Putin and Tucker Carlson… Details of the 120-minute interview

In the two-hour interview, which was broadcast Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country will fight for its interests, but it has no interest in expanding its war in Ukraine to other countries such as Poland and Latvia.

This is Putin's first interview with an American journalist since before the Russian operation in Ukraine nearly two years ago.

Asked if he could envision a scenario in which Russian troops would be sent to NATO member Poland, Putin replied: “Only in one case, if Poland attacks Russia. Why? Because we have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else.” “Why would we do that? We simply have no interest.”

The interview was conducted in Moscow on Tuesday and was broadcast on Tucker Carlson's website.

The Kremlin said Putin agreed to conduct the interview with Carlson because the approach taken by the former Fox News anchor differs from the “one-sided” coverage of the conflict in Ukraine followed by many Western media outlets.

Carlson is considered to have a close relationship with former US President Donald Trump, who is expected to be the Republican Party's nominee in the US presidential elections next November.

Trump calls for stopping the escalation of the war in Ukraine, as the administration of President Joe Biden provides strong support to the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and he also opposes sending billions of dollars in aid.

Below are the highlights of the Russian President’s speech:

• Russia and Ukraine will reach an agreement sooner or later.
• NATO has options to recognize Russia's control over the new territories.
• The world will change regardless of how the crisis in Ukraine ends.
• Russia will become the number one economy in Europe in 2023, despite the US sanctions and tools that are not working.
• Ukraine is an artificial entity established in the Stalinist era.
• The meaning of Ukrainians in Russian is people who live on the peri
  pheries.
• Ukraine is an artificial state created at Stalin's will and did not exist before 1922
• The Americans pledged not to expand NATO eastward, but the expansion happened 5 times.
• Before World War II, Poland cooperated with Hitler and did not respond to all of his demands.
• We proposed that Russia join NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but they refused.
• When NATO refused to let us join it, they feared Russia as a large and powerful country.
• NATO expanded 5 times after promising us that it would not expand even by one inch.
• We have information that the United States supported terrorists in Russia and considered them the opposition.
• Russia is ready to supply gas to Europe via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but Germany does not want to.
• I visited the United States and proposed building a unified air defense system with Washington.
• The United States supported separatists in the Caucasus and supplied weapons to terrorists.
• After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Washington adopted a policy of sanctions against Russia.