Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a detailed interview to an American journalist, in which he explained the reasons for the start of the special operation, spoke about relations with the United States, spoke about the terrorist attack on the Nord Streams and the fate of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, and also answered the main question for the world - will Moscow and Kiev come to an agreement sooner or later?

The President spoke with Tucker Carlson. They talked for more than two hours. The last time the Russian leader spoke to the American press was in 2021. The number of views of Putin's interview with Carlson in X exceeded 25 million

We will agree: faith in the restoration of relations between Russia and Ukraine

The conversation began with a discussion of Ukraine. Putin said he was convinced that it was possible to reach an agreement - sooner or later Moscow and Kiev would come to an agreement, and relations between the fraternal peoples would be restored. He is confident that "the reunion will happen."

"Sooner or later we will come to an agreement anyway. And you know what? It may even sound strange in today's situation: relations between the peoples will be restored anyway. It will take a long time, but it will recover," he said.

As an example, he cited the situation from the battlefield, where Ukrainians rolled back to surrender with the words: "Russians do not surrender!" and they died. He stressed that "they still feel like Russians," and "in this sense, what is happening is, to a certain extent, an element of the civil war."

"And everyone in the West thinks that the fighting has forever pulled one part of the Russian people apart from another. No. The reunion will happen. It has not gone anywhere," the Russian president concluded. Carlson posted an interview with Putin on YouTube

Denazification and protection of interests: it is more reasonable to negotiate with Russia

Putin also explained what Russia means by "denazification," which it has declared one of the goals of the special operation in Ukraine - according to the president, this is getting rid of those who are trying to preserve Nazi ideology. He pointed out that the applause for the Nazi in the Canadian parliament is evidence that Hitler's cause is still alive, so it cannot be said that the Nazi ideology has been uprooted to the end.

The Head of State noted that the incident in the Canadian parliament, when those present gave a standing ovation to a Ukrainian nationalist who served in the SS and personally killed Russians, Poles, and Jews, is well known, but "is hushed up in the West." Putin specifically pointed out that Nazi collaborators in Ukraine were made national heroes, and this "practice and theory" must be stopped. Carlson was surprised by Putin's words about a peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine

Why didn't they return the territories earlier

As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine dragged away everything that it received as a gift from Russia "from the master's shoulder," Putin said. He noted that he did not know what the Russian leadership was guided by at that time, but suspected that there were several reasons to think that everything would be fine.

First, according to Putin, the Russian leadership proceeded from the fundamental foundations of relations between Russia and Ukraine, which include friendly and kindred ties between peoples, language, culture, religion, and economy. Secondly, the former Russian authorities proceeded from the fact that there were no longer any dividing lines of an ideological nature, and after 1991 Russia expected to be taken into the fraternal family of "civilized peoples".

But nothing of the kind happened - then there were five waves of NATO expansion to the East. When Putin became president in 2000, he still hoped to restore relations with the West even after the events in Yugoslavia. According to Putin, he spoke with Bill Clinton, who is leaving power, about Russia's possible accession to NATO. However, Clinton then replied that this was not yet possible. Only an idiot would believe in Russia's intention to attack Europe, Carlson said

And in 2008, at the NATO summit in Bucharest, they announced that the doors to NATO were open for Ukraine and Georgia. According to Putin, some European countries reported after the summit that they were pressured on the Ukrainian issue. Then Western countries "began to develop the territory of Ukraine," Putin continued. And in 2014, there was a coup d'etat, after which Kiev began to use aviation and artillery against civilians in the Donbas, which Russia eventually stood up to protect.

He also pointed out that the government of the collective West is now trying to intimidate its population with an imaginary Russian threat.

The president called the stories that Moscow could use tactical nuclear weapons "horror stories for ordinary people" in order to knock out additional money from taxpayers in the United States and Europe in the confrontation with the Russian Federation in the Ukrainian theater of operations.

Putin also warned that if the United States sends regular troops to Ukraine, it will put humanity on the brink of a global conflict. He is convinced that America does not need to fight in Ukraine - it has its own problems, and it would be much more reasonable for it to negotiate with Russia and respect its interests, which it will defend to the end. Simonyan explained what is important in Putin's interview with Carlson

Who blew up the Nord Streams

When asked by Carlson about who blew up the Nord Streams, Putin first joked: "You, of course." And then he added that if the American journalist has an alibi, then the CIA does not have one. As Putin explained, in this case it is necessary to look for those who were interested in undermining the pipeline and at the same time could carry it out.

At the same time, Russia sees no point in getting involved in a propaganda war with its evidence, since the United States controls all the world's media, as a result, Moscow may simply highlight its sources of information and not achieve results. Besides, it is already clear to the whole world what happened, Putin noted.

Putin explained Germany's silence by saying that Berlin is guided not by national interests, but by the interests of the collective West. "You have to be crazy": Carlson spoke about the status of Crimea

The fate of Gershkovich

Putin also answered the question about the possibility of releasing The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused in Russia of espionage. It is possible that the Russian side can do this "with oncoming traffic from our partners," primarily representatives of special services, the Russian president said.

"They are in contact with each other, and they are discussing this topic. We have no taboo against not solving this problem. We are ready to solve it, but there are certain conditions that are being discussed through partner channels between the special services. It seems to me that it is possible to agree on this," Putin said.

According to him, Gershkovich "received classified, secret information, and did it in secret."

"I don't know, maybe he was dragged in, someone could have dragged him into this case, maybe he did everything carelessly, on his own initiative. But in fact, this is called espionage. And everything is proven, because he was caught red–handed - upon receiving this information," Putin said.

He added that there is a dialogue between the special services, this "should be resolved quietly, calmly, at a professional level."

"I would also like him (Gershkovich – ed.) to go home eventually. I am completely sincere. But, I repeat, the dialogue is ongoing. The more we make this kind of thing public, the more difficult it is to solve them. Everything should be calm," the president concluded. Tucker Carlson said he waited for Putin for two hours

Russia and the West: readiness for rapprochement and misunderstanding in response

Putin spoke about the reaction of former US President Bill Clinton to his question, if Russia had raised the issue of joining NATO, in his opinion, it would have been possible. According to the Russian president, Clinton at first said that it was interesting and that he thought it was possible, but after talking with his team, a few hours later, he said, "no, it's impossible now."

The Russian President also spoke about the idea of creating a joint missile defense system with the United States and Europe.

"I proposed that the United States, Russia and Europe jointly create a missile defense system… I suggested that they work together as a threesome – Russia, the USA, and Europe. They said it was very interesting. I was asked: are you serious? I say absolutely," he said.

Putin noted that in response he heard that "this is very interesting," but during further discussion of the idea, the Western partners said that they need to think about it and that there are some exceptions.

"Of course, we were eventually sent away. I will not tell you the details, because I think it is incorrect, after all, it was a confidential conversation. But the fact that our proposal was rejected is a fact," he said.

Therefore, according to him, Russia was forced to engage in retaliatory measures and create strike systems that overcome the missile defense system. "Maybe it was a mistake." What Putin confessed to Tucker Carlson.