“We’re just not interested”
Putin rules out attack on Latvia or Poland
February 9, 2024, 3:55 a.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Vladimir Putin speaks for over two hours with the Kremlin-friendly US talk show host Tucker Carlson. With a view to the Ukraine war, the Russian president is confident of victory. But he doesn’t want to know anything about further land seizures; the “Russian threat” is a chimera of the NATO states.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out a Russian attack on Poland or Latvia – and described defeat in the war against Ukraine as “impossible”. “We have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else,” Putin said in an interview with right-wing US presenter Tucker Carlson published last night. “Why would we do that? We simply have no interest in it.” A Russian attack on the countries is “absolutely impossible.”
Former Fox News host Carlson had previously asked the Russian president whether there could be a scenario in which “you send Russian soldiers to Poland.” Putin replies: “Only in one case: if Poland attacks Russia.” It goes against common sense to get involved in “a kind of global war,” Putin continued. He accused the NATO countries of intimidating their own people by creating the illusion of an “imaginary Russian threat”.
Referring to the Ukraine war, Putin said there was talk of inflicting “a strategic defeat on the battlefield” for Russia. “In my opinion, this is impossible by definition,” the president said. “It will never happen.”
White House warns: Don’t take Putin at his word
Tucker Carlson had already had the conversation with the Kremlin chief in Moscow on Tuesday. The 127 minute long interview appeared on German Night Carlson’s website and on X. It is Putin’s first in-depth conversation with a US interviewer since his war of aggression against Ukraine began almost two years ago. Carlson had previously announced the interview as a major media event.
When asked, US National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby cautioned that nothing said in the interview should be taken at face value. “Remember, you are listening to Vladimir Putin,” he said in Washington. The 54-year-old Carlson is known for spreading conspiracy theories and was fired last year from the ultra-conservative US broadcaster Fox News, of which he had been a figurehead for years. This was preceded by a dispute over false election fraud allegations after the 2020 presidential election, due to which Fox News had to enter into an extremely expensive settlement with a voting machine company.
Tucker Carlson represents sharply right-wing positions – and with a view to the Ukraine war, a very Russia-friendly and Kiev-critical stance. He has repeatedly criticized US aid to Ukraine.