian not in Ukrainian in Russian

and in Hungarian I was driving through

some kind of village and there were were

men sitting next to the houses and they

were wearing black three-piece suits and

black cylinder hats I asked are they

some kind of entertainers I was told no

they were not entertainers they're

hungarians I said what are they doing

here what do you mean this is their land

they live here this was during the

Soviet time in the 1980s they preserved

the Hungarian language Hungarian names

and all their National costumes they are

hungarians and they feels to be

hungarians and of course when now there

is an infringement well that that is and

there's a lot of that though I think

many nations they're upset about

Transylvania as well as you obviously

know but many nations feel frustrated by

the redrawn borders of the wars of the

20th century and Wars going back A

Thousand Years the ones that you

mentioned but the fact is that you

didn't make this case in public until

two years ago February and in the case

that you made which I read today just

you you explain at Great length that you

felt a physical threat from the West in

NATO including potentially a nuclear

threat and that's what got you to move

is that a fair characterization of what

you

said I understand that my long speeches

probably fall outside of the genre of

the

interview that is why I asked you at the

beginning are we going to have a serious

talk or a show you said a serious talk

so bear with me

please we're coming to the point where

the Soviet Ukraine was

established then in 1991 the Soviet

Union

collapsed and everything that Russia had

generously bestowed on Ukraine was

dragged Away by the

ladder I'm coming to a very important

point of today's

agenda thank you after all the collapse

of the Soviet Union was effectively

initiated by the Russian

leadership I do not understand what the

Russian leadership was Guided by at the

time but I suspect there were several

reasons to think everything would be

fine first I think that then Russian

leadership believed that the

fundamentals of the relationship between

Russia and Ukraine were in fact a common

language more than 90% of the population

there spoke

Russian Family Ties every third person

there had some kind of family or

friendship ties common culture common

history finally common Faith coexistence

with a single state for centuries and

deeply interconnected

economies all of these were so

fundamental all these elements together

make our good relationships

inevitable the second point is a very

important

one I want you as an American citizen

and your viewers to hear about this as

well 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 socalled Civilized

West as an invitation for cooperation

and

Association that is what Russia was

expecting both from the United States

and the so-called Collective West as a

whole there were smart people including

in Germany Egon bar a major politician

of the Social Democratic party who

insisted in his personal conversations

with the Soviet leadership on the brink

of the collapse of the Soviet Union that

a new security system should be

established in

Europe help should be given to unify

Germany but a new system should be also

established to include the United States

Canada Russia and other central European

countries yes but NATO needs not to

expand that's

said if NATO expands everything would be

just the same as during the Cold War

only closer to Russia's borders that's

all he was a wise old man but no one

listened to him in fact he got angry

once if he said you don't listen to me

I'm never setting my foot in Moscow once

again everything happened just as he had

said well it of course it did did come

true and I and you've mentioned this

many times I think it's a fair point and

many in America thought that relations

between Russia and the United States

would be fine with the collapse of the

Soviet Union the end of the Cold War

that the opposite happened but you've

never explained why you think that

happened except to say that the West

fears a strong Russia but we have a

strong China the West does not seem very

afraid of uh what about Russia do you

think convinced policy makers they had

to take it

down the West is afraid of strong China

more than it fears a strong Russia

because Russia has 150 million people

and China has 1.5 billion population and

its economy is growing by Leaps and

Bounds or 5% a year it used to be even

more but that's enough for China as

Bismark once put it potentials are the

most important China's potential is

enormous it is the big biggest economy

in the world today in terms of

purchasing power parity and the size of

the economy it has already overtaken the

United States quite a long time ago and

it is growing at a rapid clip let's not

talk about who is afraid of whom let's

not reason in such terms and let's get

into the fact that after 1991 when

Russia expected that it would be

welcomed into the brotherly family of

civilized Nations nothing like this

happened you trick this I don't mean you

personally when I say you of course I'm

talking about the United States the

promise was that NATO would not expand

Eastward but it happened five times

there were five waves of expansion we

tolerated all that we were trying to

persuade them we were saying please

don't we are as Bourgeois now as you are

we are market economy and there is no

Communist Party power let's negotiate

moreover I have also said this publicly

before there was a moment

when a certain Rift started growing

between us before that Hilson came to

the United States remember he spoke in

Congress and said the good words God

Bless America everything he said were

signals let us in remember the

developments in Yugoslavia before the

Yim was lavished with praise as soon as

the developments in Yugoslavia started

he raised his voice in support of serbs

and we couldn't but raise our voices or

serbs in their defense I understand that

there were complex processes under way

there I do but Russia could not help

raising its voice in support of serbs

because serbs are also a special and

close to us nation with Orthodox culture

and so on it's a nation that has

suffered so much for Generations well

regardless what is important is that

yelton expressed his support what did

the United States do in violation of an

international law and the UN Charter it

started bombing being Belgrade it was

the United States that led the genie out

of the

bottle moreover when Russia protested

and expressed its resentment what was

said the UN Charter and international

law have become obsolete now everyone

invokes international law but at that

time they started saying that everything

was outdated everything had to be

changed indeed some things need to be

changed as the balance of power has

changed it's true but not in this man

Elon was immediately dragged through the

mud accused of alcoholism of

understanding nothing of knowing nothing

he understood everything I assure you

well I became president in 2000 I

thought okay the Yugoslav issue is over

but we should try to restore

relations let's reopen the door that

Russia had tried to go through and

moreover I said it publicly I can

reiterate at a meeting here in the

Kremlin with the outgoing President Bill

Clinton right here in the next room I

said to him I asked

him Bill do you think if Russia asked to

join NATO do you think it would

happen suddenly he said you know it's

interesting I think

so but in the evening when we met for

dinner he said you know I've talked to

my team now no it's not possible

now you can ask him I think he will

watch our interview he'll confirm it I

wouldn't have said anything like that if

it hadn't happened okay were you sincere

impossible now would you have

joined look I asked the question is it

possible or not and the answer I got was

no if I was ins sincere in my desire to

find out what the leadership position

was but if he had said yes would you

have joined

NATO if he had said yes the process of

reproach would have commenced and

eventually it might have happened if we

had seen some sincere wish on the other

side of our partners but it didn't

happen well no means no okay fine why do

you think that is just to get to motive

I know you're clearly bitter about it um

I understand but why do you think the

West rebuffed you then why the hostility

why did the end of the Cold War not fix

the relationship what motivates this

from your point of

view you said I was bitter about the

answer no it's not bitterness it's just

a statement of fact we're not bride and

groom bitterness resentment it's not

about those kind of matters in such

circumstances we just realized we

weren't welcome there that's all okay

fine but let's let's build relations in

another manner let's work for common

ground

elsewhere why we receive such a Negative

response you should ask your leaders I

can only guess why too big a country

with its own opinion and so on and the

United States I've seen how issues are

being resolved in

NATO I will give you another example now

concerning

Ukraine the US leadership exerts

pressure and all members obediently

vote even if they do not like

something now I'll tell you what

happened in disregard with Ukraine in

2008 although it's being discussed I'm

not going to open a secret to you say

anything

new nevertheless after that we try to

build relations in different

ways for example the events in the

Middle East in

Iraq we were building relations with the

United States in a very soft prudent

cautious manner I repeatedly raised the

issue that the United States should not

support separatism or terrorism in the

north

Caucasus but they continue to do it

anyway and political support information

support financial support even Military

Support came from the United States and

its satellites for terrorist groups in

the

Caucasus I once raised this issue with

my colleague also the president of the

United States he says it's impossible do

you have proof I said yes I was prepared

for this conversation and I gave him

that proof he looked at it and you know

what he said I apologize but that's what

happened I'll quote he says well I'm

going to kick their ass we waited and

waited for some response there was no

reply I said said to the FSB director

write to the CIA what is the result of

the conversation with

President he wrote once twice and then

we got a

reply we have the answer in the archive

the CIA replied we have been working

with the opposition in Russia we believe

that this is the right thing to do and

we will keep on doing it just

ridiculous well okay we realized that it

was out of the question forces in

opposition to you so you're saying the

CIA is trying to overthrow your

government of course they meant in that

particular case the separatists the

terrorists who fought with us in the

caucuses that's who they called the

opposition this is the second

point the third moment is a very

important one is the moment when the US

missile defense system was

created the beginning

we persuaded for a long time not to do

it in United

States

moreover after was invited by Bush Jr's

father Bush senior to visit his place on

the

ocean I had a very serious conversation

with President Bush and his

team I proposed that the United States

Russia and Europe jointly create a

missile defense system that we believe

if created unilaterally threatens our

security despite the fact that the

United States officially said that it

was being created against missile

threats from Iran that was the

justification for the deployment of the

missile defense system I suggested

working together Russia the United

States and Europe they said it was very

interesting they asked me are you

serious I said absolutely ask what year

was this

I don't

remember it is easy to find out on the

internet when I was in the USA at the

invitation of a bush senior it is even

easier to learn from someone I'm going

to tell you

about I was told it was very interesting

I said just imagine if we could tackle

such a global strategic security

challenge together the world will change

will probably have disputes probably

economic and even political ones but we

could drastically change the situation

in the world he says yes and asks are

you serious I said of course we need to

think about it

I'm I said go ahead please then

Secretary of Defense Gates former

director of CIA and Secretary of State

rice came in here in this cabinet right

here at this table they sat on this

table me the foreign Minister the

Russian defense minister on that side

they said to

me yes we have thought about it we agree

I said Thank God great but with some

exceptions so twice you've described US

presidents making decisions and then

being undercut by their agency heads so

it sounds like you're describing a

system that's not run by the people who

are elected in your

telling

that's right that's

right in the end they just told us to

get lost I'm not going to tell you the

details because I think it's incorrect

after all it was confidential

conversation but our proposal was

decline that's a

fact it was right then when I said look

but then we will be forced to take

counter measures we will create such

strike systems that will certainly

overcome missile defense systems the

answer was we are not doing this against

you and you do what you want assuming

that it is not against us not against

the United States I said okay very well

that's the way it went and we created

Hypersonic systems with InterContinental

range and we continue to develop them we

are now ahead of everyone the United

States and the other countries in terms

of the development of hypersonic strike

systems and we are improving them every

day but it wasn't

we proposed to go the other way and we

were pushed

back now about NATO's expansion to the

east well 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 so there were five waves of

expansion the Baltic states the whole of

Eastern Europe and so

on and now I come to to the main thing

they have come to do Ukraine ultimately

in 2008 at The Summit in Bucharest they

declared that the doors for Ukraine and

Georgia to join NATO were

open now about how decisions are made

there Germany France seemed to be

against it as well as some other

European countries but then as it turned

out later President Bush and he's such a

tough guy a tough politician as I was

told later he exert pressure on us and

we had to agree it's ridiculous it's

like

kindergarten where are the guarantees

what kindergarten is this what kind of

people are these who are they you see

they were pressed they agreed and then

they say Ukraine won't be in the NATO

you know I say I don't know I know you

agreed in 2008 why won't you agree in

the

future well they pressed us then I say

why won't they press you tomorrow and

you'll agree

again well it's

nonsensical who's there to talk to I

just don't understand we're ready to

talk but with who where are the

guarantees none so they started to

develop the territory of

Ukraine whatever is there I have told

you the background how this territory

developed what kind of relations they

were with Russia every second or third

person there has always had some ties

with Russia and during the elections in

already independent Sovereign Ukraine

which gained its independence as a

result of the Declaration of

Independence and by the way it says that

Ukraine is a neutral State and in 2008

suddenly the doors or gates to Nato were

opened to it oh come on this is not how

we

agreed now all the presidents that have

come to power in Ukraine they relied on

electorate with a good attitude to

Russia in one way or the

other this is the southeast of Ukraine

this is a large number of

people and it was very difficult to

disuade this electorate which had a

positive attitude towards

Russia Victor yanukovich came to power

and how the first time he won after

president kuchma they organized the

third round which is not provided for in

the con tion of

Ukraine this is a cud just imagine

someone in the United States wouldn't

like the outcome in

2014 before that no this was before that

after president kuchma Victor yanukovich

won the elections however his opponents

did not recognize that Victory the US

supported the opposition and the third

round was scheduled what is this this is

a c the US supported it and the winner

of the third round came to

power imagine if in the US something was

not to someone's liking and the third

round of election which the US

Constitution does not provide for was

organized nonetheless it was done in

Ukraine okay Victor yushenko who was

considered a pro Western politician came

to

power fine we have built relations with

him as well he came to Moscow with

visits

we visited KF I visited

Sue we met in an informal setting if

he's Pro Western so be it it's fine let

people do their

job the situation should have developed

inside independent Ukraine itself as a

result of kma's leadership things got

worse and Victor yanukovich came to

power after

all maybe he wasn't the best president

and politician I don't know I don't want

to give assessments however the issue of

the association with the EU came

up we have always been lenient to this

suit

yourself but when we read through the

Treaty of Association it turned out to

be a problem for us since we had the

free trade zone and open Customs borders

with Ukraine which under this

Association had to open its borders for

Europe which could have led to flooding

of our

Market we said no this is not going to

work we shall close our borders with

Ukraine then the Customs borders that is

yanukovich started to calculate how much

Ukraine was going to gain how much to

lose and said to his European Partners I

need more time to think before

signing the moment he said that the

opposition began to take destructive

steps which were supported by the West

it all came down to maidan and a coup in

Ukraine so he did more trained with

Russia than with with the EU Ukraine

did of course it's not even the matter

of trade volume although for the most

part it is it is the matter of

cooperation size which the entire

Ukrainian economy was based on the

cooperation size between the Enterprises

were very close since the times of the

Soviet Union One Enterprise there used

to produce components to be assembled

both in Russia and Ukraine and vice

versa used to be very close

ties a was committed although I shall

not delve into details now as I find

doing it inappropriate the US told us

calm yanukovich down and we will calm

the

opposition let the situation unfold in

the scenario of a political settlement

we said all right agreed let's do it

this way as the Americans requested

yanukovich did use neither the Armed

Forces nor the police yet the armed

opposition committed a coup in

Kev what is that supposed to mean who do

you think you are I wanted to ask the

then us

leadership with the backing of

whom with the backing of CIA of course

the organization you wanted to join back

in the day as I

understand we should thank God they

didn't let you in although it is a

serious organization I understand my

former viav in the sense that I served

in the first main directorate Soviet

Union's intelligence service they have

always been our opponents a job is a

job technically they did everything

right they achieved their goal of

changing the government however from

political standpoint it was a colossal

mistake surely it was political

leadership's miscalculation

they should have seen what it would

evolve

into so in 2008 the doors of NATO were

open for Ukraine in 2014 there was a

coup they started persecuting those who

did not accept the coup and it was

indeed the coup they created a threat to

Crimea which we had to take under our

protection they launched a war in dunas

in 2014 with the use of aircraft and

artillery against

civilians this is when it all started

there is a video of aircraft attacking

donet from above they launched a large

scale military operation then another

one when they failed they started to

prepare the next one all this against

the background of military development

of this territory and opening of NATO's

doors how could we not express concern

over what was happening from our side

this would have been a culpable

negligence that's what it would have

been it's just that the US political

leadership pushed us to the line we

could not cross because doing so could

have ruined Russia

itself besides we could not leave our

brothers in faith in fact a part of

Russian people in the face of this war

machine what was the so but that was

eight years before the current conflict

started so what was the trigger for you

what was the moment where you decided

you had to do

this conf is initially it was the coup

in Ukraine that provoked the conflict by

the way back then the representatives of

three European countries Germany Poland

and France arrived they were the

guarantors of to signed agreement

between the government of yanukovich and

the

opposition they signed it as

guarantors despite that the opposition

committed a coup and all these countries

pretended that they didn't remember that

they were guarantors of the peaceful

settlement they just threw it in the

Stow right away and nobody recalls

that I don't know if the us know

anything about the agreement between the

opposition and the authorities and it's

three guarantors who instead of bringing

this whole situation back in the

political field supported the goou

although it was meaningless believe me

because president yanukovich agreed to

all conditions he was ready to hold an

early election which he had no chance of

winning Frankly Speaking everyone knew

that then why the coup why the victims

why threatening Crimea why launching an

operation in

dunas this this I do not understand that

is exactly what the miscalculation is

Cia did its job to complete the

coup I think one of the Deputy

secretaries of State said that it cost a

large sum of money almost 5 billion but

the political mistake was

colossal why would they have to do that

all this could have been done legally

without victims without military action

without losing Crimea

we would have never considered to even

lift a finger if it hadn't been for the

bloody developments on

maidan because we agreed with the fact

that after the collapse of the Soviet

Union our borderers should be along the

borders of former Union's republics we

agreed to that but we never agreed to

NATO's expansion and moreover we never

agreed that Ukraine would be in

NATO we did not agree to Nato bases

there without any discussion with us for

decades we kept asking don't do this

don't do

that and what triggered the latest

events firstly the current Ukrainian

leadership declared that it would not

implement the Minsk agreements which had

been signed as you know after the events

of 2014 in Minsk where the plan of

peaceful settlement in dbas was set

forth

but no the current Ukrainian leadership

foreign minister all other officials and

then president himself said that they

don't like anything about the Minsk

agreements in other words they were not

going to implement

it a year or a year and a half ago

former leaders of Germany and France

said openly to the whole

world that they indeed signed the Minsk

agreements but they never intended to

implement them they simply let us by the

nose was there anyone free to talk to

did you call a US president secretary of

state and say if you keep militarizing

Ukraine with NATO forces this is going

to get good this is going to be a we're

going to

act we talked about this all the time we

addressed the United States and European

countries leadership to stop these

developments immediately

to implement the Minsk

agreements Frankly Speaking I didn't

know how we were going to do this but I

was ready to implement them these

agreements were complicated for Ukraine

they included lots of elements of those

donbas territories Independence that's

true however I was absolutely confident

and I'm saying this to you now I

honestly believe that if we managed to

convince the residents of dbas and we

had to work hard to to convince them to

return to the Ukrainian statehood then

gradually the wounds would start to

heal when this part of territory

reintegrated itself into common social

environment when the pensions and social

benefits were paid again all the pieces

would gradually fall into

place no nobody wanted that everybody

wanted to resolve the issue by military

force

only but we could not let that happen

and the situation got to the point when

the Ukrainian side announced no we will

not do anything they also started

preparing for military

action it was they who started the war

in

2014 our goal is to stop this war and we

did not start this war in

2022 this is an attempt to stop it do

you think you've stopped it

now I mean have you achieved your

aims uh no we haven't achieved our aims

yet because one of them is the

nazification this means the prohibition

of all kinds of Neo-Nazi movements this

is one of the problems that we discussed

during the negotiation process which

ended in Istanbul early this

year and it was not our initiative

because we were told by the Europeans in

particular that it was necessary to

create conditions for the final signing

of the

documents my counterparts in France and

Germany

said how can you imagine them signing a

treaty with a gun to their

heads the troop should be pulled back

from Kiev I said all right we withdrew

the troops from

K as soon as we pulled back our troops

from Kiev our Ukrainian negotiators

immediately through all our agreements

reached in istabul into the

Ben and got prepared for a longstanding

armed confrontation with the help of the

United States and its satellites in

Europe that is how the situation has

developed and that is how it looks

now but what is part of my what is

densification would that

mean that is what I want to talk about

right now it is a very important

issue

denazification after gaining

independence Ukraine began to search as

some Western analysts say it's

identity and it came up with nothing

better than to build this identity upon

some false Heroes who collaborated with

Hitler I have already said that in the

early 19th century when the theorists of

Independence and sovereignty of Ukraine

appeared they assumed that an

independent Ukraine should have very

good relations with

Russia due to the historical development

those territories were part of the

Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth Poland

where ukrainians were persecuted and

treated quite brutally as well as were

subject to cruel

Behavior there were also attempts to

destroy their

identity all this remained in the memory

of the people when World War II broke

out part of this extremely nationalist

Elite collaborated with Hitler believing

that he would bring them

Freedom the German troops even the SS

troops made Hitler's collaborators do

the dirtiest work of Exterminating the

Polish and Jewish population hence this

brutal Massacre of the Polish and Jewish

population as well as the Russian

population

too

this was led by the persons who are well

known Bandera

shich it was those people who were made

national heroes that is the problem and

we are constantly told that nationalism

and neo-nazism exist in other countries

as well yes they are seedlings but we

approved them and other countries fight

against

them but Ukraine is not the case these

people have have been made into national

heroes in Ukraine monuments to those

people have been erected they are

displayed on flags their names are

shouted by crowds that walk with torches

as it was in Nazi

Germany these were people who

exterminated Poes Jews and

Russians it is NE Neary to stop this

practice and prevent the dissemination

of this

concept I say that ukrainians are part

of the one Russian people they say no we

are a separate people okay fine if they

consider themselves a separate people

they have the right to do so but not on

the basis of Nazism the Nazi ideology

would you be satisfied with the

territory that you have

now

I will finish answering the question you

just asked the question about neo-nazism

and the nazification

look the president of Ukraine visited

Canada this story is well known but

being silenced in the Western

countries the Canadian Parliament

introduced a man who as the speaker of

the parliament said fought against the

Russians during the World War II

well who fought against the Russians

during the World War II Hitler and his

accomplices it turned out that this man

served in the SS troops he personally

killed Russians Poes and

Jews the SS troops consisted of

Ukrainian nationalists who did this

Dirty Work the president Ukraine stood

up with the entire parliament of Canada

and applauded this man how can this be

imagined the president of Ukraine

himself by the way is a Jew by

nationality really my question is what

do you do about it I mean Hitler's been

dead for 80 years Nazi Germany no longer

exists and so true and so I think what

you're saying is you want to extinguish

or at least control Ukrainian

nationalism but how how do you do

that

watch listen to me your question is very

subtle and I can tell you what I think

do not take

offense of

course this question appears to be

subtle it is quite

pesky you say Hitler has been dead for

so many years 80 years but his example

lives on people who exterminated Jews

Russians polls are alive and the

president the current president of

today's Ukraine applauds him in the

Canadian Parliament gives a standing

ovation can we say that we have

completely uprooted this ideology if

what we see is happening

today that is what the nification is in

our understanding we have to get rid of

those people who maintain this concept

and support this practice and try to

preserve it that is what nification is

that is what we mean right my question

was a little more specific it was of

course not a defense of Nazis NE or

otherwise it was a practical question

you don't control the entire country you

don't control Kev you don't seem like

you want to so how how do you eliminate

a culture or an ideology or feelings or

a view of

history in a country that you don't

control what do you do about

that

you know as strange as it may seem to

you during the negotiations in Istanbul

we did agree

that we have it all in writing

neo-nazism would not be cultivated in

Ukraine including that it would be

prohibited at the legislative

level Mr Carson we agreed on

that this it turns out can be done

during the negotiation process and

there's nothing humiliating for Ukraine

as a modern civilized

state is any state allowed to promote

Nazism it is not is it that is

it um will there be talks and why

haven't there been talks about resolving

the conflict in Ukraine peace

talks and

you

they have been they reached a very high

stage of coordination of positions in a

complex process but still they were

almost

finalized but after we withdrew our

troops from Kiev as I have already said

the other side threw away all these

agreements and obeyed the instructions

of Western countries European countries

and the United States to fight Russia to

The Bitter

End moreover the president y has

legislated a ban on negotiating with

Russia he signed a decree forbidding

everyone to negotiate with

Russia but how are we going to negotiate

if he forbade himself and everyone to do

this we know that he is putting forward

some ideas about the settlement but in

order to agree on something we need to

have a dialogue is that not right well

but you wouldn't be speaking to the

Ukrainian president you'd be speaking to

the American president president when

was the last time you spoke to Joe Biden

I cannot remember when I talked to him I

do not remember we can look it up you

don't

remember no why do I have to remember

everything I have my own things to do we

have domestic political Affairs well

he's funding the war that you're

fighting so I would think that would be

memorable well yes he funds but I talked

to him before the special military

operation of course and I said to him

then by the way I will not go into

details I never do but I said to him

then 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

I told him told him repeatedly by the

way I think that would be correct if I

stop here what did he

say ask him please it is easier for you

you are citizen of the United States go

and ask him it is not appropriate for me

to comment on our conversation but but

you haven't spoken to him since before

February of

2022 no we haven't

spoken certain contexts are being

maintained though speaking of

which do you remember what I told you

about my proposal to work together on a

missile defense

system

yes you can ask all of them all of them

are safe and sound thank God the former

president Kiza is safe and sound and I

think Mr Gates and the current director

of the intelligence agency Mr Burns the

then ambassador to Russia in my opinion

our very successful

Ambassador they were all witnesses to

these conversations

ask

them same here if you are interested in

what Mr President Biden responded to me

ask him at any rate I talk to him about

it I'm I'm I'm definitely interested but

from the outside it seems like this

could devolve or evolve into something

that brings the entire world into

conflict and could um initiate some a

nuclear launch and so why don't you just

call Biden and say let's work this

out

what's there to work out it's very

simple I

repeat we have contacts through various

agencies I will tell you what we are

saying on this matter and what we are

conveying to the US

leadership if you really want to stop

fighting you need to stop supplying

weapons it will be over within a few

weeks that's it and then we can agree on

some terms before you do that

stop what's easier why would I call him

what should I talk to him about or beg

him for what and what messages get

back you're going to deliver such and

such weapons to Ukraine oh I'm afraid

I'm afraid please

don't what is there to talk about do you

think NATO is worried about this

becoming a global war or a nuclear

conflict

at least that's what they're talking

about and they're trying to intimidate

their own population with an imaginary

Russian threat this is an obvious fact

and thinking people not Philistines but

thinking people analysts those who are

engaged in real politics just smart

people understand perfectly well that

this is a fake they're trying to fuel

the Russian threat the threat I think

you're referring to is a Russian

invasion of Poland lvia expansionist

behavior is can you imagine a scenario

where you sent Russian troops to

Poland only in one case if Poland

attacks Russia why because we have no

interest in Poland lvia or anywhere else

why would we do that we simply don't

have any interest it's just threat

mongering well the argument I know you

know this is that well he invaded

Ukraine he has territorial aims across

the continent and you're saying

unequivocally you

don't it is absolutely out of the

question you just don't have to be any

kind of analyst 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 it's

obvious there are certainly means of

deterrence they have been scaring

everyone with us all along tomorrow

Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons

tomorrow Russia will use that no the day

after tomorrow so

what in order to extort additional money

from us taxpayers and European taxpayers

in the confrontation with Russia in the

Ukrainian theater a

war the goal is to weaken Russia as much

as

possible one of uh our senior United

States senators from the state of New

York Chuck Schumer said yesterday I

believe that we have to continue to fund

the Ukrainian effort or US soldiers

citizen could wind up fighting there how

do you assess

that this is a provocation and a cheap

provocation at

that I do not understand why American

soldiers should fight in Ukraine there

are mercenaries from the United States

there the bigger number of mercenaries

comes from Poland with mercenaries from

the United States in second place and

Mer mercenaries from Georgia in third

place well if somebody has the desire to

send regular troops that would certainly

bring Humanity to the brink of very

serious global

conflict this is

obvious do the United States need this

what

for thousands of miles away from your

national

territory don't you have anything better

to

do you have issues On the Border issues

with migration issues with the national

debt more than $33

trillion you have nothing better to do

so you should fight in

Ukraine wouldn't it be better to

negotiate with Russia make an agreement

already understanding the situation that

is developing today realizing that

Russia will fight for its interests to

the

end and realizing this actually return

to Common Sense respecting our country

and its interests and look for certain

Solutions it seems to me that this is

much smarter and more rational who blew

up

nordstream you for sure I was busy that

day n do you have

do uh I did not blow up north stream uh

thank you

though you personally may have an Alibi

but the CIA has no such

Alibi do you have evidence that NATO or

CIA did

[Music]

it you know I won't get into details but

people always say in such cases look for

someone who is interested but in this

case we should not only look for someone

who is interested but also for someone

who has capabilities because there may

be many people interested but not all of

them are capable of sinking to the

bottom of the Baltic Sea and carrying

out this

explosion these two components should be

connected who is interested and who is

capable of doing it but I'm confused I

mean that's the biggest Act of

industrial terrorism ever and it's the

largest emission of CO2 in in history

okay so if you had evidence and

presumably given your Security Services

your inel services you would that NATO

the US CIA the West did this why

wouldn't you present it and win a

propaganda

victory in the war of propaganda it is

very difficult to defeat the United

States because the United States

controls all the world's media and many

European media the ultimate beneficiary

of the biggest European media are

American financial

institutions don't you know

that so it is possible to get involved

in this work but it is cost prohibitive

so to speak we can simply Shine the

spotlight on our sources of information

and we will not achieve

results it is clear to the whole world

what happened and even American analysts

talk about it directly it's true yes I

but but here's a question you may able

to answer you worked in Germany famously

um the Germans clearly know that their

NATO partner did this but they and it

damaged their economy greatly it may

never recover why are they being silent

about it that's very confusing to me why

wouldn't the Germans say something about

it this also confuses me but today's

German leadership is Guided by the

interests of the collective West rather

than its national interests otherwise it

is difficult to explain the logic of

their action or

inaction after all it is not only about

northstream 1 which was blown up and the

northstream 2 was damaged but one pipe

is safe and sound and gas can be Supply

to Europe through it but Germany does

not open it we're ready

please there's another route through

Poland called yamal Europe which also

allows for large

flow Poland has closed it but Poland

packs from the German hand it receives

money from the pan European funds and

Germany is the main donor to these pan

European funds Germany feeds Poland to

the certain extent and they closed their

route to Germany why I don't understand

Ukraine to which the Germans Supply

weapons and give

money Germany is the second sponsor of

the United States in terms of financial

aid to

Ukraine there are two gas routes through

Ukraine they simply closed one route

ukrainians open the second route and

please get gas from Russia they do not

open it why don't the Germans say look

guys we give you money and weapons open

up the valve please let the gas from

Russia pass through for us we're buying

liquefied gas at absorbent prices in

Europe which brings the level of our

competitiveness and economy in general

down to

zero do you want us to give give you

money let us have the decent existence

make money for our economy because this

is where the money we give you comes

from they refuse to do so why ask them

that is what is like in their heads

those are highly incompetent people well

maybe the world is breaking into two

hemispheres one with cheap energy the

other without and I want to ask you that

if if we're now a multi-polar world

obviously we are can you describe the

blocks of alliances who who is in each

side do you

think listen you have said that the

world is breaken into two

hemispheres a human brain is divided

into two

hemispheres one is responsible for one

type of activities the other one is more

about creativity and so on but it is

still one and the same

head the world should be a single whole

security should be shared rather than a

meant for the golden

billion that is the only scenario where

the world could be stable sustainable

and

predictable until then while the head is

split in two parts it is an illness a

serious adverse condition it is a period

of severe disease that the world is

going through

now but I think that thanks to honest

journalism this work is a who work of

the doctors this could somehow be

remedied well let's just give one

example the the US dollar which has kind

of United the world uh in a lot of ways

maybe not to your advantage but

certainly ours is that going away as the

reserve currency that the com the

universally accepted currency how have

sanctions do you think changed the

Dollar's place in the

world you know to use the dollar as a

tool of foreign policy struggle is one

of the biggest strategic mistakes made

by the US political

leadership the dollar is the Cornerstone

of the United States

power I think everyone understands very

well that no matter how many dollars are

printed they are quickly dispersed all

over the

world

inflation in the United States is

minimal it's about three or

3.4% which is I think totally acceptable

for the

us but they won't stop

printing what does the debt of $33

trillion tell us about it is about the

emission nevertheless it is the main

weapon used by the United States to

preserve its power across the world as

soon as the political leadership decided

to use the US dollar as a tool of

political struggle a blow was dealt to

this American

power I would not like to use any strong

language but it is a stupid thing to do

and a grave

mistake look at what is going on in the

world even the United States allies are

now downsizing their dollar reserves

seeing this everyone starts looking for

ways to protect

themselves but the fact that the United

States applies restrictive measures to

certain countries such as placing

restrictions on transactions freezing

assets Etc causes great concern and

sends a signal to the whole

world what did we have here until 2022

about 80 % of Russian foreign trade

transactions were made in US Dollars and

Euros US Dollars accounted for

approximately 50% of our transactions

with third countries while currently it

is down to

133% it wasn't us who banned the use of

the US

dollar we had no such

intention it decision of the United

States to restrict our transactions in

US Dollars I think it is complete

foolishness from the point of view of

the interest of the United States itself

and its taxpayers as it damages the US

economy undermines the power of the

United States across the

world by the way our transactions in

Yuan accounted for about

3% today 34% of our transactions are

made in Rubles and about as much a

little over 34% in

Yuan why did the United States do this

my only guess is

self-conceit they probably thought it

would lead to full collapse but nothing

collapsed moreover other countries

including oil producers are thinking of

and already accepting payments for oil

in Yuan do you even realize what is

going on or

not does anyone in United States

realized

this what are you doing you cutting

yourself off all experts say

this ask any intelligent and thinking

person in the United States what the

dollar means for the

US you're killing it with your own hands

I think that's a I I think that's a fair

assessment the question is what comes

next and maybe you trade one colonial

power for another much less sentimental

forgiving colonial power I mean are is

the the bricks for example in danger of

being completely dominated by the

Chinese the Chinese

economy uh in a way that's not good for

their

sovereignty do you worry about

that we have heard those Boogyman

stories

before it is a Boogyman story we're

neighbors with China you cannot choose

neighbors just as you cannot choose

close relatives we share a border of

thousand kilom with them this is number

one second we have a centuries long

history of coexistence we're used to it

third China's foreign policy philosophy

is not aggressive its idea is to always

look for compromise and we can see

that the next point is as follows we are

always told the same Boogeyman story and

here here it goes again through an

euphemistic form but it is still the

same Boogyman story The cooperation with

China keeps increasing the pace at which

China's cooperation with Europe is

growing is higher and greater than that

of the growth of Chinese Russian

cooperation ask Europeans aren't they

afraid they might be I don't know but

they are still trying to access China's

Market at all costs especially now that

they are facing economic

problems Chinese businesses are also

exploring the European

market do Chinese businesses have small

presence in the United States yes the

political decisions are such that they

are trying to limit their cooperation

with

China it is to your own detriment Mr

Tucker that you are limiting cooperation

with China you're hurting

yourself it is a delicate matter and

there are no Silver Bullet solution

tions just as it is with the

dollar so before introducing any

illegitimate sanctions illegitimate in

terms of the charter of the United

Nations one should think very carefully

for decision makers this appears to be a

problem so you said a moment ago that

the world would be a lot better if it

weren't broken into competing alliances

if there was cooperation globally

one of the reasons you don't have that

is because the current American

Administration is dead set against you

do you think if there were a new

Administration after Joe Biden that you

would be able to reestablish

communication with the US government or

does it not matter who the president

is I will tell you but let me finish the

previous thought we together with my

colleague friend president J yingping

set a goal to reach $200 billion of

mutual trade with China this year we

have exceeded this level according to

our figures our bilateral trade with

China totals already 230 billion and the

Chinese statistics says it is $240

billion one more important thing our

trade is well balanced mutually

complimentary in Hightech and energy

scientific research and development it

is very

balanced as for bricks where Russia took

over the presidency this year the bricks

countries are by and large developing

very

rapidly look if memory serves me right

back in 1992 the share of the G7

countries in the world economy amounted

to

47% whereas in 2022 it was down to I

think a little over

30% the bricks countries accounted for

only 16% in

1992 but now their share is greater than

that of the

G7 it has nothing to do with the events

in Ukraine this is due to the trends of

global development and World economy as

I mentioned just now and this is

inevitable this will keep happening it

is like the rise of the sun you cannot

prevent the Sun from rising you have to

adapt to it how do the United States

adapt with the help of force sanctions

pressure bombings and use of armed

forces this is about self-conceit your

political establishment does not

understand that the world is changing

under objective circumstances and in

order to preserve your level even if

someone aspires pardon me to the level

of dominance you have to make the right

decisions in a competent and timely

manner such brutal actions including

with regard to Russia and say other

countries are

counterproductive this is an obvious

fact it has already become

evident you just ask me if another

leader comes and changes

something it is not about the leader it

is not about the personality of a

particular person I had a very good

relationship with say Bush I know that

in the United

States he was portrayed as some kind of

a country boy who does not understand

much I assure you that this is not the

case I think he made a lot of mistakes

with regard to Russia

too I told you about 2008 and the

decision in Bucharest to open the NATO's

doors to for Ukraine and so on that

happened during his presidency he

actually exercised pressure on the

Europeans but in General on a personal

human level I had a very good

relationship with him he was no worse

than any other American or Russian or

european

politician I assure you he understood

what he was doing as well as

others I had such personal relationship

with Trump as

well

it is not about the personality of the

leader it is about the Elite's

mindset if the idea of domination at any

cost based also on forceful actions

dominates the American society nothing

will change it will only get

worse but if in the end one comes to the

awareness that the world has been

changing to to the objective

circumstances and that one should be

able to adapt them in time using the

advantages that the US still has today

then perhaps something may

change look China's economy has become

the first economy in the world in

purchasing power parity in terms of

volume it overtook the US a long time

ago the USA comes second then India 1

and A2 billion people and then Japan

with Russia in the fifth place

Russia was the first economy in Europe

last year despite all the sanctions and

restrictions is it normal from your

point of view sanctions restrictions

impossibility of payments in dollars

being cut off from Swift Services

sanctions against our ships carrying oil

sanctions against airplanes sanctions in

everything

everywhere the largest number of

sanctions in the world World which are

applied are applied against Russia and

we have become Europe's first economy

during this

time the tools that us uses don't work

well one has to think about what to do

if this realization comes to the ruling

Elites then yes then the first person of

the state will act in anticipation of

what the voters and the people who make

decisions at various levels expect from

this person then maybe something will

change but you're describing two

different systems you say that the

leader acts in the interest of the

voters but you also say these decisions

are not made by the leader they're made

by the ruling classes you've run this

country for so long you've known all

these American Presidents what are those

power centers in the United States do

you think like who actually makes the

decisions I don't know is a complex

country conservative on one hand rapidly

changing on the other it's not easy for

us to sort it all

out who makes decisions in the elections

is it possible to understand this when

each state has its own legislation each

state regulates itself someone can be

excluded from elections at the state

level it is a two stage electoral system

it is very difficult for us to

understand

it certainly there are two parties that

are dominant the Republicans and the

Democrats and within this party system

the centers that make decisions that

prepare

decisions then look why in my opinion

after the collapse of the Soviet Union

such an erroneous crude completely

unjustified policy of pressure was

pursued against Russia after all this is

a policy of pressure NATO expansion

support for the separatists in caucuses

creation of a missile defense system

these are all elements of pressure

pressure pressure

pressure then dragging Ukraine into NATO

is all about pressure pressure

pressure

why I think among other things because

excessive production capacities were

created during the confrontation with

the Soviet Union there were many centers

created and specialist on the Soviet

Union who could not do anything else

they convinced the political leadership

that it is necessary to continue

chisling Russia to try to break it up to

create on this territory several quasi

State entities and to subdue them in UND

divided form to use their combined

potential for the future struggle with

China this is a mistake including the

excessive potential of those who worked

for the confrontation with the Soviet

Union

it is necessary to get rid of this there

should be new fresh forces people who

look into the future and understand what

is happening in the

world look at how Indonesia is

developing 600 million people where can

we get away from that nowhere we just

have to assume that Indonesia will enter

it is already in the club of the world's

leading economies no matter who likes it

or dislikes

it yes understand and are aware that in

the United States despite all the

economic

problems the situation is still normal

with the economy growing decently the

GDP is growing by 2.5% if I'm not

mistaken but if we want to ensure the

future then we need to change our

approach to what is changing as I

already said the world would

nevertheless change regardless of how

the developments in Ukraine end the

world is changing in the United States

themselves experts are writing that the

United States are nonetheless gradually

changing their position in the world it

is your experts who write that I just

read them the only question is how this

would happen painfully and quickly or

gently and

gradually and this is written by people

who are not anti-American they simply

follow Global development Trends that's

it and in order to assess them and

change policies we need people who think

look forward can analyze and recommend

certain decisions at the level of

political

leaders I just have to ask you've said

clearly that NATO expansion Eastward is

a violation of the promise you all were

made in 1990 it it's a threat to your

country right

before you sent troops into Ukraine the

vice president of the United States went

to the Munich security conference and

encouraged the president of Ukraine to

join NATO

do you think that was an effort to

provoke you into military

action I repeat once again we have

repeatedly repeatedly proposed to seek a

solution to the problems that arose in

Ukraine after 2014 K through peaceful

means but no one listen to us and

moreover the Ukrainian leaders who were

under the compl compl Us control

suddenly declared that they would not

comply with the Minsk agreements they

disliked everything there and continued

military activity in that

territory and in parallel that territory

was being exploited by NATO military

structures under the guise of various

Personnel training and retraining

centers they essenti began to create

bases there that's

all Ukraine announced that the Russians

were a non-titular nationality while

passing the laws that limit the rights

of non-titular nationalities in

Ukraine Ukraine having received all

these Southeastern territories as a gift

from the Russian people suddenly

announced that the Russians were a

non-titular nationality in that

territory is that

normal

all this put together led to the

decision to end the war that neo-nazis

started in Ukraine in

2014 do you do you think zilinski has

the freedom to negotiate a settlement to

this

conflict I don't know the details of

course it's difficult for me to judge

but I believe he has in any case he used

to have his father fought against the

fascists Nazis during World War II I

once talked to him about this I said V

what are you doing why are you

supporting neo-nazis in Ukraine today

while your father fought against fascism

he was a Frontline

Soldier I will not tell you what he

answered this is a separate topic and I

think it's incorrect for me to do so but

as to the freedom of choice why not he

came to power on the expectations of

Ukrainian people that he would lead

Ukraine to peace he talked about this it

was thanks to this that he won the

elections

overwhelmingly but then when he came to

power in my opinion he realize two

things firstly it is better not to clash

with neo-nazis and nationalists because

they are aggressive and very active you

can expect anything from them and

secondly the US L West supports them and

will always support those who antagonize

with Russia it is beneficial and safe so

he took the relevant position despite

promising his people to end the war in

Ukraine he deceived his voters but do

you think at this point as of February

2024 he has the latitude the freedom to

speak with you or your government

directly about putting an end to this

which clearly isn't helping his country

or the world can he do that do you

think

why not he considers himself head of

state he won the

election although we believe in Russia

that the kud is the primary source of

power for everything that happened after

2014 and in this sense even today

government is flawed but he considers

himself the president and he is

recognized by the United States all of

Europe and practically the rest of the

world in such a capacity

why not

can we negotiated with Ukraine inul we

agreed he was aware of this moreover the

negotiation group leader Mr aramia is

his last name I believe still has the

faction of the ruling Party The Party of

the president in the

Rada he still hads the presidential

faction in the the country's Parliament

he still sits there he even put his

preliminary signature on the document I

am telling you about but then he

publicly stated to the whole world we

were ready to sign this document but Mr

Johnson then the Prime Minister of Great

Britain came and dissuaded us from doing

this saying it was better to fight

Russia they would give everything needed

for us to return what was lost during

the clashes with Russia and we agreed

with this proposal look his statement

has been published he said it publicly

can they return to this or not the

question is do they want it or

not further on President of Ukraine

issued a decree prohibiting negotiations

with us let him cancel that decree and

that's it we have never refused

negotiations indeed we hear all the time

is Russia ready yes we have not refused

it was then who publicly refused well

let him cancel his

and enter into negotiations we have

never

refused and the fact that they obeyed

the demand or persuasion of Mr Johnson

the former Prime Minister of Great

Britain seems ridiculous and very sad to

me because as Mr arakia put it we could

have stopped those hostilities with war

a year and a half ago

already but the British persuaded us and

we refused this where is Mr Johnson now

and the war continues that's a good

question where do you think he is and

why did he do

that hell knows I don't understand it

myself there was a general starting

point for some reason everyone had the

illusion that Russia could be defeated

on the

battlefield because of arrogance because

of a pure heart

but not because of a great

mind you've described the connection

between Russia and Ukraine you've

described Russia itself a couple of

times as Orthodox that's Central to your

understanding of Russia you've said

you're Orthodox what does that

mean in for you you're a Christian

Leader by your own description so what

effect does that have on

you you know as I already mentioned in

988 Prince Vladimir himself was baptized

following the example of his grandmother

Princess Olga and then he baptized his

Squad and then gradually over the course

of several years he baptized all the

roost it was a lengthy process from

pagans to Christians it took many

years but in the end this Orthodoxy

Eastern Christianity

deeply rooted itself in the

consciousness of the Russian

people when Russia expanded and absorbed

other nations who profess Islam Buddhism

and Judaism Russia has always been very

loyal to those people who profess other

religions this is her strength this is

absolutely clear and the fact is that

the main postulates main values are very

similar not to say the same in all world

religions I've just mentioned which are

the traditional religions of the Russian

Federation

Russ by the way Russian authorities were

always very careful about the culture

and religion of those people who came

into the Russian

Empire this in my opinion forms the

basis of both security and stability of

the Russian statehood all the peoples

inhabiting Russia basically consider it

their motherhood

if say people move over to you or to

Europe from Latin America and even

clearer and more understandable example

people come but yet they have come to

you or to European countries from their

historical

Homeland and people who profess

different religions in Russia consider

Russia their motherland they have no

other

motherland we are together this is one

big family and our Traditional Values

are very

similar I've just mentioned one big

family but everyone has his her own

family and this is the basis of our

society and if we say that the

motherland and the family are

specifically connected with each

other it is indeed the case since it is

impossible to ensure a normal future for

our children and our families unless we

ensure a normal sustainable future for

the entire country for the

motherland that is why patriotic

sentiment is so strong in

Russia the one way in which the

religions are different is that

Christianity is specifically a

nonviolent religion Jesus says turn the

other cheek don't kill how can a leader

who has to kill of any country how can a

leader be a Christian

how do you reconcile that to

yourself it is very easy when it comes

to protecting oneself and one's family

one's Homeland we won't attack

anyone when did the developments Ukraine

start since the Kat and the hostility

these indas began that's when they

started and we're protecting our people

ourselves our homeland and our

[Music]

future as for religion in

general you know it's not about external

manifestations it's not about going to

church every day or banging your head on

the

floor it is in the heart and our culture

is so human

oriented Doki who was very well known in

the west and the genius of Russian

culture Russian literature spoke a lot

about this about the Russian

Soul after all Western Society is more

pragmatic Russian people think more

about the Eternal about moral values I

don't know maybe you won't agree with

but Western culture is more pragmatic

after

all I'm not saying this is bad it makes

it possible for today's golden billion

to achieve good success in production

even in science and so

[Music]

on there's nothing wrong with that I'm

just saying that we kind of look the

same our so do you see the supernatural

at work as you

look out across what's happening in the

world now do you see God at work do you

ever think to yourself these are forces

that are not

human no to be honest I don't think

so my opinion is that the development of

the world Community is in accordance

with inherent laws and those laws are

what they

are

it's always been this way in the history

of mankind some Nations and countries

Rose became stronger and more

numerous and then left the international

stage losing the status they had

accustom

to there is probably no need for me to

give examples but we could start with

the King isan and horde conquerors the

golden horde and then end with the Roman

Empire it seems that there has never

been anything like the Roman Empire in

the history of

mankind nevertheless the potential of

The Barbarians gradually grew as did

their

population in general The Barbarians

were getting stronger and began to

develop economically as we would say

today this eventually led to the

collapse of the Roman Empire and the

regime imposed by the

Romans however it took five centuries

for the Roman Empire to fall

apart the difference with what is

happening

now is that all the processes of change

are happening at the much faster Pace

than in Roman

times so when does the AI Empire start

do you

think you're asking increasingly more

complicated questions questions to

answer them you need to be an expert in

big numbers big data and

AI men is currently facing many threats

due to the genetic researches it is now

possible to create a superhuman A

specialized human being a genetically

engineered athlete scientist military

man there are reports that Elon Musk has

already had a chip implanted in the

human brain in the USA

what do you think of

that well I think there's no stopping

Elon Musk he will do as he sees

fit never thess you need to find some

common ground with him search for ways

to persuade him I think he's a smart

person I truly believe he is so you need

to reach an agreement with him because

this process needs to to be formalized

and subjected to certain

rules Humanity has to consider what is

going to happen due to the newest

development in

genetics or in

AI one can make an approximate

prediction of what will

happen once mankind felt an exist

Potential Threat coming from nuclear

weapons all nuclear Nations began to

come to terms with one another since

they realized they negligent use of

nuclear weaponary could drive Humanity

to

extension it is impossible to stop

research in genetics or AI today just as

it was impossible to stop the use of

gunpowder back in the

day

but as soon as we realize that the

threat comes from unbridled and

uncontrolled development of AI or

genetics or any other field the time

will come to reach an international

agreement on how to regulate these

things I I appreciate all the time uh

you've given us I just got to ask you

one last question and that's about

someone who's very famous in the United

States probably not here Evan gersovitz

who's the Wall Street Journal reporter

he's 32

um and he's been in prisoned for almost

a year uh this is a huge story in the

United States and I just want to ask you

directly without getting into the tales

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

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 when I talk about the partners I

first of all refer to special

services special services are in contact

with one another they are talking about

the matter in

question there is no taboo to settle

this issue we are willing to solve

it but there are certain terms being

discussed via special services

channels I believe an agreement can be

reached so typically I mean this stuff

has happened for obviously centuries one

country catches another spy within its

borders it trades it for one of its own

Intel guys in another country I think

what makes and it's not my business but

what makes this difference is the guy's

obviously not a spy he's a kid and maybe

he was breaking your law in some way but

he's not a super spy and everybody knows

that and he's being held hostage in

exchange which is true with respect it's

true and everyone knows it's true so

maybe he's in a different category maybe

it's not fair to ask for you know some

else in exchange for letting him out

maybe it degrades Russia to do

that you know you can give different

interpretations to what constitutes a

spy but there are certain things

provided by law if person gets secret

information and does that in

conspiratorial manner then this is a

qualified as

Espionage and that is exactly what he

was doing he was receiving classified

confidential information and he did it

covertly maybe he did that out of

carelessness or his own

initiative considering the sheer fact

this is qualified as Espionage the fact

has been proven as he was caught

red-handed when he was receiving this

information if it had been some

farfetched excuse some fabrication

something not proven it would have been

different story then but he was caught

red-handed when he was secretly getting

confidential information what is it then

but are you suggesting he was working

for the US government or NATO or he was

just a reporter who was given material

he wasn't supposed to have those seem

like very different very different

things I don't know who he was working

for but I would like to read iterate

that getting classified information in

secret is called Espionage and he was

working for the US Special Services some

other

agencies I don't think he was working

for Monaco as Monaco is hardly

interested in getting that

information it is up to special services

to come to an

agreement some groundwork has been laid

there are people who in our you are not

connected with special

services let me tell you a story about a

person serving a sentence in an Allied

country of the

US the person due to patriotic

sentiments eliminated a bandit in one of

the European

capitals during the events in the

caucuses do you know what he was

doing I don't want to say that but I

will do it anyway he was laying our

soldiers taken prisoner on the road and

then drove his car over their

heads what kind of person is that can he

even be called

human but there was a patriot who

eliminated him in one of the European

capitals whether he did it of his own

valtion or not that is a different

question

yeah that I mean that's a completely

different I mean I mean this a 32y old

like he committed something

different he's not just a journalist I

reiterate he's a journalist who was

secretly giving confidential

information yes it is different but

still I'm talking about other people who

are essentially controlled by the US

authorities wherever they are serving a

sentence there is an ongoing dialogue

between the special services this has to

be resolved in a calm responsible and

professional manner they're keeping in

touch so let them do their

work I do not rule out that the person

you refer to Mr gersovitz May return to

his

motherland by the end of the day it does

not make any sense to keep him in prison

in Russia we want the US Special

Services to think about how they can

contribute to Achi the goals our special

services are

pursuing we are ready to talk moreover

the talks are

underway and there have been many

successful examples of these stocks

crowned with

success probably this is going to be

crowned with success as

well but we have to come to an

agreement I hope you let him out Mr

President thank

you

I also want him to return to his

homeland at last I'm absolutely

sincere but let me say once again the

dialogue continues the more public we

render things of this nature the more

difficult it becomes to resolve them

everything has to be done in calm manner

I wonder if that's I wonder if that's

true with with the war though also I

mean I just want to I guess I want to

ask one more question which

is and maybe you don't want to say so

for Strat

reasons but are you worried that what's

happening in Ukraine could lead to

something much larger and much more

horrible and how motivated are you just

to call the US government and say let's

come to

terms I already said that we did not

refuse to talk we are 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'm looking for a

strong W or an insult but we both

understand what is

happening the financial support 72

billion US was

provided Germany ranks second then other

European countries

come dozens of billions of US 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 negotiating table resend this

absurd

decree we did not re sure but you

already said it I didn't think you meant

it as 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 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 zinsky of

Ukraine well if the zinsky

administration in Ukraine refused to

negotiate I assume they did it under the

instruction from

Washington Washington believes it to be

the wrong decision let it abandon it let

it find a delicate excuse so that no one

is insulted let it come up with the 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

the situation to correct their

mistakes they did it so let them correct

it them eles we support this 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 and we made it we prepared the

huge document in Istanbul that was

initialed by the head of the Ukrainian

delegation he fixed his signature to

some of the provisions not to all of it

put his signature and then he himself

said we were ready to sign it and the

war would have been over long ago month

ago however prime minister Johnson came

talked us out of it and we missed a

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 I know one can say it is our

mistake it was us who intensified the

situation and decided to put an end to

the war that started in 2014 in donbas

as I have already said by means of

weapons let me get back to further in

history I already told you

this we were just discussing let us go

back to 1991 when we were promised that

NATO would not expand to 2008 when the

doors to Nato opened to the Declaration

of State sovereignty of Ukraine

declaring Ukraine a neutral State let us

go back to the fact that NATO and US

military basis started to appear on the

territory of Ukraine creating threats to

us let us go back to cud in Ukraine in

2014 it is pointless though isn't it we

may go back and forth endlessly but they

sto

negotiations is it a mistake yes

corrected we ready what else is needed

do you think it's too humiliating at

this point for NATO to accept Russian

control

of what was two years ago Ukrainian

territory I said let them think how to

do it with dignity there are options if

there is a

will up until now there has been the

Uproar and screaming about inflicting a

strategic defeat in Russia on the

battlefield now they are apparently

coming to realize that it is difficult

to achieve if possible at

all in my opinion it is impossible by

definition it is never going to happen

it seems to me that now those who are in

power in the west have come to realize

this as

well if so if the realization has set in

they have to think what to do next we

are ready for this dialogue would you be

willing to say congratulations NATO you

won and just keep the situation where it

is

now you know it is a subject matter for

the negotiations no one is willing to

conduct or to put it more

accurately they're willing but do not

know how to do it I know they want to it

is not just I see it but I know they do

want it but they're struggling to

understand how to do it they have driven

the situation to the point where we are

at it is not us who have done that it is

our partners opponents who have done

that well now let them think how to

reverse the situation we're not against

it it would be funny if it were not so

sad

this endless mobilization in Ukraine the

hysteria the domestic problems sooner or

later it will result in

agreement you know this Probably sounds

strange given the current

situation but the relations between the

two peoples will be rebuilt

anyway

it will take a lot of time but they will

heal I'll give you very unusual

examples there is a combat encounter on

the battlefield here's specific

example Ukrainian soldiers got encircled

this is an example from real life our

soldiers were shouting to them there is

no chance surrender yourselves come out

and you will be

alive suddenly the Ukrainian soldiers

were screaming from there in Russian

perfect Russians saying Russians do not

surrender and all of them

perish they still identify themselves as

Russian what is happening is to a

certain extent an element of a civil

war everyone in the West think that the

Russian people have been split by

hostilities

forever no they will be reunited the

unity is still

there why are the Ukrainian authorities

dismantling the Ukrainian Orthodox

church because it brings together not

only the territory it brings together

our

souls no one will be able to separate

the

soul shall we end here or is there

anything

else no I think that's great ium thank

you Mr

President free speech is bigger than any

one person or any one organization

societies are defined by what they will

not permit what we're watching is the

total inversion of virtue