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Putin Says In Interview With U.S. Commentator Russia Has 'No Interest' In Expanding War Into Poland

By RFE/RL February 08, 2024

Russia has no interest in invading NATO member Poland, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a controversial interview broadcast on February 8 in which he also said he believes a deal is possible to free detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Right-wing U.S. political commentator Tucker Carlson, who conducted the two-hour interview on February 6 and aired it at his website, asked Putin whether he could imagine a scenario in which Russia sends troops into Poland.

"Only in one case, if Poland attacks Russia," Putin responded, adding: "We have no interest in Poland, Latvia, or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don't have any interest. It's just threat mongering. It is absolutely out of the question."

On Gershkovich, Putin said Russian and American officials were discussing the case and had made some progress. The Russian president suggested that the person Moscow wants in return for Gershkovich, is Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted of the 2019 murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin.

"There is no taboo to settle this issue. We are willing to solve it, but there are certain terms being discussed via special services channels. I believe an agreement can be reached," Putin told Carlson.

Carlson faced criticism for interviewing Putin when his government is holding Gershkovich and another U.S. journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL, in jail on charges related to their reporting that both vehemently deny. Kurmasheva's case was not mentioned in the interview.

Some estimates say around 1,000 independent Russia journalists have been forced to flee the country fearing for their safety due to strict censorship laws Putin has put in place that make critical coverage of the war against Ukraine a criminal offense.

"Two American journalists are currently in Russian jails for trying to conduct independent journalism in Russia. Russian journalists have been killed for trying to practice independent journalism, some are in jail, and many others have had to flee the country," said Brian Taylor, a professor of political science at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in the United States.

Carlson, a former Fox News host, has made a name for himself by spreading conspiracy theories and has questioned U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian troops. The interview was Putin's first with a Western media figure since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"The fact that Putin is willing to talk to Tucker Carlson now means that Putin is looking for an opportunity to influence American domestic politics and he thinks Carlson will be a useful conduit for his message," Taylor said in an e-mail to RFE/RL.

The interview took place as Putin hopes that Western support for Kyiv will wane and morale among Ukrainians will flag to the point where his war aims are achievable. It also comes as U.S. military support for Kyiv is in question as Republican lawmakers block a $60 billion aid package proposed by President Joe Biden.

Describing his decision to interview Putin in an announcement posted on X on February 6, Carlson asserted that U.S. media outlets focus fawningly on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy but that Putin's voice is not heard in the United States because Western journalists have not "bothered" to interview him since the full-scale invasion.

Numerous Western journalists rejected this claim, saying that they have consistently sought to interview Putin but have been turned away. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed that, saying that his office receives "numerous requests for interviews with the president" but that most of the Western outlets asking are "traditional TV channels and large newspapers that don't even attempt to appear impartial in their coverage. Of course, there's no desire to communicate with this kind of media."

Carlson was one of Fox News' top-rated hosts before he abruptly left the network last year after Fox settled a separate defamation lawsuit over its reporting of the 2020 presidential election. Fox agreed to pay $787 million to voting machine company Dominion after the company filed a lawsuit alleging the network spread false claims that its machines were rigged against former President Donald Trump.

Carlson has had a rocky relationship at times with the former president, but during Trump's presidency he had Carlson's full backing and in November Carlson endorsed Trump in his 2024 run to regain the White House.

According to Peskov, Carlson spent several days in Russia in a visit that was avidly covered by media outlets there, many of which are state-run or loyal to the state.

Putin repeated in the interview that the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is a defensive battle to save Russia and that it was in response to the threat of further NATO expansion. He claimed that prior to the war Ukrainian leaders were "under complete American control" and refused to listen to Russian proposals to avoid war.

Analysts say that while Russian forces have failed to subjugate Ukraine or force Zelenskiy's government from power, Putin hopes that Western support for Kyiv and morale among Ukrainians will flag to the point where his war aims are achievable - and that the U.S. presidential election in November will advance that process.

Tatyana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center think tank, said that Putin likely decided to do the interview because he sees this year as "pivotal" in shifting the dynamics of the war in Ukraine toward his favor given the United States is in an election year and Ukraine appears to be "grappling with significant internal political challenges."

"Against this strategic backdrop, Putin badly needs to reach a Western audience. It is probable that during the interview, he will attempt to position himself as a friend to the American people, arguing that it is in the U.S.'s interest to cease its support for Ukraine," she wrote on X, adding that "the interview is a platform for Putin to widen his access to American viewers and garner support for his narrative."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-tucker-carlson- interview-controversy-ukraine-zelenskiy/32811234.html

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Putin Says In Interview With U.S. Commentator Russia Has 'No Interest' In Expanding War Into Poland