The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Putin muscles out his man in interview that blurs fact and fiction
VLADIMIR PUTIN began his much-anticipated interview on Thursday night by offering a more than 30-minute, counterfactual history lesson to a bemused Tucker Carlson.
The former Fox News host’s interjections (“how is this relevant, Mr President?”) were swiftly shot down by the Russian leader: “Are we going to have a serious talk or a show?”
Putin’s show, it seemed.
Earlier, he seemed to suggest Adolf Hitler was forced to invade Poland, blaming the latter not so much implicitly but explicitly for the start of the Second World World War.
He claimed that Poland, which was invaded by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, “collaborated with Hitler”.
Putin asserted that by refusing to give over an area of Poland called the Danzig Corridor to Hitler, Poland “went too far, pushing Hitler to start World War Two by attacking them”.
The foray into the Russian president’s own annals of European history was all offered by way of explanation for his invasion of Ukraine. In Putin’s telling, it was not Nato – as Carlson had posited, when he asked whether “a physical threat from the West” in the form of the military alliance was his “justification” for starting the war.
In fact, it was “that Ukraine is an artificial state that was shaped at [Joseph] Stalin’s will”.
Much like Hitler, went this line of argument, Putin had been forced intoaction.
Elsewhere, in the two-hour-plus interview, Putin signalled his openness to releasing an imprisoned Wall Street
Journal reporter for a Russian prisoner in Germany dubbed the “bicycle assassin”.
Carlson made a case for freeing Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter who has languished in a Russian prison for almost a year.
Putin, in response, made oblique reference to Vadim Krasikov, currently serving a life sentence for the murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin in 2019.
His description of a man who “eliminated a bandit in one of the European
capitals” out of “patriotic sentiments” seemed to mean Krasikov, who carried out an assassination-by-bicycle on Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
Putin signalled backchannel conversations were ongoing, as he said: “Special services are in contact with one another. They are talking about the matter in question,” he said, adding: “I believe an agreement can be reached”.
Later, Putin accused the US of “cheap provocation” over its continued military aid to Kyiv, and warned Washington against extending that support to deploying troops to Ukraine. “If somebody has the desire to send regular troops, that would certainly bring humanity to the brink of a very serious global conflict,” he told Carlson.
He added that America should focus on its domestic issues. He said: “Don’t you have anything better to do? You have issues on the border. Issues with migration, issues with the national debt. More than $33trillion.
“Wouldn’t it be better to negotiate with Russia? Make an agreement. Already understanding the situation that is developing today, realising that Russia will fight for its interests to the end?”
Putin also claimed that the CIA was behind the sabotage of Nord Stream, the undersea gas pipelines between Germany, Finland and Russia.
Russia was initially suspected of sabotage, after Moscow previously threatened repercussions for Finland’s decision to join Nato.
Intelligence reviewed by US officials later suggested a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the attacks.
‘Wouldn’t it be better to negotiate … realising that Russia will fight for its interests to the end?’
Asked by Carlson who “blew up Nord Stream?”, Putin replied: “You for sure.”
The former Fox News host joked he had been “busy that day”. Putin said: “The CIA has no such alibi.”
Asked whether he had evidence to support his claims, the Russian president said he “won’t get into details” but you should “look for someone who is interested” and who “has capabilities”.
He went on to mock Carlson for his reported failed attempt to join the US intelligence agency as a young man.
“The organisation you wanted to join back in the day, as I understand,” Putin told him, a wry smile playing on his lips. “We should thank God they didn’t let you in.” A stony-faced Carlson, for once, had no riposte.
Putin moved on to offering his thoughts on the future of mankind.
It is clear the Russian leader feels one man is making leaps and bounds towards the creation of a “superhuman”.
Carlson asked: “So when does the AI empire start do you think?” Putin conceded he was no expert, but suggested Elon Musk might have some thoughts.