“If they really want to stop fighting, they need to stop supplying weapons,” Putin said in an interview with an American journalist
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the US and Ukraine's other allies of prolonging the war in Eastern Europe. The statement was aired on Thursday night (8.Feb.2024), in an interview with North American journalist Tucker Carlson, from the program Tucker Carlson Tonight.
“If they really want to stop fighting, they need to stop supplying weapons. It will all be over within a few weeks”, stated the Russian president.
Putin said the war was close to an end during negotiations in Istanbul (Turkey) in April 2022, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly backed away from the idea of an armistice when Russian troops withdrew from the Kiev region. Ukraine “discarded all these agreements and obeyed the instructions of Western countries, European countries and the USA to fight Russia until the end”, he stated.
“Now let them think about how to reverse the situation”, added Putin. “It would be funny if it weren't so sad. This endless mobilization in Ukraine, hysteria and internal problems will sooner or later result in an agreement.”
The Russian president also said that Western leaders realized that it was impossible to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia and were wondering what to do next.
In December, the Kremlin said talks on a peace deal with Ukraine were “unrealistic”. Kiev now demands that Russian forces leave all territories conquered in Ukraine since 2022.
This was Putin's first interview with a North American media outlet since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022. It was held in Moscow, on Tuesday (Feb 6), and lasted more than two hours.
Carlson is a supporter of former US President Donald Trump, defended the invasion of Ukrainian territory and is critical of the support that his country offers to Kiev. He has previously referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “Ukrainian pimp”. The journalist was fired from Fox News in April 2023 and opened his own internet channel.
The journalist responded to criticism for the video interview released before the program aired. He justified the initiative by saying that “most Americans have no real idea what is going on”. And he added: “But they should know. They are paying for much of this”.
The Kremlin said it agreed to the interview because the former TV presenter's approach Fox News differs from coverage “unilateral” about the conflict made by the Western press.
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