Putin urges US to push Ukraine to talks, hints at possible swap of imprisoned WSJ reporter
BYย THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
In an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin has emphasized the importance of Washington recognizing Moscow’s interests and encouraging Ukraine to engage in dialogue.
Putin also said that Russia stands ready to negotiate a potential prisoner exchange that would free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained last March on espionage charges he denies, and hinted that Moscow wants the release of its agent imprisoned in Germany.
Most of the interview, released Thursday, focused on Ukraine, where the war is nearing the two-year mark. Putin repeated his claim that his invasion of Ukraine, which Kyiv and its allies described as an unprovoked act of aggression, was necessary to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine and prevent the country from posing a threat to Russia by joining NATO.
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Putin pointed at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyโs refusal to conduct talks with the Kremlin. He argued that itโs up to Washington to stop supplying Ukraine with weapons and convince Kyiv, which he called a U.S. โsatellite,โ to sit down for negotiations.
โWe have never refused negotiations,โ Putin said. โYou should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to a negotiating table.โ
Putin warned that the West will never succeed in inflicting a โstrategic defeatโ on Russia in Ukraine and rejected allegations that Russia was harboring plans to attack Poland or other NATO countries.
It was Putinโs first interview with a Western media figure since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby tried to minimize the impact of Carlsonโs interview ahead of its release: โRemember, youโre listening to Vladimir Putin. And you shouldnโt take at face value anything he has to say.โ
In Russia, the interview received wall-to-wall coverage in state media on Friday morning, with major TV channels repeatedly airing excerpts and one state news agency describing it in a column as โa dagger blow through the curtain of propaganda of the dishonest media of the civilized world.โ
In the days leading up to the release of the interview, Russian Kremlin-backed media also extensively covered Carlsonโs visit to Russia, trying to follow him around Moscow and reporting in great detail on where the former Fox News host went.
Putin has heavily limited his contact with international media since he launched the war in Ukraine in February 2022. Russian authorities have cracked down on independent media, forcing some Russian outlets to close, blocking others and ordering a number of foreign reporters to leave the country. Two journalists working for U.S. news organizations โ The Wall Street Journalโs Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertyโs Alsu Kurmasheva โ are in jail.
Asked by Carlson whether Russia would release Gershkovich, Putin said Moscow is open to talks but repeated that the reporter was charged with espionage, an accusation Gershkovich has denied.
โHe was caught red-handed when he was secretly getting classified information,โ Putin said of Gershkovich, adding that he doesnโt exclude that the reporter could return home.
โThere is no taboo on settling this issue,โ Putin said. โWe are ready to solve it but there are certain conditions that are being discussed between special services. I believe an agreement can be reached.โ
He pointed to a man imprisoned in a โU.S.-allied countryโ for โliquidating a banditโ who killed Russian soldiers during the fighting in the Caucasus: โHe put our soldiers taken prisoners on a road and then drove a car over their heads. There was a patriot who liquidated him in one of the European capitals.โ
Putin didnโt mention names, but he appeared to refer to Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving a life sentence in Germany after being convicted of the 2019 brazen daylight killing of Zelimkhan โTornikeโ Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity.
German judges who convicted Krasikov said he had acted on the orders of Russian federal authorities, who provided him with a false identity, a fake passport and the resources to carry out the hit.
The Wall Street Journal reaffirmed in a statement that Gershkovich โis a journalist, and journalism is not a crime,โ adding that โany portrayal to the contrary is total fiction.โ โWeโre encouraged to see Russiaโs desire for a deal that brings Evan home, and we hope this will lead to his rapid release and return to his family and our newsroom,โ it said.
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