the following is an interview with the president of Russia Vladimir Putin shot February 6 2024 to about 700 p.m. in the building behind us which is of course the Kremlin the interview as you will see if you watch it is primarily about the war in progress the war in Ukraine how it started what's happening and most presently how it might end one note before you watch at the beginning the interview we asked the most obvious question which is why did you do this did you feel a threat an imminent physical threat and that's your justification and the answer we got shocked us Putin went on for a very long time probably half an hour about the history of Russia going back to the 8th century and honestly we thought this was a filibustering technique and found it annoying and interrupted him several times and he responded he was annoyed uh by the interruption but we concluded in the end for what it's worth that it was not a filibustering technique there was no time limit on the interview we ended it after more than 2 hours instead what you're about to see seemed to us sincere whether you agree with it or not Vladimir Putin believes that Russia has a historic claim to parts of Western Ukraine so our opinion would be to view it in that light as a sincere expression of what he thinks and with that here it is Mr President thank you on February 22nd 2022 you addressed your country in a nationwide address when the conflict in Ukraine started and you said that you were acting because you had come to the conclusion that the United States through NATO might initiate a quote surprise attack on our country and to American years that sounds paranoid tell us why you believe the United States might strike Russia out of the blue how did you conclude that it's not that America the United States was going to launch a surprise strike on Russia I didn't say that are we having a talk show or a serious conversation here's the quote thank you it's a formidable serious because your basic education is in history as far as I understand yes so if you don't mind I will take only 30 seconds or 1 minute to give you a short reference to history for giving you a little historical backgr please let's look where our relationship with Ukraine started from where did Ukraine come from the Russian State started Gathering itself as a centralized statehood and it is considered to be the year of the establishment of the Russian state in 862 when the town's people of no invited a varangian prince rurick from Scandinavia Terrain in 1862 Russia celebrated the 1,000th anniversary of its statehood and in no there is a Memorial dedicated to the 1,000th anniversary of the country in 882 roric successor Prince Oleg who was actually playing the role of regent at ruri's young son because ruri had died by that time came to Kia he asked two brothers who apparently had one's been members of ruri's squad so Russia began to develop with two centers of power Kev and novaro the next very significant date in the history of Russia was 988 this was the baptism of Russia when Prince Vladimir the great grandson of ruri baptized Russia and adopted Orthodoxy or Eastern Christianity from this time the centralized Russian state began to strengthen why because of the single territory integrated economic ties one and the same language and after the baptism of Russia the same faith and Rule of the prince the centralized Russian state began to take shape back in the Middle Ages Prince yaroslav the wise introduced the order of succession to a trone but after he passed away it became complicated for various reasons the trone was passed not Direct ly from father to eldest son but from the prince who had passed away to his brother then to his sons in different lines all this led to the fragmentation and the end of rose as a single state there was nothing special about it the same was happening then in Europe but the fragmented Russian state became an pre to the Empire created earlier by King ishan his successors namely batan came to Rose plundered and ruined nearly all the cities the southern part including Kiev by the way and some other cities simply lost Independence while Northern cities preserved some of their sovereignty they had to pay tribute to The Horde but they managed to preserve some part of their sovereignty and then a unified Russian state began to take shape with its Center in Moscow the southern part of Russian lands including Kiev began to gradually gravitate towards another magnet the center that was emerging in Europe This was the Grand duy of Lithuania it was even called the Lithuanian Russian duche because Russians were a significant part of this population they spoke the old Russian language and were Orthodox but then there was a unification the union of the grand duy of Lithuania and the kingdom of Poland a few years later another Union was signed but this time already in the religious sphere some of the Orthodox priests became subordinate to the pope th thus these lands became part of the Polish Lithuanian State during decades the poles were engaged in polonization of this part of the population they introduced their language there tried to entrench the idea that this population was not exactly Russians that because they lived on the French they were ukrainians originally the word Ukrainian meant that the person was living on the outskirts of the state along the fringes or was engaged in a border patrol service it didn't mean any particular ethnic group so the polls were trying to in every possible way to poize this part of the Russian lands and actually treated it rather harshly not to say cruy all that led to the fact that this part of the Russian lands began to struggle for their rights they wrote letters to Warsaw demanding that their rights be observed and people be commissioned here including to KF I beg your pardon can you tell us what period I'm losing track of where in history we are the Polish oppression of ukra it was in the 13th century now I will tell you what happened later and give the dates so that there is no confusion and in 1654 even a bit earlier the people who were in control of the authority over that part of the Russian lands TR waro I repeat demanding that they sent them to rulers of Russian origin and Orthodox faith when Warsaw did not answered them and in fact rejected their demands they turned to Moscow so that Moscow took them away so that you don't think that I'm inventing things I'll give you these documents well I I it doesn't sound like you're inventing and I'm not sure why it's relevant to what happened two years ago but still these are documents from the archives copies here are the letters from bdan hitz the man who then controlled the power in this part of the Russian lands that is now called Ukraine he wrote to Warsaw demanding that their rights be upheld and after being refused he began to write letters to Moscow asking to take them under the strong hand of the Moscow SAR there are copies of these documents I will leave them for your good memory there is a translation into Russian you can translate it into English later Russia would not agree to admit them straight away assuming that the war with Poland would start nevertheless in 1654 the pun Russian assembly of top clergy and land owners headed by the SAR which was the representative body of the power of the old Russian State decided to include a part of the old Russian lands into Moscow Kingdom as expected the war with Poland began it lasted 13 years and then in 1654 a truce was concluded and 32 years later I think a peace treaty with Poland which they called Eternal peace was signed and these lands the whole Left Bank of Neer including Kia went to Russia and the whole right Bank of Nipper remained in Poland under the rule of Catherina the great Russia reclaimed all of its historical lands including in the South and West this all lasted until the revolution before World War I Austrian general staff relied on the ideas of Ukrainian isation and started actively promoting the ideas of Ukraine and the Ukrainian their motive was obvious just before World War I they wanted to weaken the potential enemy and secure themselves favorable conditions in the Border area so the idea which had emerged in Poland that people residing in that territory were allegedly not really Russians but rather belonged to a special ethnic group ukrainians started being propagated by the Austrian general staff as far back as the 19th century theorists calling for Ukrainian Independence appeared all those however claimed that Ukraine should have a very good relationship with Russia they insisted on that after the 1917 Revolution the biks sought to restore the statehood and the civil War Began including the hostilities with Poland in 1921 peace with Poland was proclaimed and under that treaty the right Bank of Nipper River once again was given back to Poland in 1939 after Poland cooperated with Hitler he did collaborate with Hitler you know Hitler offered Poland peace and a treaty of friendship an alliance demanding in return that Poland gave back to Germany the so-called dancing caror which connected the bulk of Germany with East Prussia and CSG after World War I this territory was transferred to Poland and instead of Danzig a city of dun emerged Hitler asked them to give it amicably but they refused of course still they collaborated with Hitler and engaged together in the partitioning of Czechoslovakia but may ask you you're making the case that that Ukraine certainly parts of Ukraine eastern Ukraine is in effect Russia has been for hundreds of years why wouldn't you just take it when you became president 24 years ago you have nuclear weapons they don't if it's actually your land why did you wait so long sure I'll tell you I'm coming to that this briefing is coming to an end it might be boring but it explains many things I just don't know how it's relevant good I'm so gratified that you appreciate that thank you so before World War II Poland collaborated with Hitler and although it did not yield to Hitler's demands it still participated in the partitioning of Czechoslovakia together with Hitler as the polls had not given the daning corridor to Germany had went Soo far pushing Hitler to start World War I by attacking them why was it Poland against whom the war started on 1st September 1939 Poland turned out to be uncompromising and Hitler had nothing to do but start implementing his plans with Poland by the way the USSR I have read some archived documents behaved very honestly it asked Poland's permission to Transit its troops through the Polish territory to help chos Slovakia but the then polish foreign minister said that if the Soviet plans flew over Poland they would be downed over the territory of Poland but that doesn't matter what matters is that the War Began and Poland felt prey to the policies it had pursued against Czechoslovakia as under the well-known molotto ribbon trop PCT part of the territory including Western Ukraine was to be given to Russia thus Russia which was then named as USSR regained its historical land after the victory in the Great Patriotic War as we call World War II all those territories were ultimately enshrined as belonging to Russia to the USSR as for Poland it received apparently in compensation the lands which had originally being German the Eastern parts of Germany these are now Western lands of Poland of course Poland regained access to the Baltic Sea and danzik which was once again given its polish name so this was how this situation developed in 1922 when the USSR was being established the bik started building the USSR and established the Soviet Ukraine which had never existed before right Stalin insisted that those republics be included in the USSR as autonomous entities for some inexplicable reason Lenin the founder of the Soviet state insisted that they be entitled to withdraw from the USSR again for some unknown reasons he transferred to that newly established Soviet Republic of Ukraine some of the lands together with people living there even though those lands had never been called Ukraine and yet they were made part of that Soviet Republic of Ukraine those lands included the Black Sea region which was received under Catherina the great and which had no historical connection with Ukraine whatsoever even if we go as far back as 1654 when these lands returned to Russian Empire that ter was the size of three to four regions of modern Ukraine with no Black Sea region that was completely out of the question in 1654 exactly well I'm just you obviously have encyclopedic knowledge of this region but why didn't you make this case for the first 22 years as president that Ukraine wasn't a real country the Soviet Union was given a great deal of territory that had never belonged to it including the Black Sea region at some point when Russia received them as an outcome of the Russo Turkish Wars they were called new Russia or no Ria but that does not matter what matters is that Lenin the founder of the Soviet state established Ukraine that way for decades the Ukrainian Soviet Republic developed as part of the USSR and for unknown reasons again the Bolsheviks were engaged in Ukrainian isation it was not merely because the Soviet leadership was composed to a great extent of those originating from rather it was explained by the general policy of indigenization pursued by the Soviet Union same things were done in other Soviet republics this involved promoting national languages and National cultures which which is not bad in principle that is how the Soviet Ukraine was created after the World War II Ukraine received in addition to the lands that had belonged to Poland before the war part of the lands that had previously belonged to Hungary and Romania so Romania and Hungary had some of their lands taken away and given to the Soviet Ukraine and they still remain part of Ukraine so in this sense we have every reason to affirm that Ukraine is an artificial state that was shaped at st's will do you believe Hungary has a right to take its land back from Ukraine and that other nations have a right to go back to their 1654 borders I'm not sure whether they should go back to the 1654 borders but given Stalin's time so-called Stalin's regime which as many claim saw numerous violations of human rights and violations of the rights of other states one may say that they could claim back those lands of theirs while having no right to do that it is at least understandable have you told Victor Orban that he can have part of Ukraine never I have never told him not a single time we have not even had any conversation on that but I actually know for sure that hungarians who live there wanted to get back to their historical land moreover I would like to share a very interesting story with you I digress it's a personal one somewhere in the early 80s I went on a road trip in a car from then lenning R across the Soviet Union through Kiev made a stop in Kiev and then went to Western Ukraine I went to the town of bavo and all the names of towns and Villages there were in Russian and in the language I did not understand in Hungarian in Russian and in Hungarian not in Ukrainian in Russian and in Hungarian I was driving through some kind of village and there were were men sitting next to the houses and they were wearing black three-piece suits and black cylinder hats I asked are they some kind of entertainers I was told no they were not entertainers they're hungarians I said what are they doing here what do you mean this is their land they live here this was during the Soviet time in the 1980s they preserved the Hungarian language Hungarian names and all their National costumes they are hungarians and they feels to be hungarians and of course when now there is an infringement well that that is and there's a lot of that though I think many nations they're upset about Transylvania as well as you obviously know but many nations feel frustrated by the redrawn borders of the wars of the 20th century and Wars going back A Thousand Years the ones that you mentioned but the fact is that you didn't make this case in public until two years ago February and in the case that you made which I read today just you you explain at Great length that you felt a physical threat from the West in NATO including potentially a nuclear threat and that's what got you to move is that a fair characterization of what you said I understand that my long speeches probably fall outside of the genre of the interview that is why I asked you at the beginning are we going to have a serious talk or a show you said a serious talk so bear with me please we're coming to the point where the Soviet Ukraine was established then in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and everything that Russia had generously bestowed on Ukraine was dragged Away by the ladder I'm coming to a very important point of today's agenda thank you after all the collapse of the Soviet Union was effectively initiated by the Russian leadership I do not understand what the Russian leadership was Guided by at the time but I suspect there were several reasons to think everything would be fine first I think that then Russian leadership believed that the fundamentals of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine were in fact a common language more than 90% of the population there spoke Russian Family Ties every third person there had some kind of family or friendship ties common culture common history finally common Faith coexistence with a single state for centuries and deeply interconnected economies all of these were so fundamental all these elements together make our good relationships inevitable the second point is a very important one I want you as an American citizen and your viewers to hear about this as well the former Russian leadership assumed that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and therefore there were no longer any ideological dividing lines Russia even agreed voluntarily and proactively to the collapse of the Soviet Union and believed that this would be understood by the socalled Civilized West as an invitation for cooperation and Association that is what Russia was expecting both from the United States and the so-called Collective West as a whole there were smart people including in Germany Egon bar a major politician of the Social Democratic party who insisted in his personal conversations with the Soviet leadership on the brink of the collapse of the Soviet Union that a new security system should be established in Europe help should be given to unify Germany but a new system should be also established to include the United States Canada Russia and other central European countries yes but NATO needs not to expand that's said if NATO expands everything would be just the same as during the Cold War only closer to Russia's borders that's all he was a wise old man but no one listened to him in fact he got angry once if he said you don't listen to me I'm never setting my foot in Moscow once again everything happened just as he had said well it of course it did did come true and I and you've mentioned this many times I think it's a fair point and many in America thought that relations between Russia and the United States would be fine with the collapse of the Soviet Union the end of the Cold War that the opposite happened but you've never explained why you think that happened except to say that the West fears a strong Russia but we have a strong China the West does not seem very afraid of uh what about Russia do you think convinced policy makers they had to take it down the West is afraid of strong China more than it fears a strong Russia because Russia has 150 million people and China has 1.5 billion population and its economy is growing by Leaps and Bounds or 5% a year it used to be even more but that's enough for China as Bismark once put it potentials are the most important China's potential is enormous it is the big biggest economy in the world today in terms of purchasing power parity and the size of the economy it has already overtaken the United States quite a long time ago and it is growing at a rapid clip let's not talk about who is afraid of whom let's not reason in such terms and let's get into the fact that after 1991 when Russia expected that it would be welcomed into the brotherly family of civilized Nations nothing like this happened you trick this I don't mean you personally when I say you of course I'm talking about the United States the promise was that NATO would not expand Eastward but it happened five times there were five waves of expansion we tolerated all that we were trying to persuade them we were saying please don't we are as Bourgeois now as you are we are market economy and there is no Communist Party power let's negotiate moreover I have also said this publicly before there was a moment when a certain Rift started growing between us before that Hilson came to the United States remember he spoke in Congress and said the good words God Bless America everything he said were signals let us in remember the developments in Yugoslavia before the Yim was lavished with praise as soon as the developments in Yugoslavia started he raised his voice in support of serbs and we couldn't but raise our voices or serbs in their defense I understand that there were complex processes under way there I do but Russia could not help raising its voice in support of serbs because serbs are also a special and close to us nation with Orthodox culture and so on it's a nation that has suffered so much for Generations well regardless what is important is that yelton expressed his support what did the United States do in violation of an international law and the UN Charter it started bombing being Belgrade it was the United States that led the genie out of the bottle moreover when Russia protested and expressed its resentment what was said the UN Charter and international law have become obsolete now everyone invokes international law but at that time they started saying that everything was outdated everything had to be changed indeed some things need to be changed as the balance of power has changed it's true but not in this man Elon was immediately dragged through the mud accused of alcoholism of understanding nothing of knowing nothing he understood everything I assure you well I became president in 2000 I thought okay the Yugoslav issue is over but we should try to restore relations let's reopen the door that Russia had tried to go through and moreover I said it publicly I can reiterate at a meeting here in the Kremlin with the outgoing President Bill Clinton right here in the next room I said to him I asked him Bill do you think if Russia asked to join NATO do you think it would happen suddenly he said you know it's interesting I think so but in the evening when we met for dinner he said you know I've talked to my team now no it's not possible now you can ask him I think he will watch our interview he'll confirm it I wouldn't have said anything like that if it hadn't happened okay were you sincere impossible now would you have joined look I asked the question is it possible or not and the answer I got was no if I was ins sincere in my desire to find out what the leadership position was but if he had said yes would you have joined NATO if he had said yes the process of reproach would have commenced and eventually it might have happened if we had seen some sincere wish on the other side of our partners but it didn't happen well no means no okay fine why do you think that is just to get to motive I know you're clearly bitter about it um I understand but why do you think the West rebuffed you then why the hostility why did the end of the Cold War not fix the relationship what motivates this from your point of view you said I was bitter about the answer no it's not bitterness it's just a statement of fact we're not bride and groom bitterness resentment it's not about those kind of matters in such circumstances we just realized we weren't welcome there that's all okay fine but let's let's build relations in another manner let's work for common ground elsewhere why we receive such a Negative response you should ask your leaders I can only guess why too big a country with its own opinion and so on and the United States I've seen how issues are being resolved in NATO I will give you another example now concerning Ukraine the US leadership exerts pressure and all members obediently vote even if they do not like something now I'll tell you what happened in disregard with Ukraine in 2008 although it's being discussed I'm not going to open a secret to you say anything new nevertheless after that we try to build relations in different ways for example the events in the Middle East in Iraq we were building relations with the United States in a very soft prudent cautious manner I repeatedly raised the issue that the United States should not support separatism or terrorism in the north Caucasus but they continue to do it anyway and political support information support financial support even Military Support came from the United States and its satellites for terrorist groups in the Caucasus I once raised this issue with my colleague also the president of the United States he says it's impossible do you have proof I said yes I was prepared for this conversation and I gave him that proof he looked at it and you know what he said I apologize but that's what happened I'll quote he says well I'm going to kick their ass we waited and waited for some response there was no reply I said said to the FSB director write to the CIA what is the result of the conversation with President he wrote once twice and then we got a reply we have the answer in the archive the CIA replied we have been working with the opposition in Russia we believe that this is the right thing to do and we will keep on doing it just ridiculous well okay we realized that it was out of the question forces in opposition to you so you're saying the CIA is trying to overthrow your government of course they meant in that particular case the separatists the terrorists who fought with us in the caucuses that's who they called the opposition this is the second point the third moment is a very important one is the moment when the US missile defense system was created the beginning we persuaded for a long time not to do it in United States moreover after was invited by Bush Jr's father Bush senior to visit his place on the ocean I had a very serious conversation with President Bush and his team I proposed that the United States Russia and Europe jointly create a missile defense system that we believe if created unilaterally threatens our security despite the fact that the United States officially said that it was being created against missile threats from Iran that was the justification for the deployment of the missile defense system I suggested working together Russia the United States and Europe they said it was very interesting they asked me are you serious I said absolutely ask what year was this I don't remember it is easy to find out on the internet when I was in the USA at the invitation of a bush senior it is even easier to learn from someone I'm going to tell you about I was told it was very interesting I said just imagine if we could tackle such a global strategic security challenge together the world will change will probably have disputes probably economic and even political ones but we could drastically change the situation in the world he says yes and asks are you serious I said of course we need to think about it I'm I said go ahead please then Secretary of Defense Gates former director of CIA and Secretary of State rice came in here in this cabinet right here at this table they sat on this table me the foreign Minister the Russian defense minister on that side they said to me yes we have thought about it we agree I said Thank God great but with some exceptions so twice you've described US presidents making decisions and then being undercut by their agency heads so it sounds like you're describing a system that's not run by the people who are elected in your telling that's right that's right in the end they just told us to get lost I'm not going to tell you the details because I think it's incorrect after all it was confidential conversation but our proposal was decline that's a fact it was right then when I said look but then we will be forced to take counter measures we will create such strike systems that will certainly overcome missile defense systems the answer was we are not doing this against you and you do what you want assuming that it is not against us not against the United States I said okay very well that's the way it went and we created Hypersonic systems with InterContinental range and we continue to develop them we are now ahead of everyone the United States and the other countries in terms of the development of hypersonic strike systems and we are improving them every day but it wasn't we proposed to go the other way and we were pushed back now about NATO's expansion to the east well we were promised no NATO to the east not an inch to the east as we were told and then what they said well it's not enshrined on paper so we'll expand so there were five waves of expansion the Baltic states the whole of Eastern Europe and so on and now I come to to the main thing they have come to do Ukraine ultimately in 2008 at The Summit in Bucharest they declared that the doors for Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO were open now about how decisions are made there Germany France seemed to be against it as well as some other European countries but then as it turned out later President Bush and he's such a tough guy a tough politician as I was told later he exert pressure on us and we had to agree it's ridiculous it's like kindergarten where are the guarantees what kindergarten is this what kind of people are these who are they you see they were pressed they agreed and then they say Ukraine won't be in the NATO you know I say I don't know I know you agreed in 2008 why won't you agree in the future well they pressed us then I say why won't they press you tomorrow and you'll agree again well it's nonsensical who's there to talk to I just don't understand we're ready to talk but with who where are the guarantees none so they started to develop the territory of Ukraine whatever is there I have told you the background how this territory developed what kind of relations they were with Russia every second or third person there has always had some ties with Russia and during the elections in already independent Sovereign Ukraine which gained its independence as a result of the Declaration of Independence and by the way it says that Ukraine is a neutral State and in 2008 suddenly the doors or gates to Nato were opened to it oh come on this is not how we agreed now all the presidents that have come to power in Ukraine they relied on electorate with a good attitude to Russia in one way or the other this is the southeast of Ukraine this is a large number of people and it was very difficult to disuade this electorate which had a positive attitude towards Russia Victor yanukovich came to power and how the first time he won after president kuchma they organized the third round which is not provided for in the con tion of Ukraine this is a cud just imagine someone in the United States wouldn't like the outcome in 2014 before that no this was before that after president kuchma Victor yanukovich won the elections however his opponents did not recognize that Victory the US supported the opposition and the third round was scheduled what is this this is a c the US supported it and the winner of the third round came to power imagine if in the US something was not to someone's liking and the third round of election which the US Constitution does not provide for was organized nonetheless it was done in Ukraine okay Victor yushenko who was considered a pro Western politician came to power fine we have built relations with him as well he came to Moscow with visits we visited KF I visited Sue we met in an informal setting if he's Pro Western so be it it's fine let people do their job the situation should have developed inside independent Ukraine itself as a result of kma's leadership things got worse and Victor yanukovich came to power after all maybe he wasn't the best president and politician I don't know I don't want to give assessments however the issue of the association with the EU came up we have always been lenient to this suit yourself but when we read through the Treaty of Association it turned out to be a problem for us since we had the free trade zone and open Customs borders with Ukraine which under this Association had to open its borders for Europe which could have led to flooding of our Market we said no this is not going to work we shall close our borders with Ukraine then the Customs borders that is yanukovich started to calculate how much Ukraine was going to gain how much to lose and said to his European Partners I need more time to think before signing the moment he said that the opposition began to take destructive steps which were supported by the West it all came down to maidan and a coup in Ukraine so he did more trained with Russia than with with the EU Ukraine did of course it's not even the matter of trade volume although for the most part it is it is the matter of cooperation size which the entire Ukrainian economy was based on the cooperation size between the Enterprises were very close since the times of the Soviet Union One Enterprise there used to produce components to be assembled both in Russia and Ukraine and vice versa used to be very close ties a was committed although I shall not delve into details now as I find doing it inappropriate the US told us calm yanukovich down and we will calm the opposition let the situation unfold in the scenario of a political settlement we said all right agreed let's do it this way as the Americans requested yanukovich did use neither the Armed Forces nor the police yet the armed opposition committed a coup in Kev what is that supposed to mean who do you think you are I wanted to ask the then us leadership with the backing of whom with the backing of CIA of course the organization you wanted to join back in the day as I understand we should thank God they didn't let you in although it is a serious organization I understand my former viav in the sense that I served in the first main directorate Soviet Union's intelligence service they have always been our opponents a job is a job technically they did everything right they achieved their goal of changing the government however from political standpoint it was a colossal mistake surely it was political leadership's miscalculation they should have seen what it would evolve into so in 2008 the doors of NATO were open for Ukraine in 2014 there was a coup they started persecuting those who did not accept the coup and it was indeed the coup they created a threat to Crimea which we had to take under our protection they launched a war in dunas in 2014 with the use of aircraft and artillery against civilians this is when it all started there is a video of aircraft attacking donet from above they launched a large scale military operation then another one when they failed they started to prepare the next one all this against the background of military development of this territory and opening of NATO's doors how could we not express concern over what was happening from our side this would have been a culpable negligence that's what it would have been it's just that the US political leadership pushed us to the line we could not cross because doing so could have ruined Russia itself besides we could not leave our brothers in faith in fact a part of Russian people in the face of this war machine what was the so but that was eight years before the current conflict started so what was the trigger for you what was the moment where you decided you had to do this conf is initially it was the coup in Ukraine that provoked the conflict by the way back then the representatives of three European countries Germany Poland and France arrived they were the guarantors of to signed agreement between the government of yanukovich and the opposition they signed it as guarantors despite that the opposition committed a coup and all these countries pretended that they didn't remember that they were guarantors of the peaceful settlement they just threw it in the Stow right away and nobody recalls that I don't know if the us know anything about the agreement between the opposition and the authorities and it's three guarantors who instead of bringing this whole situation back in the political field supported the goou although it was meaningless believe me because president yanukovich agreed to all conditions he was ready to hold an early election which he had no chance of winning Frankly Speaking everyone knew that then why the coup why the victims why threatening Crimea why launching an operation in dunas this this I do not understand that is exactly what the miscalculation is Cia did its job to complete the coup I think one of the Deputy secretaries of State said that it cost a large sum of money almost 5 billion but the political mistake was colossal why would they have to do that all this could have been done legally without victims without military action without losing Crimea we would have never considered to even lift a finger if it hadn't been for the bloody developments on maidan because we agreed with the fact that after the collapse of the Soviet Union our borderers should be along the borders of former Union's republics we agreed to that but we never agreed to NATO's expansion and moreover we never agreed that Ukraine would be in NATO we did not agree to Nato bases there without any discussion with us for decades we kept asking don't do this don't do that and what triggered the latest events firstly the current Ukrainian leadership declared that it would not implement the Minsk agreements which had been signed as you know after the events of 2014 in Minsk where the plan of peaceful settlement in dbas was set forth but no the current Ukrainian leadership foreign minister all other officials and then president himself said that they don't like anything about the Minsk agreements in other words they were not going to implement it a year or a year and a half ago former leaders of Germany and France said openly to the whole world that they indeed signed the Minsk agreements but they never intended to implement them they simply let us by the nose was there anyone free to talk to did you call a US president secretary of state and say if you keep militarizing Ukraine with NATO forces this is going to get good this is going to be a we're going to act we talked about this all the time we addressed the United States and European countries leadership to stop these developments immediately to implement the Minsk agreements Frankly Speaking I didn't know how we were going to do this but I was ready to implement them these agreements were complicated for Ukraine they included lots of elements of those donbas territories Independence that's true however I was absolutely confident and I'm saying this to you now I honestly believe that if we managed to convince the residents of dbas and we had to work hard to to convince them to return to the Ukrainian statehood then gradually the wounds would start to heal when this part of territory reintegrated itself into common social environment when the pensions and social benefits were paid again all the pieces would gradually fall into place no nobody wanted that everybody wanted to resolve the issue by military force only but we could not let that happen and the situation got to the point when the Ukrainian side announced no we will not do anything they also started preparing for military action it was they who started the war in 2014 our goal is to stop this war and we did not start this war in 2022 this is an attempt to stop it do you think you've stopped it now I mean have you achieved your aims uh no we haven't achieved our aims yet because one of them is the nazification this means the prohibition of all kinds of Neo-Nazi movements this is one of the problems that we discussed during the negotiation process which ended in Istanbul early this year and it was not our initiative because we were told by the Europeans in particular that it was necessary to create conditions for the final signing of the documents my counterparts in France and Germany said how can you imagine them signing a treaty with a gun to their heads the troop should be pulled back from Kiev I said all right we withdrew the troops from K as soon as we pulled back our troops from Kiev our Ukrainian negotiators immediately through all our agreements reached in istabul into the Ben and got prepared for a longstanding armed confrontation with the help of the United States and its satellites in Europe that is how the situation has developed and that is how it looks now but what is part of my what is densification would that mean that is what I want to talk about right now it is a very important issue denazification after gaining independence Ukraine began to search as some Western analysts say it's identity and it came up with nothing better than to build this identity upon some false Heroes who collaborated with Hitler I have already said that in the early 19th century when the theorists of Independence and sovereignty of Ukraine appeared they assumed that an independent Ukraine should have very good relations with Russia due to the historical development those territories were part of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth Poland where ukrainians were persecuted and treated quite brutally as well as were subject to cruel Behavior there were also attempts to destroy their identity all this remained in the memory of the people when World War II broke out part of this extremely nationalist Elite collaborated with Hitler believing that he would bring them Freedom the German troops even the SS troops made Hitler's collaborators do the dirtiest work of Exterminating the Polish and Jewish population hence this brutal Massacre of the Polish and Jewish population as well as the Russian population too this was led by the persons who are well known Bandera shich it was those people who were made national heroes that is the problem and we are constantly told that nationalism and neo-nazism exist in other countries as well yes they are seedlings but we approved them and other countries fight against them but Ukraine is not the case these people have have been made into national heroes in Ukraine monuments to those people have been erected they are displayed on flags their names are shouted by crowds that walk with torches as it was in Nazi Germany these were people who exterminated Poes Jews and Russians it is NE Neary to stop this practice and prevent the dissemination of this concept I say that ukrainians are part of the one Russian people they say no we are a separate people okay fine if they consider themselves a separate people they have the right to do so but not on the basis of Nazism the Nazi ideology would you be satisfied with the territory that you have now I will finish answering the question you just asked the question about neo-nazism and the nazification look the president of Ukraine visited Canada this story is well known but being silenced in the Western countries the Canadian Parliament introduced a man who as the speaker of the parliament said fought against the Russians during the World War II well who fought against the Russians during the World War II Hitler and his accomplices it turned out that this man served in the SS troops he personally killed Russians Poes and Jews the SS troops consisted of Ukrainian nationalists who did this Dirty Work the president Ukraine stood up with the entire parliament of Canada and applauded this man how can this be imagined the president of Ukraine himself by the way is a Jew by nationality really my question is what do you do about it I mean Hitler's been dead for 80 years Nazi Germany no longer exists and so true and so I think what you're saying is you want to extinguish or at least control Ukrainian nationalism but how how do you do that watch listen to me your question is very subtle and I can tell you what I think do not take offense of course this question appears to be subtle it is quite pesky you say Hitler has been dead for so many years 80 years but his example lives on people who exterminated Jews Russians polls are alive and the president the current president of today's Ukraine applauds him in the Canadian Parliament gives a standing ovation can we say that we have completely uprooted this ideology if what we see is happening today that is what the nification is in our understanding we have to get rid of those people who maintain this concept and support this practice and try to preserve it that is what nification is that is what we mean right my question was a little more specific it was of course not a defense of Nazis NE or otherwise it was a practical question you don't control the entire country you don't control Kev you don't seem like you want to so how how do you eliminate a culture or an ideology or feelings or a view of history in a country that you don't control what do you do about that you know as strange as it may seem to you during the negotiations in Istanbul we did agree that we have it all in writing neo-nazism would not be cultivated in Ukraine including that it would be prohibited at the legislative level Mr Carson we agreed on that this it turns out can be done during the negotiation process and there's nothing humiliating for Ukraine as a modern civilized state is any state allowed to promote Nazism it is not is it that is it um will there be talks and why haven't there been talks about resolving the conflict in Ukraine peace talks and you they have been they reached a very high stage of coordination of positions in a complex process but still they were almost finalized but after we withdrew our troops from Kiev as I have already said the other side threw away all these agreements and obeyed the instructions of Western countries European countries and the United States to fight Russia to The Bitter End moreover the president y has legislated a ban on negotiating with Russia he signed a decree forbidding everyone to negotiate with Russia but how are we going to negotiate if he forbade himself and everyone to do this we know that he is putting forward some ideas about the settlement but in order to agree on something we need to have a dialogue is that not right well but you wouldn't be speaking to the Ukrainian president you'd be speaking to the American president president when was the last time you spoke to Joe Biden I cannot remember when I talked to him I do not remember we can look it up you don't remember no why do I have to remember everything I have my own things to do we have domestic political Affairs well he's funding the war that you're fighting so I would think that would be memorable well yes he funds but I talked to him before the special military operation of course and I said to him then by the way I will not go into details I never do but I said to him then I believe that you are making a huge mistake of historic proportions by supporting everything that is happening there in Ukraine by pushing Russia away I told him told him repeatedly by the way I think that would be correct if I stop here what did he say ask him please it is easier for you you are citizen of the United States go and ask him it is not appropriate for me to comment on our conversation but but you haven't spoken to him since before February of 2022 no we haven't spoken certain contexts are being maintained though speaking of which do you remember what I told you about my proposal to work together on a missile defense system yes you can ask all of them all of them are safe and sound thank God the former president Kiza is safe and sound and I think Mr Gates and the current director of the intelligence agency Mr Burns the then ambassador to Russia in my opinion our very successful Ambassador they were all witnesses to these conversations ask them same here if you are interested in what Mr President Biden responded to me ask him at any rate I talk to him about it I'm I'm I'm definitely interested but from the outside it seems like this could devolve or evolve into something that brings the entire world into conflict and could um initiate some a nuclear launch and so why don't you just call Biden and say let's work this out what's there to work out it's very simple I repeat we have contacts through various agencies I will tell you what we are saying on this matter and what we are conveying to the US leadership if you really want to stop fighting you need to stop supplying weapons it will be over within a few weeks that's it and then we can agree on some terms before you do that stop what's easier why would I call him what should I talk to him about or beg him for what and what messages get back you're going to deliver such and such weapons to Ukraine oh I'm afraid I'm afraid please don't what is there to talk about do you think NATO is worried about this becoming a global war or a nuclear conflict at least that's what they're talking about and they're trying to intimidate their own population with an imaginary Russian threat this is an obvious fact and thinking people not Philistines but thinking people analysts those who are engaged in real politics just smart people understand perfectly well that this is a fake they're trying to fuel the Russian threat the threat I think you're referring to is a Russian invasion of Poland lvia expansionist behavior is can you imagine a scenario where you sent Russian troops to Poland only in one case if Poland attacks Russia why because we have no interest in Poland lvia or anywhere else why would we do that we simply don't have any interest it's just threat mongering well the argument I know you know this is that well he invaded Ukraine he has territorial aims across the continent and you're saying unequivocally you don't it is absolutely out of the question you just don't have to be any kind of analyst it goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of a global war and a global war will bring all Humanity to the brink of Destruction it's obvious there are certainly means of deterrence they have been scaring everyone with us all along tomorrow Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons tomorrow Russia will use that no the day after tomorrow so what in order to extort additional money from us taxpayers and European taxpayers in the confrontation with Russia in the Ukrainian theater a war the goal is to weaken Russia as much as possible one of uh our senior United States senators from the state of New York Chuck Schumer said yesterday I believe that we have to continue to fund the Ukrainian effort or US soldiers citizen could wind up fighting there how do you assess that this is a provocation and a cheap provocation at that I do not understand why American soldiers should fight in Ukraine there are mercenaries from the United States there the bigger number of mercenaries comes from Poland with mercenaries from the United States in second place and Mer mercenaries from Georgia in third place well if somebody has the desire to send regular troops that would certainly bring Humanity to the brink of very serious global conflict this is obvious do the United States need this what for thousands of miles away from your national territory don't you have anything better to do you have issues On the Border issues with migration issues with the national debt more than $33 trillion you have nothing better to do so you should fight in Ukraine wouldn't it be better to negotiate with Russia make an agreement already understanding the situation that is developing today realizing that Russia will fight for its interests to the end and realizing this actually return to Common Sense respecting our country and its interests and look for certain Solutions it seems to me that this is much smarter and more rational who blew up nordstream you for sure I was busy that day n do you have do uh I did not blow up north stream uh thank you though you personally may have an Alibi but the CIA has no such Alibi do you have evidence that NATO or CIA did [Music] it you know I won't get into details but people always say in such cases look for someone who is interested but in this case we should not only look for someone who is interested but also for someone who has capabilities because there may be many people interested but not all of them are capable of sinking to the bottom of the Baltic Sea and carrying out this explosion these two components should be connected who is interested and who is capable of doing it but I'm confused I mean that's the biggest Act of industrial terrorism ever and it's the largest emission of CO2 in in history okay so if you had evidence and presumably given your Security Services your inel services you would that NATO the US CIA the West did this why wouldn't you present it and win a propaganda victory in the war of propaganda it is very difficult to defeat the United States because the United States controls all the world's media and many European media the ultimate beneficiary of the biggest European media are American financial institutions don't you know that so it is possible to get involved in this work but it is cost prohibitive so to speak we can simply Shine the spotlight on our sources of information and we will not achieve results it is clear to the whole world what happened and even American analysts talk about it directly it's true yes I but but here's a question you may able to answer you worked in Germany famously um the Germans clearly know that their NATO partner did this but they and it damaged their economy greatly it may never recover why are they being silent about it that's very confusing to me why wouldn't the Germans say something about it this also confuses me but today's German leadership is Guided by the interests of the collective West rather than its national interests otherwise it is difficult to explain the logic of their action or inaction after all it is not only about northstream 1 which was blown up and the northstream 2 was damaged but one pipe is safe and sound and gas can be Supply to Europe through it but Germany does not open it we're ready please there's another route through Poland called yamal Europe which also allows for large flow Poland has closed it but Poland packs from the German hand it receives money from the pan European funds and Germany is the main donor to these pan European funds Germany feeds Poland to the certain extent and they closed their route to Germany why I don't understand Ukraine to which the Germans Supply weapons and give money Germany is the second sponsor of the United States in terms of financial aid to Ukraine there are two gas routes through Ukraine they simply closed one route ukrainians open the second route and please get gas from Russia they do not open it why don't the Germans say look guys we give you money and weapons open up the valve please let the gas from Russia pass through for us we're buying liquefied gas at absorbent prices in Europe which brings the level of our competitiveness and economy in general down to zero do you want us to give give you money let us have the decent existence make money for our economy because this is where the money we give you comes from they refuse to do so why ask them that is what is like in their heads those are highly incompetent people well maybe the world is breaking into two hemispheres one with cheap energy the other without and I want to ask you that if if we're now a multi-polar world obviously we are can you describe the blocks of alliances who who is in each side do you think listen you have said that the world is breaken into two hemispheres a human brain is divided into two hemispheres one is responsible for one type of activities the other one is more about creativity and so on but it is still one and the same head the world should be a single whole security should be shared rather than a meant for the golden billion that is the only scenario where the world could be stable sustainable and predictable until then while the head is split in two parts it is an illness a serious adverse condition it is a period of severe disease that the world is going through now but I think that thanks to honest journalism this work is a who work of the doctors this could somehow be remedied well let's just give one example the the US dollar which has kind of United the world uh in a lot of ways maybe not to your advantage but certainly ours is that going away as the reserve currency that the com the universally accepted currency how have sanctions do you think changed the Dollar's place in the world you know to use the dollar as a tool of foreign policy struggle is one of the biggest strategic mistakes made by the US political leadership the dollar is the Cornerstone of the United States power I think everyone understands very well that no matter how many dollars are printed they are quickly dispersed all over the world inflation in the United States is minimal it's about three or 3.4% which is I think totally acceptable for the us but they won't stop printing what does the debt of $33 trillion tell us about it is about the emission nevertheless it is the main weapon used by the United States to preserve its power across the world as soon as the political leadership decided to use the US dollar as a tool of political struggle a blow was dealt to this American power I would not like to use any strong language but it is a stupid thing to do and a grave mistake look at what is going on in the world even the United States allies are now downsizing their dollar reserves seeing this everyone starts looking for ways to protect themselves but the fact that the United States applies restrictive measures to certain countries such as placing restrictions on transactions freezing assets Etc causes great concern and sends a signal to the whole world what did we have here until 2022 about 80 % of Russian foreign trade transactions were made in US Dollars and Euros US Dollars accounted for approximately 50% of our transactions with third countries while currently it is down to 133% it wasn't us who banned the use of the US dollar we had no such intention it decision of the United States to restrict our transactions in US Dollars I think it is complete foolishness from the point of view of the interest of the United States itself and its taxpayers as it damages the US economy undermines the power of the United States across the world by the way our transactions in Yuan accounted for about 3% today 34% of our transactions are made in Rubles and about as much a little over 34% in Yuan why did the United States do this my only guess is self-conceit they probably thought it would lead to full collapse but nothing collapsed moreover other countries including oil producers are thinking of and already accepting payments for oil in Yuan do you even realize what is going on or not does anyone in United States realized this what are you doing you cutting yourself off all experts say this ask any intelligent and thinking person in the United States what the dollar means for the US you're killing it with your own hands I think that's a I I think that's a fair assessment the question is what comes next and maybe you trade one colonial power for another much less sentimental forgiving colonial power I mean are is the the bricks for example in danger of being completely dominated by the Chinese the Chinese economy uh in a way that's not good for their sovereignty do you worry about that we have heard those Boogyman stories before it is a Boogyman story we're neighbors with China you cannot choose neighbors just as you cannot choose close relatives we share a border of thousand kilom with them this is number one second we have a centuries long history of coexistence we're used to it third China's foreign policy philosophy is not aggressive its idea is to always look for compromise and we can see that the next point is as follows we are always told the same Boogeyman story and here here it goes again through an euphemistic form but it is still the same Boogyman story The cooperation with China keeps increasing the pace at which China's cooperation with Europe is growing is higher and greater than that of the growth of Chinese Russian cooperation ask Europeans aren't they afraid they might be I don't know but they are still trying to access China's Market at all costs especially now that they are facing economic problems Chinese businesses are also exploring the European market do Chinese businesses have small presence in the United States yes the political decisions are such that they are trying to limit their cooperation with China it is to your own detriment Mr Tucker that you are limiting cooperation with China you're hurting yourself it is a delicate matter and there are no Silver Bullet solution tions just as it is with the dollar so before introducing any illegitimate sanctions illegitimate in terms of the charter of the United Nations one should think very carefully for decision makers this appears to be a problem so you said a moment ago that the world would be a lot better if it weren't broken into competing alliances if there was cooperation globally one of the reasons you don't have that is because the current American Administration is dead set against you do you think if there were a new Administration after Joe Biden that you would be able to reestablish communication with the US government or does it not matter who the president is I will tell you but let me finish the previous thought we together with my colleague friend president J yingping set a goal to reach $200 billion of mutual trade with China this year we have exceeded this level according to our figures our bilateral trade with China totals already 230 billion and the Chinese statistics says it is $240 billion one more important thing our trade is well balanced mutually complimentary in Hightech and energy scientific research and development it is very balanced as for bricks where Russia took over the presidency this year the bricks countries are by and large developing very rapidly look if memory serves me right back in 1992 the share of the G7 countries in the world economy amounted to 47% whereas in 2022 it was down to I think a little over 30% the bricks countries accounted for only 16% in 1992 but now their share is greater than that of the G7 it has nothing to do with the events in Ukraine this is due to the trends of global development and World economy as I mentioned just now and this is inevitable this will keep happening it is like the rise of the sun you cannot prevent the Sun from rising you have to adapt to it how do the United States adapt with the help of force sanctions pressure bombings and use of armed forces this is about self-conceit your political establishment does not understand that the world is changing under objective circumstances and in order to preserve your level even if someone aspires pardon me to the level of dominance you have to make the right decisions in a competent and timely manner such brutal actions including with regard to Russia and say other countries are counterproductive this is an obvious fact it has already become evident you just ask me if another leader comes and changes something it is not about the leader it is not about the personality of a particular person I had a very good relationship with say Bush I know that in the United States he was portrayed as some kind of a country boy who does not understand much I assure you that this is not the case I think he made a lot of mistakes with regard to Russia too I told you about 2008 and the decision in Bucharest to open the NATO's doors to for Ukraine and so on that happened during his presidency he actually exercised pressure on the Europeans but in General on a personal human level I had a very good relationship with him he was no worse than any other American or Russian or european politician I assure you he understood what he was doing as well as others I had such personal relationship with Trump as well it is not about the personality of the leader it is about the Elite's mindset if the idea of domination at any cost based also on forceful actions dominates the American society nothing will change it will only get worse but if in the end one comes to the awareness that the world has been changing to to the objective circumstances and that one should be able to adapt them in time using the advantages that the US still has today then perhaps something may change look China's economy has become the first economy in the world in purchasing power parity in terms of volume it overtook the US a long time ago the USA comes second then India 1 and A2 billion people and then Japan with Russia in the fifth place Russia was the first economy in Europe last year despite all the sanctions and restrictions is it normal from your point of view sanctions restrictions impossibility of payments in dollars being cut off from Swift Services sanctions against our ships carrying oil sanctions against airplanes sanctions in everything everywhere the largest number of sanctions in the world World which are applied are applied against Russia and we have become Europe's first economy during this time the tools that us uses don't work well one has to think about what to do if this realization comes to the ruling Elites then yes then the first person of the state will act in anticipation of what the voters and the people who make decisions at various levels expect from this person then maybe something will change but you're describing two different systems you say that the leader acts in the interest of the voters but you also say these decisions are not made by the leader they're made by the ruling classes you've run this country for so long you've known all these American Presidents what are those power centers in the United States do you think like who actually makes the decisions I don't know is a complex country conservative on one hand rapidly changing on the other it's not easy for us to sort it all out who makes decisions in the elections is it possible to understand this when each state has its own legislation each state regulates itself someone can be excluded from elections at the state level it is a two stage electoral system it is very difficult for us to understand it certainly there are two parties that are dominant the Republicans and the Democrats and within this party system the centers that make decisions that prepare decisions then look why in my opinion after the collapse of the Soviet Union such an erroneous crude completely unjustified policy of pressure was pursued against Russia after all this is a policy of pressure NATO expansion support for the separatists in caucuses creation of a missile defense system these are all elements of pressure pressure pressure pressure then dragging Ukraine into NATO is all about pressure pressure pressure why I think among other things because excessive production capacities were created during the confrontation with the Soviet Union there were many centers created and specialist on the Soviet Union who could not do anything else they convinced the political leadership that it is necessary to continue chisling Russia to try to break it up to create on this territory several quasi State entities and to subdue them in UND divided form to use their combined potential for the future struggle with China this is a mistake including the excessive potential of those who worked for the confrontation with the Soviet Union it is necessary to get rid of this there should be new fresh forces people who look into the future and understand what is happening in the world look at how Indonesia is developing 600 million people where can we get away from that nowhere we just have to assume that Indonesia will enter it is already in the club of the world's leading economies no matter who likes it or dislikes it yes understand and are aware that in the United States despite all the economic problems the situation is still normal with the economy growing decently the GDP is growing by 2.5% if I'm not mistaken but if we want to ensure the future then we need to change our approach to what is changing as I already said the world would nevertheless change regardless of how the developments in Ukraine end the world is changing in the United States themselves experts are writing that the United States are nonetheless gradually changing their position in the world it is your experts who write that I just read them the only question is how this would happen painfully and quickly or gently and gradually and this is written by people who are not anti-American they simply follow Global development Trends that's it and in order to assess them and change policies we need people who think look forward can analyze and recommend certain decisions at the level of political leaders I just have to ask you've said clearly that NATO expansion Eastward is a violation of the promise you all were made in 1990 it it's a threat to your country right before you sent troops into Ukraine the vice president of the United States went to the Munich security conference and encouraged the president of Ukraine to join NATO do you think that was an effort to provoke you into military action I repeat once again we have repeatedly repeatedly proposed to seek a solution to the problems that arose in Ukraine after 2014 K through peaceful means but no one listen to us and moreover the Ukrainian leaders who were under the compl compl Us control suddenly declared that they would not comply with the Minsk agreements they disliked everything there and continued military activity in that territory and in parallel that territory was being exploited by NATO military structures under the guise of various Personnel training and retraining centers they essenti began to create bases there that's all Ukraine announced that the Russians were a non-titular nationality while passing the laws that limit the rights of non-titular nationalities in Ukraine Ukraine having received all these Southeastern territories as a gift from the Russian people suddenly announced that the Russians were a non-titular nationality in that territory is that normal all this put together led to the decision to end the war that neo-nazis started in Ukraine in 2014 do you do you think zilinski has the freedom to negotiate a settlement to this conflict I don't know the details of course it's difficult for me to judge but I believe he has in any case he used to have his father fought against the fascists Nazis during World War II I once talked to him about this I said V what are you doing why are you supporting neo-nazis in Ukraine today while your father fought against fascism he was a Frontline Soldier I will not tell you what he answered this is a separate topic and I think it's incorrect for me to do so but as to the freedom of choice why not he came to power on the expectations of Ukrainian people that he would lead Ukraine to peace he talked about this it was thanks to this that he won the elections overwhelmingly but then when he came to power in my opinion he realize two things firstly it is better not to clash with neo-nazis and nationalists because they are aggressive and very active you can expect anything from them and secondly the US L West supports them and will always support those who antagonize with Russia it is beneficial and safe so he took the relevant position despite promising his people to end the war in Ukraine he deceived his voters but do you think at this point as of February 2024 he has the latitude the freedom to speak with you or your government directly about putting an end to this which clearly isn't helping his country or the world can he do that do you think why not he considers himself head of state he won the election although we believe in Russia that the kud is the primary source of power for everything that happened after 2014 and in this sense even today government is flawed but he considers himself the president and he is recognized by the United States all of Europe and practically the rest of the world in such a capacity why not can we negotiated with Ukraine inul we agreed he was aware of this moreover the negotiation group leader Mr aramia is his last name I believe still has the faction of the ruling Party The Party of the president in the Rada he still hads the presidential faction in the the country's Parliament he still sits there he even put his preliminary signature on the document I am telling you about but then he publicly stated to the whole world we were ready to sign this document but Mr Johnson then the Prime Minister of Great Britain came and dissuaded us from doing this saying it was better to fight Russia they would give everything needed for us to return what was lost during the clashes with Russia and we agreed with this proposal look his statement has been published he said it publicly can they return to this or not the question is do they want it or not further on President of Ukraine issued a decree prohibiting negotiations with us let him cancel that decree and that's it we have never refused negotiations indeed we hear all the time is Russia ready yes we have not refused it was then who publicly refused well let him cancel his and enter into negotiations we have never refused and the fact that they obeyed the demand or persuasion of Mr Johnson the former Prime Minister of Great Britain seems ridiculous and very sad to me because as Mr arakia put it we could have stopped those hostilities with war a year and a half ago already but the British persuaded us and we refused this where is Mr Johnson now and the war continues that's a good question where do you think he is and why did he do that hell knows I don't understand it myself there was a general starting point for some reason everyone had the illusion that Russia could be defeated on the battlefield because of arrogance because of a pure heart but not because of a great mind you've described the connection between Russia and Ukraine you've described Russia itself a couple of times as Orthodox that's Central to your understanding of Russia you've said you're Orthodox what does that mean in for you you're a Christian Leader by your own description so what effect does that have on you you know as I already mentioned in 988 Prince Vladimir himself was baptized following the example of his grandmother Princess Olga and then he baptized his Squad and then gradually over the course of several years he baptized all the roost it was a lengthy process from pagans to Christians it took many years but in the end this Orthodoxy Eastern Christianity deeply rooted itself in the consciousness of the Russian people when Russia expanded and absorbed other nations who profess Islam Buddhism and Judaism Russia has always been very loyal to those people who profess other religions this is her strength this is absolutely clear and the fact is that the main postulates main values are very similar not to say the same in all world religions I've just mentioned which are the traditional religions of the Russian Federation Russ by the way Russian authorities were always very careful about the culture and religion of those people who came into the Russian Empire this in my opinion forms the basis of both security and stability of the Russian statehood all the peoples inhabiting Russia basically consider it their motherhood if say people move over to you or to Europe from Latin America and even clearer and more understandable example people come but yet they have come to you or to European countries from their historical Homeland and people who profess different religions in Russia consider Russia their motherland they have no other motherland we are together this is one big family and our Traditional Values are very similar I've just mentioned one big family but everyone has his her own family and this is the basis of our society and if we say that the motherland and the family are specifically connected with each other it is indeed the case since it is impossible to ensure a normal future for our children and our families unless we ensure a normal sustainable future for the entire country for the motherland that is why patriotic sentiment is so strong in Russia the one way in which the religions are different is that Christianity is specifically a nonviolent religion Jesus says turn the other cheek don't kill how can a leader who has to kill of any country how can a leader be a Christian how do you reconcile that to yourself it is very easy when it comes to protecting oneself and one's family one's Homeland we won't attack anyone when did the developments Ukraine start since the Kat and the hostility these indas began that's when they started and we're protecting our people ourselves our homeland and our [Music] future as for religion in general you know it's not about external manifestations it's not about going to church every day or banging your head on the floor it is in the heart and our culture is so human oriented Doki who was very well known in the west and the genius of Russian culture Russian literature spoke a lot about this about the Russian Soul after all Western Society is more pragmatic Russian people think more about the Eternal about moral values I don't know maybe you won't agree with but Western culture is more pragmatic after all I'm not saying this is bad it makes it possible for today's golden billion to achieve good success in production even in science and so [Music] on there's nothing wrong with that I'm just saying that we kind of look the same our so do you see the supernatural at work as you look out across what's happening in the world now do you see God at work do you ever think to yourself these are forces that are not human no to be honest I don't think so my opinion is that the development of the world Community is in accordance with inherent laws and those laws are what they are it's always been this way in the history of mankind some Nations and countries Rose became stronger and more numerous and then left the international stage losing the status they had accustom to there is probably no need for me to give examples but we could start with the King isan and horde conquerors the golden horde and then end with the Roman Empire it seems that there has never been anything like the Roman Empire in the history of mankind nevertheless the potential of The Barbarians gradually grew as did their population in general The Barbarians were getting stronger and began to develop economically as we would say today this eventually led to the collapse of the Roman Empire and the regime imposed by the Romans however it took five centuries for the Roman Empire to fall apart the difference with what is happening now is that all the processes of change are happening at the much faster Pace than in Roman times so when does the AI Empire start do you think you're asking increasingly more complicated questions questions to answer them you need to be an expert in big numbers big data and AI men is currently facing many threats due to the genetic researches it is now possible to create a superhuman A specialized human being a genetically engineered athlete scientist military man there are reports that Elon Musk has already had a chip implanted in the human brain in the USA what do you think of that well I think there's no stopping Elon Musk he will do as he sees fit never thess you need to find some common ground with him search for ways to persuade him I think he's a smart person I truly believe he is so you need to reach an agreement with him because this process needs to to be formalized and subjected to certain rules Humanity has to consider what is going to happen due to the newest development in genetics or in AI one can make an approximate prediction of what will happen once mankind felt an exist Potential Threat coming from nuclear weapons all nuclear Nations began to come to terms with one another since they realized they negligent use of nuclear weaponary could drive Humanity to extension it is impossible to stop research in genetics or AI today just as it was impossible to stop the use of gunpowder back in the day but as soon as we realize that the threat comes from unbridled and uncontrolled development of AI or genetics or any other field the time will come to reach an international agreement on how to regulate these things I I appreciate all the time uh you've given us I just got to ask you one last question and that's about someone who's very famous in the United States probably not here Evan gersovitz who's the Wall Street Journal reporter he's 32 um and he's been in prisoned for almost a year uh this is a huge story in the United States and I just want to ask you directly without getting into the tales of it or your version of what happened if as a sign of your decency you would be willing to release him to us and we'll bring him back to the United States we have done so many gestures of Goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them we have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner however in theory we can say that we do not rule out that we can do that if our partners take reciprocal steps when I talk about the partners I first of all refer to special services special services are in contact with one another they are talking about the matter in question 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 so typically I mean this stuff has happened for obviously centuries one country catches another spy within its borders it trades it for one of its own Intel guys in another country I think what makes and it's not my business but what makes this difference is the guy's obviously not a spy he's a kid and maybe he was breaking your law in some way but he's not a super spy and everybody knows that and he's being held hostage in exchange which is true with respect it's true and everyone knows it's true so maybe he's in a different category maybe it's not fair to ask for you know some else in exchange for letting him out maybe it degrades Russia to do that you know you can give different interpretations to what constitutes a spy but there are certain things provided by law if person gets secret information and does that in conspiratorial manner then this is a qualified as Espionage and that is exactly what he was doing he was receiving classified confidential information and he did it covertly maybe he did that out of carelessness or his own initiative considering the sheer fact this is qualified as Espionage the fact has been proven as he was caught red-handed when he was receiving this information if it had been some farfetched excuse some fabrication something not proven it would have been different story then but he was caught red-handed when he was secretly getting confidential information what is it then but are you suggesting he was working for the US government or NATO or he was just a reporter who was given material he wasn't supposed to have those seem like very different very different things I don't know who he was working for but I would like to read iterate that getting classified information in secret is called Espionage and he was working for the US Special Services some other agencies I don't think he was working for Monaco as Monaco is hardly interested in getting that information it is up to special services to come to an agreement some groundwork has been laid there are people who in our you are not connected with special services let me tell you a story about a person serving a sentence in an Allied country of the US the person due to patriotic sentiments eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals during the events in the caucuses do you know what he was doing I don't want to say that but I will do it anyway he was laying our soldiers taken prisoner on the road and then drove his car over their heads what kind of person is that can he even be called human but there was a patriot who eliminated him in one of the European capitals whether he did it of his own valtion or not that is a different question yeah that I mean that's a completely different I mean I mean this a 32y old like he committed something different he's not just a journalist I reiterate he's a journalist who was secretly giving confidential information yes it is different but still I'm talking about other people who are essentially controlled by the US authorities wherever they are serving a sentence there is an ongoing dialogue between the special services this has to be resolved in a calm responsible and professional manner they're keeping in touch so let them do their work I do not rule out that the person you refer to Mr gersovitz May return to his motherland by the end of the day it does not make any sense to keep him in prison in Russia we want the US Special Services to think about how they can contribute to Achi the goals our special services are pursuing we are ready to talk moreover the talks are underway and there have been many successful examples of these stocks crowned with success probably this is going to be crowned with success as well but we have to come to an agreement I hope you let him out Mr President thank you I also want him to return to his homeland at last I'm absolutely sincere but let me say once again the dialogue continues the more public we render things of this nature the more difficult it becomes to resolve them everything has to be done in calm manner I wonder if that's I wonder if that's true with with the war though also I mean I just want to I guess I want to ask one more question which is and maybe you don't want to say so for Strat reasons but are you worried that what's happening in Ukraine could lead to something much larger and much more horrible and how motivated are you just to call the US government and say let's come to terms I already said that we did not refuse to talk we are willing to negotiate it is the western side and Ukraine is obviously a satellite state of the US it is evident I do not want you to take it as if I'm looking for a strong W or an insult but we both understand what is happening the financial support 72 billion US was provided Germany ranks second then other European countries come dozens of billions of US dollars are going to Ukraine there's a huge influx of weapons in this case you should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to negotiating table resend this absurd decree we did not re sure but you already said it I didn't think you meant it as an insult because you already said correctly it's been reported that Ukraine was prevented from negotiating a peace settlement by the former British prime minister acting on behalf of the Biden Administration so of course a satellite big countries control small countries that's not new and that's why I asked about dealing directly with the Biden Administration which is making these decisions not president zinsky of Ukraine well if the zinsky administration in Ukraine refused to negotiate I assume they did it under the instruction from Washington Washington believes it to be the wrong decision let it abandon it let it find a delicate excuse so that no one is insulted let it come up with the way out it was not us who made this decision it was them so let them go back on it that is it however they made the wrong decision and now we have to look for a way out of the situation to correct their mistakes they did it so let them correct it them eles we support this so I just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding what you're saying I don't think that I am I think you're saying you want a negotiated settlement to what's happening in Ukraine and we made it we prepared the huge document in Istanbul that was initialed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation he fixed his signature to some of the provisions not to all of it put his signature and then he himself said we were ready to sign it and the war would have been over long ago month ago however prime minister Johnson came talked us out of it and we missed a chance well you missed it you made a mistake let them get back to that that is all why do we have to bother ourselves and correct somebody else's mistakes I know one can say it is our mistake it was us who intensified the situation and decided to put an end to the war that started in 2014 in donbas as I have already said by means of weapons let me get back to further in history I already told you this we were just discussing let us go back to 1991 when we were promised that NATO would not expand to 2008 when the doors to Nato opened to the Declaration of State sovereignty of Ukraine declaring Ukraine a neutral State let us go back to the fact that NATO and US military basis started to appear on the territory of Ukraine creating threats to us let us go back to cud in Ukraine in 2014 it is pointless though isn't it we may go back and forth endlessly but they sto negotiations is it a mistake yes corrected we ready what else is needed do you think it's too humiliating at this point for NATO to accept Russian control of what was two years ago Ukrainian territory I said let them think how to do it with dignity there are options if there is a will up until now there has been the Uproar and screaming about inflicting a strategic defeat in Russia on the battlefield now they are apparently coming to realize that it is difficult to achieve if possible at all in my opinion it is impossible by definition it is never going to happen it seems to me that now those who are in power in the west have come to realize this as well if so if the realization has set in they have to think what to do next we are ready for this dialogue would you be willing to say congratulations NATO you won and just keep the situation where it is now you know it is a subject matter for the negotiations no one is willing to conduct or to put it more accurately they're willing but do not know how to do it I know they want to it is not just I see it but I know they do want it but they're struggling to understand how to do it they have driven the situation to the point where we are at it is not us who have done that it is our partners opponents who have done that well now let them think how to reverse the situation we're not against it it would be funny if it were not so sad this endless mobilization in Ukraine the hysteria the domestic problems sooner or later it will result in agreement you know this Probably sounds strange given the current situation but the relations between the two peoples will be rebuilt anyway it will take a lot of time but they will heal I'll give you very unusual examples there is a combat encounter on the battlefield here's specific example Ukrainian soldiers got encircled this is an example from real life our soldiers were shouting to them there is no chance surrender yourselves come out and you will be alive suddenly the Ukrainian soldiers were screaming from there in Russian perfect Russians saying Russians do not surrender and all of them perish they still identify themselves as Russian what is happening is to a certain extent an element of a civil war everyone in the West think that the Russian people have been split by hostilities forever no they will be reunited the unity is still there why are the Ukrainian authorities dismantling the Ukrainian Orthodox church because it brings together not only the territory it brings together our souls no one will be able to separate the soul shall we end here or is there anything else no I think that's great ium thank you Mr President free speech is bigger than any one person or any one organization societies are defined by what they will not permit what we're watching is the total inversion of virtue