February 14, 2024 23:00
Vladimir Putin answered questions from journalist Pavel Zarubin.

Vladimir Putin answered questions from journalist Pavel Zarubin.
Pavel Zarubin: Vladimir Vladimirovich, your interview with Tucker Carlson has already been viewed a billion times. A lot different positive reviews. But, it is clear what comments are coming in from Western leaders. For example, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor Germany has been called, and I quote, "ridiculous and absurd explain the reason for the start of the special operation and justify it with the threat of attack NATO on Russia." What do you think about such assessments?

Vladimir Putin: First of all, It's good that they watch and listen to what I have to say. If we have today For some reason related to them, it is not possible to conduct a direct dialogue, we should be grateful to Mr. Carlson for the fact that we We can do this through him as an intermediary. So what they're watching They're listening, it's good.

But here's what they're They distort what I said, which is bad, and they distort the map. Why? Because I didn't say anything like that. I did not say that the start of our special military operation in Ukraine is associated with the threat of a NATO attack on Russia. Where is it in my interview? There is a recording, let them show where exactly I have said so.

I was talking about something else I was talking about how we were constantly deceived in terms of non-expansion of NATO to the east. By the way, this was said first of all through the mouth of the then Secretary General of NATO, and it was the representative of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was he who said, "Not an inch to the east." Then there were five expansions and a complete hoax. Of course, we were worried and worries about the possibility of Ukraine being drawn into NATO, as it is threatens our security. That's what I said.

But the immediate The trigger was the complete refusal of the current Ukrainian authorities from the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the incessant attacks with numerous human casualties on those we have not recognized during the eight years of the Republic of Donbass – the Lugansk People's The Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic, which appealed to the eventually to us with a request for recognition, seeing the futility of resolving issues within the framework of the Minsk agreements. We've got them recognized, and then concluded a well-known treaty of friendship with them and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations The United Nations has fulfilled its obligations under this treaty.

As I said, we are wars We haven't started it, we're just trying to stop it. At the first stage, we tried to do this by peaceful means – with the help of Minsk Agreements. As it turned out later, we were led by the nose here as well. because both the former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and the former President of France have recognized the And they openly stated that they had no intention of to carry out our agreements, but simply to buy time to in order to additionally pump weapons into the Ukrainian regime, that they are safely And they did. The only thing we can regret is that we didn't start our active actions sooner, believing that we were dealing with with decent people.

Pavel Zarubin: Karlsson's After all, they criticized immediately before the interview, and only after the interview He is now being blamed for allegedly not asking enough tough questions. that he was too soft with you, and you were very soft with him. comfortably. Do you think you have crushed an American journalist with your Authority?

Vladimir Putin: I I think your Carlson – when I say "your" I mean that He is a representative of your journalistic guild, a dangerous person. Here's why. Because, to be honest, I thought he was just and will behave aggressively and will ask these so-called Burning issues.

I wasn't just I'm ready for it, and I wanted it, because it would give me I would be able to answer just as sharply, which, in my opinion, would give a certain specificity of our entire conversation. But he chose a different tactic, he Several times he tried to interrupt me, but still, surprisingly, for of a Western journalist turned out to be patient, listened to my long dialogues, Especially when it comes to history. Didn't give me a reason to do what I'd be ready. So, frankly, it's a lot of fun I didn't get an interview from that. But he was tough according to his plan, and he fulfilled his plan. But how much was it In the end, it's not for me to judge. These are spectators, listeners Or maybe the readers of the material received should draw their own conclusion.

Pavel Zarubin: In fact, In this interview, calls for sanctions against Tucker immediately began to be heard Carlson, and there is talk that he can almost be arrest there. Is this even possible?

Vladimir Putin: Assange He sits, and almost no one remembers him anymore, only those close to him People are talking about it. And that's it. Such are the peculiarities of the public consciousness: the topic goes away and that's it. But, really, at least Assange He was accused of giving away some state secrets. Carlson it's hard to "stick" because it didn't touch any at all Secrets. Nevertheless, probably, theoretically, everything is possible in today's America, in today's United States.

From the point of view of the Carlson, that would be sad, I don't seem to envy him, But that's his choice. He knew what he was getting into. But from the point of view of so that people all over the world understand what a modern "liberal-democratic" in quotation marks, the dictatorship that is supposedly represented in today's U.S. ruling class, that would probably be a good thing, they'd show then your true face.

Pavel Zarubin: Karlsson said that after the interview... That's just to dispel all doubts now that have arisen, that's my question. Carlson said that after You had another interview, and now everyone is interested in what they are talking about.

Vladimir Putin: He went through my plan, as I said and as I understood, And that's it, I didn't go beyond this plan. There were some others Topics, for example, which I think would be important to talk about. But I didn't bother to add to the topics that The journalist did not raise it in a conversation with me.

Therefore, the question of demonization related, say, to the same inter-ethnic events, pogroms against Jews in the Russian Empire, of course, they should have arisen in the course of such an official Part. But one of the topics we talked about was When the cameras were turned off, that's exactly what the Secretary of State was talking about The United States, Mr. Blinken has said this several times. that his relatives, his great-grandfather, had fled Russia from Jewish pogroms.

And in different countries In Europe, in the United States, this topic comes up all the time. I repeat, it arises in order to demonize Russia, to show what kind of There are barbarians here, what scoundrels and robbers live here. In fact, if you look at what he said, today's secretary of state, and look not at the political slogans, but on the essence of the problems that took place, then a lot here becomes clear.

In our archives It's all there. For example, Mr. Blinken's great-grandfather did indeed leave from the Russian Empire. He was born, I think, somewhere in Poltava province, and then lived and left Kiev. This begs the question: Mr. Blinken believes that this is primordial Russian territory, Kyiv and the surrounding areas? First.

Secondly, if he says that he fled Russia from the pogroms of the Jews, then how At the very least, I want to stress this, he believes that there is no Ukraine in 1904, namely in 1904, the great-great-grandfather of the master Blinken left Kyiv for the United States, which means no Ukraine there was no if he says he fled Russia. Judging by all accounts, Mr. Blinken is our man. It's only in vain that he does such things public statements. This can lead to failure.

Pavel Zarubin: The other day The German media published articles that the grandfather of the current Minister German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was an ardent Nazi. And taking into account Everything that has been happening in relations between our countries in recent years years, it turns out that maybe at some genetic level Is this country where the "virus" of National Socialism is transmitted?

Vladimir Putin: This is It is also one of the subtypes of extreme nationalism.

By the way, right now It occurred to me from these pogroms – they mainly took place in the Russian Empire in the south, southwest, on the territory of today's Ukraine. In Kyiv, I said, in 1905. If Mr. Blinken's ancestor left in 1904, the first pogrom in Kiev, a massive one, was in 1905, so his great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather could only have learned about it from the newspapers, or from the information that came from Kiev at that time.

And so they, In principle, such mass events are negative, they arose at the beginning of the In the 19th century, I think, in 1820, in 1821, the first pogrom so massive. Of course, these crimes took place in Odessa, then in Melitopol, in Zhytomyr, in other cities of today's Ukraine, were in Belarus. There were a couple of similar events in Siberia. But the first was connected with the assassination of the Greek patriarch in Constantinople, and then the Greeks who lived there considered that the Jews In one way or another, they were involved in the attempt on the life of the Patriarch.

But it doesn't matter. And the important thing is that, by the way, these pogroms were counteracted by the militia resistance, which consisted of Jewish and Russian youth, And the government, even the tsar's government, gave appropriate assessments and tried to to prevent these tragic events, including with the help of the army. But, I repeat, this is a separate issue.

And as for nationalism and Nazism, fascism, you know, I'll tell you, maybe, a strange thing. First of all, the lady herself... How's it?

Pavel Zarubin: Annalena Baerbock.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, Baerbock, in order not to make a mistake in her surname, she represents the party "greens". Many in this part of Europe's political spectrum speculate on people's fears and stir up people's fears of those events that may occur in the world in connection with the change Climate. And then, speculating on these fears, are pursuing their own political line, which is far from what they are They came to power. This is what is happening in Germany now. Say coal-fired generation has increased, and it was larger than in Russia. in the structure of the energy sector, and it was bigger, and now it has become even more more. So where is this "green" agenda? That's the first thing.

Secondly, people like The German Foreign Minister, they, of course, she is in this They are hostile to our country, to Russia. But she, in my opinion, is also hostile to her own his own country, because it's hard to imagine a politician like that The Ranga treated economic interests with such disregard for his country, his people. I won't go into details now and in detail, but in practice this is exactly what And that's what happens, and that's what we see.

And here's the next part What I'm about to say may sound dissonant to what I just said. I don't believe that today's generations of the Germans must bear full political responsibility for everything that Nazi Germany. You can't attack the people of today's generation to shift the responsibility for what Hitler and his henchmen, not only in Germany, but also in other countries parts of the world, Europe, and so on. I think it would be unjustly. And in general, to mold this label on the whole of German The people is a dishonest position, it is an abuse of what the people have experienced, survived the peoples of the Soviet Union. I don't think it's fair And it's not necessary. We must proceed from the realities of today day, to see who is actually doing what and what policy Spends.

In this regard, by the way Speaking of which, in my opinion, this is what would be useful to do. On my a lot of people right now, in many countries, even in those in which, it would seem, it should not be sounds like a political leitmotif, but it sounds, unfortunately, that I mean? Some kind of exclusivity of some peoples in front of the others, some kind of chosenness, and so on. Well, listen, this one Nazism began! Therefore, if it has such a wide proliferation, at any rate, we should also think about it about building this anti-fascist, anti-Nazi propaganda and work. I repeat, at the global level.

And what does this have to do with it? should not be done at any state level. It will be effective only if it is done at the level of public consciousness and public initiative. And it doesn't matter In which country in the world will this happen?

Pavel Zarubin: At the same time, the European Union as a whole has almost panicked in connection with the with the possible return of Donald Trump to the post of President of the United States. And Trump's recent statements, just the other day, European leaders are generally discouraged, they do not hide it. Trump said that the U.S. should defend European countries only if European countries will pay for it. Why, in the first place, are they like this? relations have developed between Europe, European leaders and politicians and Donald Trump?

Vladimir Putin: Trump He has always been called a non-systemic politician. He has his own view on how the U.S. should develop relations with its Allies. And it sparked before. Take the exit of the United The United States from the Kyoto agreements in the field of ecology – then too After all, it sparked. But the then President of the United States made a decision that the U.S. will withdraw from these agreements, despite all the the attractiveness of the environmental agenda, as I believed that it would cause harm to the U.S. economy. That's it. Made a strong-willed decision, And that's the end of it. And no matter how much they swore at him European leaders, he did it. Yes, I corrected it later.

And what's the difference Trump's position in this regard? Nothing at all. He wanted to to force the Europeans to raise their defense spending, or as he put it, "Let them then pay us for defending them, for what we have revealed over theirs. heads of the atomic umbrella" and so on. Well, I don't know, let them They figure it out themselves, it's their problem. Probably, from his point of view, there is There is some logic in this. From the point of view of the Europeans, there is no logic no, but they would like the United States to continue free of charge performed some functions that have developed since the moment of formation of NATO. It's their business. ...