In a new interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he did not “fully enjoy” the interview with journalist Tucker Carlson and expected to be asked tougher questions.
“To be honest, I thought that he would behave aggressively and ask these so-called tough questions,” Putin said. “I was not only ready for this, but I wanted it, because it would give me the opportunity to respond just as sharply, which, in my opinion, would give a certain specificity to our entire conversation. But he chose a different tactic.”
Putin gave Carlson the compliment that he “turned out to be patient and listened to my long dialogues, especially those related to history” (despite trying to “interrupt” him “several times”), which was “surprising for a Western journalist” and a welcome change. Nevertheless, this did not give Putin what he had prepared for: an all-out argument about the Russian war in Ukraine and the federation’s presence on the global stage.
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“Therefore, frankly speaking, I did not fully enjoy this interview. But he strictly followed his plan, and he fulfilled his plan. But how meaningful it was in the end is not for me to judge. It is the viewers, listeners, or perhaps readers of the received material who must draw their own conclusions,” he said.
President Putin says he didn’t fully enjoy the interview with Tucker Carlson because it lacked tough questions.
🔗 Full transcript: https://t.co/ZEOIkvsW6R pic.twitter.com/SCHdH9ry9U
— Putin Direct (@PutinDirect) February 14, 2024
Carlson also admitted he was less than thrilled with the interview, remarking that the Russian president is not good at interviews and is “clearly spending a lot of time in a world where he doesn’t have to explain himself.”
In another clip from the interview with Zarubin, Putin said Biden is a better option than Trump for Russia.
“He’s a more experienced and predictable person, and a politician of the old school. But we will work with any US leader entrusted by the American people.”
President Putin: For Russia, Biden is a better option than Trump.
🔗 Full transcript: https://t.co/ZEOIkvsW6R pic.twitter.com/sCW2O3OPnu
— Putin Direct (@PutinDirect) February 15, 2024
Putin went on to say he regrets not launching the invasion of Ukraine sooner:
As I said, we did not start the war, we are only trying to stop it. At the first stage, we tried to do this through peaceful means – through the Minsk agreements. As it turned out later, we were led by the nose here too, because both the former Chancellor of Germany and the former President of France admitted and directly publicly stated that they did not intend to fulfill these agreements of ours, but were simply gaining time in order to further pump up weapons to the Ukrainian regime, which they successfully did. The only thing we can regret is that we did not begin our active actions earlier, believing that we were dealing with decent people.
President Putin regrets that the military operation in Ukraine was not launched sooner.
🔗 Full transcript: https://t.co/OvcpWWfVrS pic.twitter.com/EsUDq3GmL5
— Putin Direct (@PutinDirect) February 15, 2024
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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