00:00 the following is an interview with the
00:02 president of Russia Vladimir Putin shot
00:05 February 6 2024 to about 700 p.m. in the
00:08 building behind us which is of course
00:10 the Kremlin the interview as you will
00:12 see if you watch it is primarily about
00:14 the war in progress the war in Ukraine
00:16 how it started what's happening and most
00:19 presently how it might end one note
00:22 before you watch at the beginning the
00:24 interview we asked the most obvious
00:25 question which is why did you do this
00:27 did you feel a threat an imminent
00:29 physical threat and that's your
00:31 justification and the answer we got
00:33 shocked us Putin went on for a very long
00:36 time probably half an hour about the
00:39 history of Russia going back to the 8th
00:41 century and honestly we thought this was
00:44 a filibustering technique and found it
00:46 annoying and interrupted him several
00:48 times and he responded he was annoyed uh
00:51 by the interruption but we concluded in
00:53 the end for what it's worth that it was
00:55 not a filibustering technique there was
00:56 no time limit on the interview we ended
00:58 it after more than 2 hours
01:00 instead what you're about to see seemed
01:02 to us sincere whether you agree with it
01:04 or not Vladimir Putin believes that
01:07 Russia has a historic claim to parts of
01:10 Ukraine so our opinion would be to view
01:12 it in that light as a sincere expression
01:15 of what he thinks and with that here it
01:17 is Mr President thank you on February
01:22 22nd 2022 you addressed your country in
01:25 a nationwide address when the conflict
01:27 in Ukraine started and you said that you
01:30 were acting because you had come to the
01:32 conclusion that the United States
01:35 NATO might initiate a quote surprise
01:39 attack on our country and to American
01:42 years that sounds paranoid tell us why
01:44 you believe the United States might
01:46 strike Russia out of the blue how did
01:53 that it's not that America the United
01:56 States was going to launch a surprise
01:58 strike on Russia I didn't say that are
02:01 we having a talk show or a serious
02:05 conversation here's the quote thank you
02:13 serious because your basic education is
02:15 in history as far as I understand
02:20 yes so if you don't mind I will take
02:23 only 30 seconds or 1 minute to give you
02:25 a short reference to history for giving
02:28 you a little historical backgr
02:33 please let's look where our relationship
02:35 with Ukraine started from where did
02:41 from the Russian State started Gathering
02:43 itself as a centralized
02:47 statehood and it is considered to be the
02:49 year of the establishment of the Russian
02:55 862 when the town's people of no invited
02:58 a varangian prince rurick from
03:05 Terrain in 1862 Russia celebrated the
03:09 1,000th anniversary of its
03:13 statehood and in no there is a Memorial
03:16 dedicated to the 1,000th anniversary of
03:20 country in 882 roric successor Prince
03:25 Oleg who was actually playing the role
03:27 of regent at ruri's young son
03:32 because ruri had died by that time came
03:40 Kia he asked two brothers who apparently
03:44 had one's been members of ruri's
03:50 squad so Russia began to develop with
03:52 two centers of power Kev and
03:57 novaro the next very significant date in
04:00 the history of Russia was
04:03 988 this was the baptism of Russia when
04:07 Prince Vladimir the great grandson of
04:10 ruri baptized Russia and adopted
04:13 Orthodoxy or Eastern
04:16 Christianity from this time the
04:18 centralized Russian state began to
04:21 strengthen why because of the single
04:24 territory integrated economic
04:27 ties one and the same language and after
04:30 the baptism of Russia the same faith and
04:33 Rule of the prince the centralized
04:36 Russian state began to take
04:39 shape back in the Middle Ages Prince
04:41 yaroslav the wise introduced the order
04:48 trone but after he passed away it became
04:52 complicated for various
04:56 reasons the trone was passed not Direct
04:59 ly from father to eldest son but from
05:02 the prince who had passed away to his
05:04 brother then to his sons in different
05:09 lines all this led to the fragmentation
05:12 and the end of rose as a single
05:16 state there was nothing special about it
05:19 the same was happening then in
05:26 Europe but the fragmented Russian state
05:28 became an pre to the Empire created
05:35 ishan his successors namely batan came
05:38 to Rose plundered and ruined nearly all
05:40 the cities the southern part including
05:43 Kiev by the way and some other cities
05:46 simply lost Independence while Northern
05:49 cities preserved some of their
05:53 sovereignty they had to pay tribute to
05:55 The Horde but they managed to preserve
05:57 some part of their sovereignty
06:01 and then a unified Russian state began
06:03 to take shape with its Center in
06:06 Moscow the southern part of Russian
06:11 Kiev began to gradually gravitate
06:14 towards another magnet the center that
06:21 Europe This was the Grand duy of
06:24 Lithuania it was even called the
06:26 Lithuanian Russian duche because
06:29 Russians were a significant part of this
06:31 population they spoke the old Russian
06:38 Orthodox but then there was a
06:40 unification the union of the grand duy
06:42 of Lithuania and the kingdom of
06:46 Poland a few years later another Union
06:50 signed but this time already in the
06:54 sphere some of the Orthodox priests
06:57 became subordinate to the pope th thus
06:59 these lands became part of the Polish
07:07 State during decades the poles were
07:09 engaged in polonization of this part of
07:12 population they introduced their
07:14 language there tried to entrench the
07:16 idea that this population was not
07:19 exactly Russians that because they lived
07:22 on the French they were
07:27 ukrainians originally the word Ukrainian
07:29 meant that the person was living on the
07:32 outskirts of the state along the fringes
07:34 or was engaged in a border patrol
07:37 service it didn't mean any particular
07:41 group so the polls were trying
07:44 to in every possible way to poize this
07:47 part of the Russian lands and actually
07:49 treated it rather harshly not to say
07:53 cruy all that led to the fact that this
07:56 part of the Russian lands began to
07:57 struggle for their rights
08:00 they wrote letters to Warsaw demanding
08:02 that their rights be observed and people
08:04 be commissioned here including to KF I
08:08 beg your pardon can you tell us what
08:09 period I'm losing track of where in
08:12 are the Polish oppression of
08:14 ukra it was in the 13th
08:24 century now I will tell you what
08:30 and give the dates so that there is no
08:34 confusion and in 1654 even a bit
08:42 earlier the people who were in control
08:44 of the authority over that part of the
08:49 lands TR waro I repeat demanding that
08:53 they sent them to rulers of Russian
08:55 origin and Orthodox faith when Warsaw
08:58 did not answered them and in fact
09:01 rejected their demands they turned to
09:04 Moscow so that Moscow took them
09:10 away so that you don't think that I'm
09:17 things I'll give you these documents
09:21 well I I it doesn't sound like you're
09:22 inventing and I'm not sure why it's
09:24 relevant to what happened two years ago
09:27 but still these are documents from the
09:32 copies here are the letters from bdan
09:36 hitz the man who then controlled the
09:38 power in this part of the Russian
09:41 lands that is now called Ukraine he
09:44 wrote to Warsaw demanding that their
09:47 upheld and after being refused he began
09:50 to write letters to
09:52 Moscow asking to take them under the
09:54 strong hand of the Moscow SAR there are
09:57 copies of these documents
09:59 I will leave them for your good memory
10:01 there is a translation into Russian you
10:04 can translate it into English later
10:06 Russia would not agree to admit them
10:08 straight away assuming that the war with
10:10 Poland would start nevertheless in
10:13 1654 the pun Russian assembly of top
10:17 clergy and land owners headed by the
10:22 SAR which was the representative body of
10:24 the power of the old Russian State
10:27 decided to include a part of the old
10:29 Russian lands into Moscow
10:32 Kingdom as expected the war with Poland
10:36 began it lasted 13 years and then in
10:45 concluded and 32 years later I think a
10:48 peace treaty with Poland which they
10:50 called Eternal peace was
10:54 signed and these lands the whole Left
10:57 Bank of Neer including Kia went to
11:00 Russia and the whole right Bank of
11:05 Poland under the rule of Catherina the
11:07 great Russia reclaimed all of its
11:09 historical lands including in the South
11:13 West this all lasted until the
11:16 revolution before World War
11:18 I Austrian general staff relied on the
11:22 ideas of Ukrainian isation and started
11:25 actively promoting the ideas of Ukraine
11:34 their motive was obvious just before
11:37 World War I they wanted to weaken the
11:39 potential enemy and secure themselves
11:42 favorable conditions in the Border area
11:45 so the idea which had emerged in Poland
11:47 that people residing in that territory
11:50 were allegedly not really Russians but
11:53 rather belonged to a special ethnic
11:55 group ukrainians started being
11:58 propagated by the Austrian general
12:01 staff as far back as the 19th century
12:04 theorists calling for Ukrainian
12:08 appeared all those however claimed that
12:11 Ukraine should have a very good
12:15 Russia they insisted on
12:18 that after the 1917
12:24 Revolution the biks sought to restore
12:27 the statehood and the civil War Began
12:30 including the hostilities with
12:36 Poland in 1921 peace with Poland was
12:39 proclaimed and under that treaty the
12:42 right Bank of Nipper River once again
12:47 Poland in 1939 after Poland cooperated
12:53 Hitler he did collaborate with Hitler
12:56 you know Hitler offered Poland peace and
13:02 friendship an alliance demanding in
13:05 return that Poland gave back to Germany
13:08 the so-called dancing caror which
13:11 connected the bulk of Germany with East
13:22 CSG after World War I this territory was
13:25 transferred to Poland and instead of
13:27 Danzig a city of dun
13:32 emerged Hitler asked them to give it
13:34 amicably but they refused of course
13:38 still they collaborated with Hitler and
13:43 together in the partitioning of
13:45 Czechoslovakia but may ask you you're
13:48 making the case that that Ukraine
13:50 certainly parts of Ukraine eastern
13:51 Ukraine is in effect Russia has been for
13:54 hundreds of years why wouldn't you just
13:57 take it when you became president 24
14:00 years ago you have nuclear weapons they
14:02 don't if it's actually your land why did
14:06 sure I'll tell you I'm coming to that
14:10 this briefing is coming to an end it
14:12 might be boring but it explains many
14:14 things I just don't know how it's
14:19 good I'm so gratified that you
14:21 appreciate that thank
14:23 you so before World War II Poland
14:27 collaborated with Hitler and although it
14:30 did not yield to Hitler's demands it
14:32 still participated in the partitioning
14:34 of Czechoslovakia together with Hitler
14:37 as the polls had not given the daning
14:39 corridor to Germany had went Soo far
14:42 pushing Hitler to start World War I by
14:45 attacking them why was it Poland against
14:48 whom the war started on 1st September
14:52 1939 Poland turned out to be
14:55 uncompromising and Hitler had nothing to
14:57 do but start implementing his plans with
15:01 Poland by the way the USSR I have read
15:04 some archived documents behaved very
15:08 honestly it asked Poland's permission to
15:11 Transit its troops through the Polish
15:13 territory to help chos
15:16 Slovakia but the then polish foreign
15:19 minister said that if the Soviet plans
15:21 flew over Poland they would be downed
15:24 over the territory of
15:26 Poland but that doesn't matter what
15:29 matters is that the War Began and Poland
15:31 felt prey to the policies it had pursued
15:34 against Czechoslovakia as under the
15:37 well-known molotto ribbon trop PCT part
15:40 of the territory including Western
15:43 Ukraine was to be given to
15:46 Russia thus Russia which was then named
15:49 as USSR regained its historical
15:53 land after the victory in the Great
15:56 Patriotic War as we call World War II
16:00 all those territories were ultimately
16:02 enshrined as belonging to Russia to the
16:08 USSR as for Poland it received
16:11 apparently in compensation the lands
16:13 which had originally being
16:19 German the Eastern parts of
16:22 Germany these are now Western lands of
16:26 Poland of course Poland regained access
16:29 to the Baltic Sea and
16:33 danzik which was once again given its
16:37 name so this was how this situation
16:42 developed in 1922 when the USSR was
16:47 established the bik started building the
16:49 USSR and established the Soviet Ukraine
16:52 which had never existed before
17:00 Stalin insisted that those republics be
17:02 included in the USSR
17:09 entities for some inexplicable reason
17:12 Lenin the founder of the Soviet state
17:15 insisted that they be entitled to
17:21 USSR again for some unknown reasons he
17:24 transferred to that newly established
17:27 Soviet Republic of Ukraine some of the
17:29 lands together with people living there
17:32 even though those lands had never been
17:34 called Ukraine and yet they were made
17:37 part of that Soviet Republic of Ukraine
17:40 those lands included the Black Sea
17:41 region which was received under
17:44 Catherina the great and which had no
17:46 historical connection with Ukraine
17:50 whatsoever even if we go as far back as
17:53 1654 when these lands returned to
17:56 Russian Empire that ter was the size of
17:59 three to four regions of modern Ukraine
18:02 with no Black Sea region that was
18:04 completely out of the question in
18:08 1654 exactly well I'm just you obviously
18:12 have encyclopedic knowledge of this
18:14 region but why didn't you make this case
18:16 for the first 22 years as president that
18:19 Ukraine wasn't a real
18:25 country the Soviet Union was given a
18:27 great deal of territory that had never
18:30 belonged to it including the Black Sea
18:34 region at some point when Russia
18:37 received them as an outcome of the Russo
18:41 Wars they were called new Russia or no
18:45 Ria but that does not matter what
18:48 matters is that Lenin the founder of the
18:51 Soviet state established Ukraine that
18:55 way for decades the Ukrainian Soviet
18:57 Republic developed as part of the
19:01 USSR and for unknown reasons again the
19:04 Bolsheviks were engaged in Ukrainian
19:07 isation it was not merely because the
19:09 Soviet leadership was composed to a
19:11 great extent of those originating from
19:15 rather it was explained by the general
19:17 policy of indigenization pursued by the
19:20 Soviet Union same things were done in
19:22 other Soviet republics this involved
19:25 promoting national languages and
19:26 National cultures which which is not bad
19:29 in principle that is how the Soviet
19:31 Ukraine was created after the World War
19:33 II Ukraine received in addition to the
19:36 lands that had belonged to Poland before
19:38 the war part of the lands that had
19:40 previously belonged to Hungary and
19:42 Romania so Romania and Hungary had some
19:45 of their lands taken away and given to
19:48 the Soviet Ukraine and they still remain
19:50 part of Ukraine so in this sense we have
19:53 every reason to affirm that Ukraine is
19:55 an artificial state that was shaped at
19:58 st's will do you believe Hungary has a
20:00 right to take its land back from Ukraine
20:02 and that other nations have a right to
20:03 go back to their 1654
20:11 borders I'm not sure whether they should
20:13 go back to the 1654
20:17 borders but given Stalin's time
20:19 so-called Stalin's regime which as many
20:22 claim saw numerous violations of human
20:25 rights and violations of the rights of
20:36 one may say that they could claim back
20:38 those lands of theirs while having no
20:40 right to do that it is at least
20:43 understandable have you told Victor
20:44 Orban that he can have part of
20:50 Ukraine never I have never told him not
20:59 we have not even had any conversation on
21:01 that but I actually know for sure that
21:03 hungarians who live
21:06 there wanted to get back to their
21:11 land moreover I would like to share a
21:14 very interesting story with
21:17 you I digress it's a personal one
21:22 somewhere in the early 80s I went on a
21:25 road trip in a car from then lenning R
21:28 across the Soviet Union through Kiev
21:32 made a stop in Kiev and then went to
21:36 Ukraine I went to the town of
21:39 bavo and all the names of towns and
21:42 Villages there were in Russian and in
21:44 the language I did not understand in
21:47 Hungarian in Russian and in
21:50 Hungarian not in Ukrainian in Russian
21:53 and in Hungarian I was driving through
21:56 some kind of village and there were were
21:58 men sitting next to the houses and they
22:01 were wearing black three-piece suits and
22:03 black cylinder hats I asked are they
22:06 some kind of entertainers I was told no
22:09 they were not entertainers they're
22:10 hungarians I said what are they doing
22:13 here what do you mean this is their land
22:15 they live here this was during the
22:17 Soviet time in the 1980s they preserved
22:21 the Hungarian language Hungarian names
22:23 and all their National costumes they are
22:26 hungarians and they feels to be
22:28 hungarians and of course when now there
22:31 is an infringement well that that is and
22:34 there's a lot of that though I think
22:35 many nations they're upset about
22:36 Transylvania as well as you obviously
22:38 know but many nations feel frustrated by
22:40 the redrawn borders of the wars of the
22:41 20th century and Wars going back A
22:44 Thousand Years the ones that you
22:45 mentioned but the fact is that you
22:49 didn't make this case in public until
22:51 two years ago February and in the case
22:53 that you made which I read today just
22:56 you you explain at Great length that you
22:58 felt a physical threat from the West in
23:00 NATO including potentially a nuclear
23:02 threat and that's what got you to move
23:04 is that a fair characterization of what
23:14 said I understand that my long speeches
23:16 probably fall outside of the genre of
23:20 interview that is why I asked you at the
23:23 beginning are we going to have a serious
23:25 talk or a show you said a serious talk
23:32 please we're coming to the point where
23:35 the Soviet Ukraine was
23:37 established then in 1991 the Soviet
23:41 collapsed and everything that Russia had
23:44 generously bestowed on Ukraine was
23:46 dragged Away by the
23:49 ladder I'm coming to a very important
23:54 agenda thank you after all the collapse
23:57 of the Soviet Union was effectively
23:59 initiated by the Russian
24:03 leadership I do not understand what the
24:06 Russian leadership was Guided by at the
24:08 time but I suspect there were several
24:10 reasons to think everything would be
24:18 fine first I think that then Russian
24:21 leadership believed that the
24:23 fundamentals of the relationship between
24:25 Russia and Ukraine were in fact a common
24:28 language more than 90% of the population
24:34 Russian Family Ties every third person
24:38 there had some kind of family or
24:39 friendship ties common culture common
24:43 history finally common Faith coexistence
24:46 with a single state for centuries and
24:49 deeply interconnected
24:54 economies all of these were so
24:56 fundamental all these elements together
24:59 make our good relationships
25:04 inevitable the second point is a very
25:08 one I want you as an American citizen
25:11 and your viewers to hear about this as
25:15 well the former Russian leadership
25:17 assumed that the Soviet Union had ceased
25:19 to exist and therefore there were no
25:22 longer any ideological dividing
25:26 lines Russia even agreed voluntarily and
25:29 proactively to the collapse of the
25:32 Union and believed that this would be
25:35 understood by the socalled Civilized
25:37 West as an invitation for cooperation
25:43 Association that is what Russia was
25:45 expecting both from the United States
25:48 and the so-called Collective West as a
25:51 whole there were smart people including
25:54 in Germany Egon bar a major politician
25:57 of the Social Democratic party who
26:00 insisted in his personal conversations
26:02 with the Soviet leadership on the brink
26:05 of the collapse of the Soviet Union that
26:07 a new security system should be
26:11 Europe help should be given to unify
26:14 Germany but a new system should be also
26:17 established to include the United States
26:19 Canada Russia and other central European
26:22 countries yes but NATO needs not to
26:28 said if NATO expands everything would be
26:31 just the same as during the Cold War
26:34 only closer to Russia's borders that's
26:38 all he was a wise old man but no one
26:40 listened to him in fact he got angry
26:46 once if he said you don't listen to me
26:49 I'm never setting my foot in Moscow once
26:52 again everything happened just as he had
26:55 said well it of course it did did come
26:57 true and I and you've mentioned this
26:59 many times I think it's a fair point and
27:01 many in America thought that relations
27:04 between Russia and the United States
27:07 would be fine with the collapse of the
27:08 Soviet Union the end of the Cold War
27:09 that the opposite happened but you've
27:11 never explained why you think that
27:14 happened except to say that the West
27:16 fears a strong Russia but we have a
27:18 strong China the West does not seem very
27:20 afraid of uh what about Russia do you
27:24 think convinced policy makers they had
27:31 down the West is afraid of strong China
27:34 more than it fears a strong Russia
27:36 because Russia has 150 million people
27:39 and China has 1.5 billion population and
27:42 its economy is growing by Leaps and
27:45 Bounds or 5% a year it used to be even
27:48 more but that's enough for China as
27:51 Bismark once put it potentials are the
27:53 most important China's potential is
27:56 enormous it is the big biggest economy
27:58 in the world today in terms of
28:00 purchasing power parity and the size of
28:02 the economy it has already overtaken the
28:05 United States quite a long time ago and
28:08 it is growing at a rapid clip let's not
28:10 talk about who is afraid of whom let's
28:12 not reason in such terms and let's get
28:15 into the fact that after 1991 when
28:18 Russia expected that it would be
28:20 welcomed into the brotherly family of
28:22 civilized Nations nothing like this
28:24 happened you trick this I don't mean you
28:27 personally when I say you of course I'm
28:29 talking about the United States the
28:31 promise was that NATO would not expand
28:34 Eastward but it happened five times
28:36 there were five waves of expansion we
28:38 tolerated all that we were trying to
28:41 persuade them we were saying please
28:43 don't we are as Bourgeois now as you are
28:46 we are market economy and there is no
28:48 Communist Party power let's negotiate
28:51 moreover I have also said this publicly
28:55 before there was a moment
29:00 when a certain Rift started growing
29:02 between us before that Hilson came to
29:05 the United States remember he spoke in
29:08 Congress and said the good words God
29:10 Bless America everything he said were
29:12 signals let us in remember the
29:16 developments in Yugoslavia before the
29:18 Yim was lavished with praise as soon as
29:20 the developments in Yugoslavia started
29:23 he raised his voice in support of serbs
29:25 and we couldn't but raise our voices or
29:27 serbs in their defense I understand that
29:30 there were complex processes under way
29:32 there I do but Russia could not help
29:34 raising its voice in support of serbs
29:36 because serbs are also a special and
29:39 close to us nation with Orthodox culture
29:41 and so on it's a nation that has
29:43 suffered so much for Generations well
29:46 regardless what is important is that
29:49 yelton expressed his support what did
29:51 the United States do in violation of an
29:54 international law and the UN Charter it
29:56 started bombing being Belgrade it was
29:58 the United States that led the genie out
30:01 bottle moreover when Russia protested
30:04 and expressed its resentment what was
30:06 said the UN Charter and international
30:09 law have become obsolete now everyone
30:13 invokes international law but at that
30:15 time they started saying that everything
30:17 was outdated everything had to be
30:19 changed indeed some things need to be
30:22 changed as the balance of power has
30:24 changed it's true but not in this man
30:27 Elon was immediately dragged through the
30:29 mud accused of alcoholism of
30:32 understanding nothing of knowing nothing
30:35 he understood everything I assure you
30:38 well I became president in 2000 I
30:41 thought okay the Yugoslav issue is over
30:44 but we should try to restore
30:46 relations let's reopen the door that
30:49 Russia had tried to go through and
30:51 moreover I said it publicly I can
30:56 reiterate at a meeting here in the
30:58 Kremlin with the outgoing President Bill
31:01 Clinton right here in the next room I
31:03 said to him I asked
31:07 him Bill do you think if Russia asked to
31:10 join NATO do you think it would
31:14 happen suddenly he said you know it's
31:17 interesting I think
31:19 so but in the evening when we met for
31:22 dinner he said you know I've talked to
31:25 my team now no it's not possible
31:29 now you can ask him I think he will
31:32 watch our interview he'll confirm it I
31:35 wouldn't have said anything like that if
31:37 it hadn't happened okay were you sincere
31:40 impossible now would you have
31:44 joined look I asked the question is it
31:48 possible or not and the answer I got was
31:50 no if I was ins sincere in my desire to
31:53 find out what the leadership position
31:55 was but if he had said yes would you
32:00 NATO if he had said yes the process of
32:03 reproach would have commenced and
32:06 eventually it might have happened if we
32:08 had seen some sincere wish on the other
32:10 side of our partners but it didn't
32:12 happen well no means no okay fine why do
32:17 you think that is just to get to motive
32:18 I know you're clearly bitter about it um
32:21 I understand but why do you think the
32:23 West rebuffed you then why the hostility
32:27 why did the end of the Cold War not fix
32:29 the relationship what motivates this
32:36 view you said I was bitter about the
32:38 answer no it's not bitterness it's just
32:42 a statement of fact we're not bride and
32:45 groom bitterness resentment it's not
32:47 about those kind of matters in such
32:50 circumstances we just realized we
32:52 weren't welcome there that's all okay
32:55 fine but let's let's build relations in
32:58 another manner let's work for common
33:02 elsewhere why we receive such a Negative
33:04 response you should ask your leaders I
33:07 can only guess why too big a country
33:10 with its own opinion and so on and the
33:12 United States I've seen how issues are
33:18 NATO I will give you another example now
33:23 Ukraine the US leadership exerts
33:25 pressure and all members obediently
33:29 vote even if they do not like
33:33 something now I'll tell you what
33:35 happened in disregard with Ukraine in
33:37 2008 although it's being discussed I'm
33:40 not going to open a secret to you say
33:44 new nevertheless after that we try to
33:47 build relations in different
33:50 ways for example the events in the
33:54 Iraq we were building relations with the
33:57 United States in a very soft prudent
33:59 cautious manner I repeatedly raised the
34:02 issue that the United States should not
34:05 support separatism or terrorism in the
34:09 Caucasus but they continue to do it
34:12 anyway and political support information
34:15 support financial support even Military
34:19 Support came from the United States and
34:21 its satellites for terrorist groups in
34:25 Caucasus I once raised this issue with
34:28 my colleague also the president of the
34:30 United States he says it's impossible do
34:33 you have proof I said yes I was prepared
34:37 for this conversation and I gave him
34:39 that proof he looked at it and you know
34:42 what he said I apologize but that's what
34:45 happened I'll quote he says well I'm
34:48 going to kick their ass we waited and
34:52 waited for some response there was no
34:55 reply I said said to the FSB director
34:58 write to the CIA what is the result of
35:00 the conversation with
35:02 President he wrote once twice and then
35:07 reply we have the answer in the archive
35:10 the CIA replied we have been working
35:12 with the opposition in Russia we believe
35:15 that this is the right thing to do and
35:17 we will keep on doing it just
35:20 ridiculous well okay we realized that it
35:24 was out of the question forces in
35:26 opposition to you so you're saying the
35:28 CIA is trying to overthrow your
35:31 government of course they meant in that
35:33 particular case the separatists the
35:35 terrorists who fought with us in the
35:39 caucuses that's who they called the
35:43 opposition this is the second
35:46 point the third moment is a very
35:49 important one is the moment when the US
35:52 missile defense system was
35:54 created the beginning
35:57 we persuaded for a long time not to do
36:06 moreover after was invited by Bush Jr's
36:09 father Bush senior to visit his place on
36:13 ocean I had a very serious conversation
36:16 with President Bush and his
36:19 team I proposed that the United States
36:22 Russia and Europe jointly create a
36:24 missile defense system that we believe
36:27 if created unilaterally threatens our
36:30 security despite the fact that the
36:32 United States officially said that it
36:35 was being created against missile
36:37 threats from Iran that was the
36:39 justification for the deployment of the
36:41 missile defense system I suggested
36:44 working together Russia the United
36:46 States and Europe they said it was very
36:49 interesting they asked me are you
36:52 serious I said absolutely ask what year
37:00 remember it is easy to find out on the
37:03 internet when I was in the USA at the
37:06 invitation of a bush senior it is even
37:08 easier to learn from someone I'm going
37:12 about I was told it was very interesting
37:16 I said just imagine if we could tackle
37:18 such a global strategic security
37:21 challenge together the world will change
37:24 will probably have disputes probably
37:27 economic and even political ones but we
37:29 could drastically change the situation
37:31 in the world he says yes and asks are
37:35 you serious I said of course we need to
37:40 I'm I said go ahead please then
37:44 Secretary of Defense Gates former
37:46 director of CIA and Secretary of State
37:49 rice came in here in this cabinet right
37:52 here at this table they sat on this
37:55 table me the foreign Minister the
37:57 Russian defense minister on that side
38:02 me yes we have thought about it we agree
38:05 I said Thank God great but with some
38:09 exceptions so twice you've described US
38:12 presidents making decisions and then
38:14 being undercut by their agency heads so
38:19 it sounds like you're describing a
38:20 system that's not run by the people who
38:22 are elected in your
38:27 that's right that's
38:29 right in the end they just told us to
38:31 get lost I'm not going to tell you the
38:34 details because I think it's incorrect
38:37 after all it was confidential
38:39 conversation but our proposal was
38:43 fact it was right then when I said look
38:46 but then we will be forced to take
38:48 counter measures we will create such
38:50 strike systems that will certainly
38:52 overcome missile defense systems the
38:55 answer was we are not doing this against
38:58 you and you do what you want assuming
39:01 that it is not against us not against
39:03 the United States I said okay very well
39:07 that's the way it went and we created
39:09 Hypersonic systems with InterContinental
39:12 range and we continue to develop them we
39:14 are now ahead of everyone the United
39:17 States and the other countries in terms
39:19 of the development of hypersonic strike
39:22 systems and we are improving them every
39:27 we proposed to go the other way and we
39:31 back now about NATO's expansion to the
39:34 east well we were promised no NATO to
39:37 the east not an inch to the east as we
39:39 were told and then what they said well
39:43 it's not enshrined on paper so we'll
39:47 expand so there were five waves of
39:50 expansion the Baltic states the whole of
39:52 Eastern Europe and so
39:54 on and now I come to to the main thing
39:57 they have come to do Ukraine ultimately
40:00 in 2008 at The Summit in Bucharest they
40:03 declared that the doors for Ukraine and
40:05 Georgia to join NATO were
40:08 open now about how decisions are made
40:11 there Germany France seemed to be
40:13 against it as well as some other
40:15 European countries but then as it turned
40:18 out later President Bush and he's such a
40:21 tough guy a tough politician as I was
40:24 told later he exert pressure on us and
40:28 we had to agree it's ridiculous it's
40:31 kindergarten where are the guarantees
40:34 what kindergarten is this what kind of
40:37 people are these who are they you see
40:40 they were pressed they agreed and then
40:43 they say Ukraine won't be in the NATO
40:46 you know I say I don't know I know you
40:49 agreed in 2008 why won't you agree in
40:53 future well they pressed us then I say
40:57 why won't they press you tomorrow and
41:03 nonsensical who's there to talk to I
41:05 just don't understand we're ready to
41:07 talk but with who where are the
41:10 guarantees none so they started to
41:14 develop the territory of
41:15 Ukraine whatever is there I have told
41:18 you the background how this territory
41:20 developed what kind of relations they
41:22 were with Russia every second or third
41:25 person there has always had some ties
41:28 with Russia and during the elections in
41:31 already independent Sovereign Ukraine
41:33 which gained its independence as a
41:35 result of the Declaration of
41:37 Independence and by the way it says that
41:39 Ukraine is a neutral State and in 2008
41:43 suddenly the doors or gates to Nato were
41:46 opened to it oh come on this is not how
41:51 agreed now all the presidents that have
41:54 come to power in Ukraine they relied on
41:57 electorate with a good attitude to
41:59 Russia in one way or the
42:02 other this is the southeast of Ukraine
42:05 this is a large number of
42:08 people and it was very difficult to
42:10 disuade this electorate which had a
42:12 positive attitude towards
42:14 Russia Victor yanukovich came to power
42:17 and how the first time he won after
42:20 president kuchma they organized the
42:23 third round which is not provided for in
42:27 Ukraine this is a cud just imagine
42:31 someone in the United States wouldn't
42:33 like the outcome in
42:36 2014 before that no this was before that
42:40 after president kuchma Victor yanukovich
42:43 won the elections however his opponents
42:46 did not recognize that Victory the US
42:48 supported the opposition and the third
42:51 round was scheduled what is this this is
42:54 a c the US supported it and the winner
42:57 of the third round came to
42:59 power imagine if in the US something was
43:02 not to someone's liking and the third
43:04 round of election which the US
43:06 Constitution does not provide for was
43:09 organized nonetheless it was done in
43:12 Ukraine okay Victor yushenko who was
43:15 considered a pro Western politician came
43:19 power fine we have built relations with
43:22 him as well he came to Moscow with
43:26 we visited KF I visited
43:29 Sue we met in an informal setting if
43:33 he's Pro Western so be it it's fine let
43:37 job the situation should have developed
43:39 inside independent Ukraine itself as a
43:42 result of kma's leadership things got
43:44 worse and Victor yanukovich came to
43:48 all maybe he wasn't the best president
43:51 and politician I don't know I don't want
43:53 to give assessments however the issue of
43:56 the association with the EU came
44:01 up we have always been lenient to this
44:05 yourself but when we read through the
44:07 Treaty of Association it turned out to
44:09 be a problem for us since we had the
44:11 free trade zone and open Customs borders
44:14 with Ukraine which under this
44:16 Association had to open its borders for
44:18 Europe which could have led to flooding
44:23 Market we said no this is not going to
44:26 work we shall close our borders with
44:29 Ukraine then the Customs borders that is
44:32 yanukovich started to calculate how much
44:34 Ukraine was going to gain how much to
44:36 lose and said to his European Partners I
44:39 need more time to think before
44:42 signing the moment he said that the
44:44 opposition began to take destructive
44:46 steps which were supported by the West
44:49 it all came down to maidan and a coup in
44:52 Ukraine so he did more trained with
44:55 Russia than with with the EU Ukraine
44:59 did of course it's not even the matter
45:02 of trade volume although for the most
45:05 part it is it is the matter of
45:07 cooperation size which the entire
45:09 Ukrainian economy was based on the
45:12 cooperation size between the Enterprises
45:15 were very close since the times of the
45:17 Soviet Union One Enterprise there used
45:20 to produce components to be assembled
45:22 both in Russia and Ukraine and vice
45:24 versa used to be very close
45:28 ties a was committed although I shall
45:32 not delve into details now as I find
45:34 doing it inappropriate the US told us
45:38 calm yanukovich down and we will calm
45:41 opposition let the situation unfold in
45:44 the scenario of a political settlement
45:47 we said all right agreed let's do it
45:49 this way as the Americans requested
45:52 yanukovich did use neither the Armed
45:55 Forces nor the police yet the armed
45:57 opposition committed a coup in
46:00 Kev what is that supposed to mean who do
46:03 you think you are I wanted to ask the
46:08 leadership with the backing of
46:14 whom with the backing of CIA of course
46:17 the organization you wanted to join back
46:21 understand we should thank God they
46:23 didn't let you in although it is a
46:26 serious organization I understand my
46:29 former viav in the sense that I served
46:32 in the first main directorate Soviet
46:34 Union's intelligence service they have
46:37 always been our opponents a job is a
46:43 job technically they did everything
46:45 right they achieved their goal of
46:47 changing the government however from
46:49 political standpoint it was a colossal
46:52 mistake surely it was political
46:54 leadership's miscalculation
46:56 they should have seen what it would
47:01 into so in 2008 the doors of NATO were
47:05 open for Ukraine in 2014 there was a
47:09 coup they started persecuting those who
47:11 did not accept the coup and it was
47:13 indeed the coup they created a threat to
47:16 Crimea which we had to take under our
47:19 protection they launched a war in dunas
47:21 in 2014 with the use of aircraft and
47:26 civilians this is when it all started
47:30 there is a video of aircraft attacking
47:32 donet from above they launched a large
47:36 scale military operation then another
47:38 one when they failed they started to
47:41 prepare the next one all this against
47:44 the background of military development
47:46 of this territory and opening of NATO's
47:53 doors how could we not express concern
47:56 over what was happening from our side
47:59 this would have been a culpable
48:00 negligence that's what it would have
48:05 been it's just that the US political
48:07 leadership pushed us to the line we
48:09 could not cross because doing so could
48:17 itself besides we could not leave our
48:19 brothers in faith in fact a part of
48:21 Russian people in the face of this war
48:24 machine what was the so but that was
48:27 eight years before the current conflict
48:28 started so what was the trigger for you
48:31 what was the moment where you decided
48:39 this conf is initially it was the coup
48:43 in Ukraine that provoked the conflict by
48:46 the way back then the representatives of
48:49 three European countries Germany Poland
48:52 and France arrived they were the
48:54 guarantors of to signed agreement
48:56 between the government of yanukovich and
48:59 opposition they signed it as
49:02 guarantors despite that the opposition
49:05 committed a coup and all these countries
49:07 pretended that they didn't remember that
49:10 they were guarantors of the peaceful
49:12 settlement they just threw it in the
49:14 Stow right away and nobody recalls
49:17 that I don't know if the us know
49:20 anything about the agreement between the
49:23 opposition and the authorities and it's
49:25 three guarantors who instead of bringing
49:28 this whole situation back in the
49:30 political field supported the goou
49:33 although it was meaningless believe me
49:36 because president yanukovich agreed to
49:38 all conditions he was ready to hold an
49:41 early election which he had no chance of
49:43 winning Frankly Speaking everyone knew
49:46 that then why the coup why the victims
49:50 why threatening Crimea why launching an
49:54 dunas this this I do not understand that
49:58 is exactly what the miscalculation is
50:01 Cia did its job to complete the
50:05 coup I think one of the Deputy
50:07 secretaries of State said that it cost a
50:10 large sum of money almost 5 billion but
50:13 the political mistake was
50:15 colossal why would they have to do that
50:18 all this could have been done legally
50:21 without victims without military action
50:23 without losing Crimea
50:26 we would have never considered to even
50:28 lift a finger if it hadn't been for the
50:30 bloody developments on
50:34 maidan because we agreed with the fact
50:36 that after the collapse of the Soviet
50:38 Union our borderers should be along the
50:40 borders of former Union's republics we
50:43 agreed to that but we never agreed to
50:46 NATO's expansion and moreover we never
50:49 agreed that Ukraine would be in
50:54 NATO we did not agree to Nato bases
50:57 there without any discussion with us for
50:59 decades we kept asking don't do this
51:06 that and what triggered the latest
51:08 events firstly the current Ukrainian
51:11 leadership declared that it would not
51:13 implement the Minsk agreements which had
51:15 been signed as you know after the events
51:18 of 2014 in Minsk where the plan of
51:21 peaceful settlement in dbas was set
51:25 but no the current Ukrainian leadership
51:28 foreign minister all other officials and
51:30 then president himself said that they
51:32 don't like anything about the Minsk
51:37 agreements in other words they were not
51:43 it a year or a year and a half ago
51:46 former leaders of Germany and France
51:48 said openly to the whole
51:50 world that they indeed signed the Minsk
51:52 agreements but they never intended to
51:54 implement them they simply let us by the
51:57 nose was there anyone free to talk to
51:59 did you call a US president secretary of
52:01 state and say if you keep militarizing
52:04 Ukraine with NATO forces this is going
52:06 to get good this is going to be a we're
52:16 act we talked about this all the time we
52:20 addressed the United States and European
52:22 countries leadership to stop these
52:24 developments immediately
52:25 to implement the Minsk
52:28 agreements Frankly Speaking I didn't
52:30 know how we were going to do this but I
52:33 was ready to implement them these
52:35 agreements were complicated for Ukraine
52:38 they included lots of elements of those
52:40 donbas territories Independence that's
52:43 true however I was absolutely confident
52:46 and I'm saying this to you now I
52:49 honestly believe that if we managed to
52:51 convince the residents of dbas and we
52:54 had to work hard to to convince them to
52:56 return to the Ukrainian statehood then
52:59 gradually the wounds would start to
53:01 heal when this part of territory
53:04 reintegrated itself into common social
53:06 environment when the pensions and social
53:09 benefits were paid again all the pieces
53:12 would gradually fall into
53:16 place no nobody wanted that everybody
53:19 wanted to resolve the issue by military
53:22 only but we could not let that happen
53:26 and the situation got to the point when
53:28 the Ukrainian side announced no we will
53:31 not do anything they also started
53:34 preparing for military
53:36 action it was they who started the war
53:41 2014 our goal is to stop this war and we
53:45 did not start this war in
53:47 2022 this is an attempt to stop it do
53:50 you think you've stopped it
53:53 now I mean have you achieved your
53:57 aims uh no we haven't achieved our aims
54:02 yet because one of them is the
54:04 nazification this means the prohibition
54:08 of all kinds of Neo-Nazi movements this
54:11 is one of the problems that we discussed
54:13 during the negotiation process which
54:16 ended in Istanbul early this
54:23 year and it was not our initiative
54:26 because we were told by the Europeans in
54:28 particular that it was necessary to
54:31 create conditions for the final signing
54:34 documents my counterparts in France and
54:40 said how can you imagine them signing a
54:43 treaty with a gun to their
54:45 heads the troop should be pulled back
54:47 from Kiev I said all right we withdrew
54:54 K as soon as we pulled back our troops
54:56 from Kiev our Ukrainian negotiators
54:59 immediately through all our agreements
55:01 reached in istabul into the
55:05 Ben and got prepared for a longstanding
55:08 armed confrontation with the help of the
55:10 United States and its satellites in
55:14 Europe that is how the situation has
55:17 developed and that is how it looks
55:21 now but what is part of my what is
55:24 densification would that
55:32 mean that is what I want to talk about
55:35 right now it is a very important
55:41 denazification after gaining
55:43 independence Ukraine began to search as
55:46 some Western analysts say it's
55:52 identity and it came up with nothing
55:55 better than to build this identity upon
55:57 some false Heroes who collaborated with
56:05 Hitler I have already said that in the
56:08 early 19th century when the theorists of
56:11 Independence and sovereignty of Ukraine
56:14 appeared they assumed that an
56:16 independent Ukraine should have very
56:18 good relations with
56:23 Russia due to the historical development
56:27 those territories were part of the
56:28 Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth Poland
56:32 where ukrainians were persecuted and
56:34 treated quite brutally as well as were
56:41 Behavior there were also attempts to
56:49 identity all this remained in the memory
56:51 of the people when World War II broke
56:54 out part of this extremely nationalist
56:57 Elite collaborated with Hitler believing
57:00 that he would bring them
57:05 Freedom the German troops even the SS
57:08 troops made Hitler's collaborators do
57:10 the dirtiest work of Exterminating the
57:13 Polish and Jewish population hence this
57:16 brutal Massacre of the Polish and Jewish
57:18 population as well as the Russian
57:28 this was led by the persons who are well
57:32 shich it was those people who were made
57:35 national heroes that is the problem and
57:39 we are constantly told that nationalism
57:41 and neo-nazism exist in other countries
57:44 as well yes they are seedlings but we
57:47 approved them and other countries fight
57:51 them but Ukraine is not the case these
57:54 people have have been made into national
57:56 heroes in Ukraine monuments to those
57:58 people have been erected they are
58:00 displayed on flags their names are
58:02 shouted by crowds that walk with torches
58:12 Germany these were people who
58:14 exterminated Poes Jews and
58:23 Russians it is NE Neary to stop this
58:25 practice and prevent the dissemination
58:29 concept I say that ukrainians are part
58:31 of the one Russian people they say no we
58:35 are a separate people okay fine if they
58:39 consider themselves a separate people
58:42 they have the right to do so but not on
58:44 the basis of Nazism the Nazi ideology
58:48 would you be satisfied with the
58:49 territory that you have
58:59 I will finish answering the question you
59:01 just asked the question about neo-nazism
59:04 and the nazification
59:07 look the president of Ukraine visited
59:09 Canada this story is well known but
59:12 being silenced in the Western
59:15 countries the Canadian Parliament
59:17 introduced a man who as the speaker of
59:19 the parliament said fought against the
59:22 Russians during the World War II
59:25 well who fought against the Russians
59:27 during the World War II Hitler and his
59:30 accomplices it turned out that this man
59:33 served in the SS troops he personally
59:36 killed Russians Poes and
59:38 Jews the SS troops consisted of
59:40 Ukrainian nationalists who did this
59:43 Dirty Work the president Ukraine stood
59:46 up with the entire parliament of Canada
59:48 and applauded this man how can this be
59:51 imagined the president of Ukraine
59:54 himself by the way is a Jew by
59:57 nationality really my question is what
59:59 do you do about it I mean Hitler's been
01:00:01 dead for 80 years Nazi Germany no longer
01:00:04 exists and so true and so I think what
01:00:09 you're saying is you want to extinguish
01:00:11 or at least control Ukrainian
01:00:13 nationalism but how how do you do
01:00:22 watch listen to me your question is very
01:00:26 subtle and I can tell you what I think
01:00:37 course this question appears to be
01:00:40 subtle it is quite
01:00:43 pesky you say Hitler has been dead for
01:00:46 so many years 80 years but his example
01:00:50 lives on people who exterminated Jews
01:00:53 Russians polls are alive and the
01:00:56 president the current president of
01:00:59 today's Ukraine applauds him in the
01:01:01 Canadian Parliament gives a standing
01:01:04 ovation can we say that we have
01:01:06 completely uprooted this ideology if
01:01:09 what we see is happening
01:01:11 today that is what the nification is in
01:01:14 our understanding we have to get rid of
01:01:17 those people who maintain this concept
01:01:19 and support this practice and try to
01:01:22 preserve it that is what nification is
01:01:26 that is what we mean right my question
01:01:28 was a little more specific it was of
01:01:29 course not a defense of Nazis NE or
01:01:32 otherwise it was a practical question
01:01:35 you don't control the entire country you
01:01:36 don't control Kev you don't seem like
01:01:38 you want to so how how do you eliminate
01:01:41 a culture or an ideology or feelings or
01:01:45 history in a country that you don't
01:01:48 control what do you do about
01:01:57 you know as strange as it may seem to
01:01:59 you during the negotiations in Istanbul
01:02:04 that we have it all in writing
01:02:06 neo-nazism would not be cultivated in
01:02:09 Ukraine including that it would be
01:02:12 prohibited at the legislative
01:02:14 level Mr Carson we agreed on
01:02:17 that this it turns out can be done
01:02:20 during the negotiation process and
01:02:22 there's nothing humiliating for Ukraine
01:02:25 as a modern civilized
01:02:26 state is any state allowed to promote
01:02:30 Nazism it is not is it that is
01:02:36 it um will there be talks and why
01:02:39 haven't there been talks about resolving
01:02:43 the conflict in Ukraine peace
01:02:55 they have been they reached a very high
01:02:57 stage of coordination of positions in a
01:03:00 complex process but still they were
01:03:04 finalized but after we withdrew our
01:03:07 troops from Kiev as I have already said
01:03:10 the other side threw away all these
01:03:12 agreements and obeyed the instructions
01:03:14 of Western countries European countries
01:03:17 and the United States to fight Russia to
01:03:21 End moreover the president y has
01:03:24 legislated a ban on negotiating with
01:03:27 Russia he signed a decree forbidding
01:03:30 everyone to negotiate with
01:03:33 Russia but how are we going to negotiate
01:03:36 if he forbade himself and everyone to do
01:03:40 this we know that he is putting forward
01:03:42 some ideas about the settlement but in
01:03:45 order to agree on something we need to
01:03:47 have a dialogue is that not right well
01:03:50 but you wouldn't be speaking to the
01:03:51 Ukrainian president you'd be speaking to
01:03:53 the American president president when
01:03:55 was the last time you spoke to Joe Biden
01:03:58 I cannot remember when I talked to him I
01:04:01 do not remember we can look it up you
01:04:05 remember no why do I have to remember
01:04:08 everything I have my own things to do we
01:04:11 have domestic political Affairs well
01:04:13 he's funding the war that you're
01:04:15 fighting so I would think that would be
01:04:19 memorable well yes he funds but I talked
01:04:22 to him before the special military
01:04:24 operation of course and I said to him
01:04:26 then by the way I will not go into
01:04:28 details I never do but I said to him
01:04:31 then I believe that you are making a
01:04:33 huge mistake of historic proportions by
01:04:36 supporting everything that is happening
01:04:38 there in Ukraine by pushing Russia away
01:04:42 I told him told him repeatedly by the
01:04:44 way I think that would be correct if I
01:04:47 stop here what did he
01:04:51 say ask him please it is easier for you
01:04:55 you are citizen of the United States go
01:04:57 and ask him it is not appropriate for me
01:05:00 to comment on our conversation but but
01:05:02 you haven't spoken to him since before
01:05:11 2022 no we haven't
01:05:13 spoken certain contexts are being
01:05:16 maintained though speaking of
01:05:20 which do you remember what I told you
01:05:22 about my proposal to work together on a
01:05:29 yes you can ask all of them all of them
01:05:32 are safe and sound thank God the former
01:05:35 president Kiza is safe and sound and I
01:05:39 think Mr Gates and the current director
01:05:42 of the intelligence agency Mr Burns the
01:05:46 then ambassador to Russia in my opinion
01:05:48 our very successful
01:05:50 Ambassador they were all witnesses to
01:05:53 these conversations
01:05:55 them same here if you are interested in
01:05:58 what Mr President Biden responded to me
01:06:01 ask him at any rate I talk to him about
01:06:05 it I'm I'm I'm definitely interested but
01:06:07 from the outside it seems like this
01:06:09 could devolve or evolve into something
01:06:12 that brings the entire world into
01:06:14 conflict and could um initiate some a
01:06:17 nuclear launch and so why don't you just
01:06:19 call Biden and say let's work this
01:06:27 what's there to work out it's very
01:06:32 repeat we have contacts through various
01:06:36 agencies I will tell you what we are
01:06:39 saying on this matter and what we are
01:06:41 conveying to the US
01:06:42 leadership if you really want to stop
01:06:45 fighting you need to stop supplying
01:06:47 weapons it will be over within a few
01:06:50 weeks that's it and then we can agree on
01:06:53 some terms before you do that
01:06:57 stop what's easier why would I call him
01:07:01 what should I talk to him about or beg
01:07:03 him for what and what messages get
01:07:08 back you're going to deliver such and
01:07:10 such weapons to Ukraine oh I'm afraid
01:07:13 I'm afraid please
01:07:15 don't what is there to talk about do you
01:07:17 think NATO is worried about this
01:07:21 becoming a global war or a nuclear
01:07:27 at least that's what they're talking
01:07:29 about and they're trying to intimidate
01:07:31 their own population with an imaginary
01:07:34 Russian threat this is an obvious fact
01:07:38 and thinking people not Philistines but
01:07:41 thinking people analysts those who are
01:07:44 engaged in real politics just smart
01:07:46 people understand perfectly well that
01:07:49 this is a fake they're trying to fuel
01:07:52 the Russian threat the threat I think
01:07:54 you're referring to is a Russian
01:07:56 invasion of Poland lvia expansionist
01:08:00 behavior is can you imagine a scenario
01:08:03 where you sent Russian troops to
01:08:09 Poland only in one case if Poland
01:08:12 attacks Russia why because we have no
01:08:15 interest in Poland lvia or anywhere else
01:08:19 why would we do that we simply don't
01:08:21 have any interest it's just threat
01:08:24 mongering well the argument I know you
01:08:26 know this is that well he invaded
01:08:28 Ukraine he has territorial aims across
01:08:32 the continent and you're saying
01:08:33 unequivocally you
01:08:43 don't it is absolutely out of the
01:08:46 question you just don't have to be any
01:08:48 kind of analyst it goes against common
01:08:51 sense to get involved in some kind of a
01:08:57 and a global war will bring all Humanity
01:08:59 to the brink of Destruction it's
01:09:03 obvious there are certainly means of
01:09:06 deterrence they have been scaring
01:09:08 everyone with us all along tomorrow
01:09:11 Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons
01:09:14 tomorrow Russia will use that no the day
01:09:17 after tomorrow so
01:09:22 what in order to extort additional money
01:09:25 from us taxpayers and European taxpayers
01:09:28 in the confrontation with Russia in the
01:09:30 Ukrainian theater a
01:09:32 war the goal is to weaken Russia as much
01:09:39 possible one of uh our senior United
01:09:42 States senators from the state of New
01:09:43 York Chuck Schumer said yesterday I
01:09:45 believe that we have to continue to fund
01:09:48 the Ukrainian effort or US soldiers
01:09:53 citizen could wind up fighting there how
01:10:04 that this is a provocation and a cheap
01:10:09 that I do not understand why American
01:10:11 soldiers should fight in Ukraine there
01:10:14 are mercenaries from the United States
01:10:16 there the bigger number of mercenaries
01:10:18 comes from Poland with mercenaries from
01:10:21 the United States in second place and
01:10:23 Mer mercenaries from Georgia in third
01:10:26 place well if somebody has the desire to
01:10:29 send regular troops that would certainly
01:10:32 bring Humanity to the brink of very
01:10:35 conflict this is
01:10:38 obvious do the United States need this
01:10:43 for thousands of miles away from your
01:10:48 territory don't you have anything better
01:10:51 do you have issues On the Border issues
01:10:55 with migration issues with the national
01:10:57 debt more than $33
01:11:00 trillion you have nothing better to do
01:11:02 so you should fight in
01:11:05 Ukraine wouldn't it be better to
01:11:07 negotiate with Russia make an agreement
01:11:10 already understanding the situation that
01:11:13 is developing today realizing that
01:11:15 Russia will fight for its interests to
01:11:18 end and realizing this actually return
01:11:22 to Common Sense respecting our country
01:11:24 and its interests and look for certain
01:11:29 Solutions it seems to me that this is
01:11:31 much smarter and more rational who blew
01:11:37 nordstream you for sure I was busy that
01:11:41 day n do you have
01:11:44 do uh I did not blow up north stream uh
01:11:51 though you personally may have an Alibi
01:11:54 but the CIA has no such
01:11:56 Alibi do you have evidence that NATO or
01:12:06 it you know I won't get into details but
01:12:10 people always say in such cases look for
01:12:13 someone who is interested but in this
01:12:15 case we should not only look for someone
01:12:17 who is interested but also for someone
01:12:20 who has capabilities because there may
01:12:22 be many people interested but not all of
01:12:25 them are capable of sinking to the
01:12:26 bottom of the Baltic Sea and carrying
01:12:30 explosion these two components should be
01:12:32 connected who is interested and who is
01:12:35 capable of doing it but I'm confused I
01:12:37 mean that's the biggest Act of
01:12:38 industrial terrorism ever and it's the
01:12:41 largest emission of CO2 in in history
01:12:44 okay so if you had evidence and
01:12:45 presumably given your Security Services
01:12:47 your inel services you would that NATO
01:12:50 the US CIA the West did this why
01:12:52 wouldn't you present it and win a
01:13:01 victory in the war of propaganda it is
01:13:04 very difficult to defeat the United
01:13:06 States because the United States
01:13:08 controls all the world's media and many
01:13:11 European media the ultimate beneficiary
01:13:14 of the biggest European media are
01:13:16 American financial
01:13:18 institutions don't you know
01:13:20 that so it is possible to get involved
01:13:23 in this work but it is cost prohibitive
01:13:26 so to speak we can simply Shine the
01:13:28 spotlight on our sources of information
01:13:31 and we will not achieve
01:13:33 results it is clear to the whole world
01:13:36 what happened and even American analysts
01:13:38 talk about it directly it's true yes I
01:13:42 but but here's a question you may able
01:13:43 to answer you worked in Germany famously
01:13:46 um the Germans clearly know that their
01:13:49 NATO partner did this but they and it
01:13:51 damaged their economy greatly it may
01:13:54 never recover why are they being silent
01:13:57 about it that's very confusing to me why
01:13:59 wouldn't the Germans say something about
01:14:05 it this also confuses me but today's
01:14:09 German leadership is Guided by the
01:14:11 interests of the collective West rather
01:14:13 than its national interests otherwise it
01:14:16 is difficult to explain the logic of
01:14:20 inaction after all it is not only about
01:14:23 northstream 1 which was blown up and the
01:14:25 northstream 2 was damaged but one pipe
01:14:29 is safe and sound and gas can be Supply
01:14:31 to Europe through it but Germany does
01:14:34 not open it we're ready
01:14:38 please there's another route through
01:14:40 Poland called yamal Europe which also
01:14:44 allows for large
01:14:45 flow Poland has closed it but Poland
01:14:48 packs from the German hand it receives
01:14:50 money from the pan European funds and
01:14:53 Germany is the main donor to these pan
01:14:55 European funds Germany feeds Poland to
01:14:59 the certain extent and they closed their
01:15:02 route to Germany why I don't understand
01:15:06 Ukraine to which the Germans Supply
01:15:08 weapons and give
01:15:10 money Germany is the second sponsor of
01:15:13 the United States in terms of financial
01:15:17 Ukraine there are two gas routes through
01:15:20 Ukraine they simply closed one route
01:15:23 ukrainians open the second route and
01:15:26 please get gas from Russia they do not
01:15:29 open it why don't the Germans say look
01:15:33 guys we give you money and weapons open
01:15:36 up the valve please let the gas from
01:15:38 Russia pass through for us we're buying
01:15:41 liquefied gas at absorbent prices in
01:15:44 Europe which brings the level of our
01:15:47 competitiveness and economy in general
01:15:51 zero do you want us to give give you
01:15:53 money let us have the decent existence
01:15:56 make money for our economy because this
01:15:58 is where the money we give you comes
01:16:01 from they refuse to do so why ask them
01:16:06 that is what is like in their heads
01:16:09 those are highly incompetent people well
01:16:12 maybe the world is breaking into two
01:16:14 hemispheres one with cheap energy the
01:16:16 other without and I want to ask you that
01:16:18 if if we're now a multi-polar world
01:16:20 obviously we are can you describe the
01:16:23 blocks of alliances who who is in each
01:16:31 think listen you have said that the
01:16:33 world is breaken into two
01:16:35 hemispheres a human brain is divided
01:16:40 hemispheres one is responsible for one
01:16:42 type of activities the other one is more
01:16:45 about creativity and so on but it is
01:16:48 still one and the same
01:16:50 head the world should be a single whole
01:16:54 security should be shared rather than a
01:16:56 meant for the golden
01:16:59 billion that is the only scenario where
01:17:01 the world could be stable sustainable
01:17:04 predictable until then while the head is
01:17:07 split in two parts it is an illness a
01:17:10 serious adverse condition it is a period
01:17:13 of severe disease that the world is
01:17:18 now but I think that thanks to honest
01:17:20 journalism this work is a who work of
01:17:23 the doctors this could somehow be
01:17:25 remedied well let's just give one
01:17:27 example the the US dollar which has kind
01:17:30 of United the world uh in a lot of ways
01:17:32 maybe not to your advantage but
01:17:34 certainly ours is that going away as the
01:17:37 reserve currency that the com the
01:17:39 universally accepted currency how have
01:17:41 sanctions do you think changed the
01:17:43 Dollar's place in the
01:17:49 world you know to use the dollar as a
01:17:52 tool of foreign policy struggle is one
01:17:56 of the biggest strategic mistakes made
01:17:58 by the US political
01:18:04 leadership the dollar is the Cornerstone
01:18:07 of the United States
01:18:09 power I think everyone understands very
01:18:12 well that no matter how many dollars are
01:18:14 printed they are quickly dispersed all
01:18:27 inflation in the United States is
01:18:28 minimal it's about three or
01:18:31 3.4% which is I think totally acceptable
01:18:35 us but they won't stop
01:18:38 printing what does the debt of $33
01:18:40 trillion tell us about it is about the
01:18:50 emission nevertheless it is the main
01:18:52 weapon used by the United States to
01:18:54 preserve its power across the world as
01:18:57 soon as the political leadership decided
01:18:59 to use the US dollar as a tool of
01:19:02 political struggle a blow was dealt to
01:19:06 power I would not like to use any strong
01:19:09 language but it is a stupid thing to do
01:19:20 mistake look at what is going on in the
01:19:23 world even the United States allies are
01:19:25 now downsizing their dollar reserves
01:19:28 seeing this everyone starts looking for
01:19:32 themselves but the fact that the United
01:19:34 States applies restrictive measures to
01:19:36 certain countries such as placing
01:19:39 restrictions on transactions freezing
01:19:41 assets Etc causes great concern and
01:19:44 sends a signal to the whole
01:19:48 world what did we have here until 2022
01:19:52 about 80 % of Russian foreign trade
01:19:54 transactions were made in US Dollars and
01:20:02 Euros US Dollars accounted for
01:20:04 approximately 50% of our transactions
01:20:07 with third countries while currently it
01:20:11 133% it wasn't us who banned the use of
01:20:19 dollar we had no such
01:20:21 intention it decision of the United
01:20:24 States to restrict our transactions in
01:20:25 US Dollars I think it is complete
01:20:29 foolishness from the point of view of
01:20:31 the interest of the United States itself
01:20:33 and its taxpayers as it damages the US
01:20:36 economy undermines the power of the
01:20:38 United States across the
01:20:40 world by the way our transactions in
01:20:43 Yuan accounted for about
01:20:47 3% today 34% of our transactions are
01:20:50 made in Rubles and about as much a
01:20:54 little over 34% in
01:20:58 Yuan why did the United States do this
01:21:02 my only guess is
01:21:03 self-conceit they probably thought it
01:21:06 would lead to full collapse but nothing
01:21:08 collapsed moreover other countries
01:21:10 including oil producers are thinking of
01:21:13 and already accepting payments for oil
01:21:15 in Yuan do you even realize what is
01:21:20 not does anyone in United States
01:21:24 this what are you doing you cutting
01:21:27 yourself off all experts say
01:21:32 this ask any intelligent and thinking
01:21:35 person in the United States what the
01:21:37 dollar means for the
01:21:39 US you're killing it with your own hands
01:21:43 I think that's a I I think that's a fair
01:21:45 assessment the question is what comes
01:21:47 next and maybe you trade one colonial
01:21:49 power for another much less sentimental
01:21:52 forgiving colonial power I mean are is
01:21:54 the the bricks for example in danger of
01:21:58 being completely dominated by the
01:21:59 Chinese the Chinese
01:22:00 economy uh in a way that's not good for
01:22:04 sovereignty do you worry about
01:22:10 that we have heard those Boogyman
01:22:14 before it is a Boogyman story we're
01:22:17 neighbors with China you cannot choose
01:22:20 neighbors just as you cannot choose
01:22:22 close relatives we share a border of
01:22:25 thousand kilom with them this is number
01:22:28 one second we have a centuries long
01:22:32 history of coexistence we're used to it
01:22:35 third China's foreign policy philosophy
01:22:38 is not aggressive its idea is to always
01:22:41 look for compromise and we can see
01:22:45 that the next point is as follows we are
01:22:49 always told the same Boogeyman story and
01:22:52 here here it goes again through an
01:22:54 euphemistic form but it is still the
01:22:57 same Boogyman story The cooperation with
01:23:00 China keeps increasing the pace at which
01:23:02 China's cooperation with Europe is
01:23:04 growing is higher and greater than that
01:23:08 of the growth of Chinese Russian
01:23:11 cooperation ask Europeans aren't they
01:23:13 afraid they might be I don't know but
01:23:16 they are still trying to access China's
01:23:19 Market at all costs especially now that
01:23:22 they are facing economic
01:23:25 problems Chinese businesses are also
01:23:27 exploring the European
01:23:29 market do Chinese businesses have small
01:23:32 presence in the United States yes the
01:23:35 political decisions are such that they
01:23:37 are trying to limit their cooperation
01:23:40 China it is to your own detriment Mr
01:23:43 Tucker that you are limiting cooperation
01:23:45 with China you're hurting
01:23:48 yourself it is a delicate matter and
01:23:50 there are no Silver Bullet solution
01:23:52 tions just as it is with the
01:23:56 dollar so before introducing any
01:23:59 illegitimate sanctions illegitimate in
01:24:02 terms of the charter of the United
01:24:05 Nations one should think very carefully
01:24:08 for decision makers this appears to be a
01:24:13 problem so you said a moment ago that
01:24:15 the world would be a lot better if it
01:24:17 weren't broken into competing alliances
01:24:19 if there was cooperation globally
01:24:23 one of the reasons you don't have that
01:24:25 is because the current American
01:24:26 Administration is dead set against you
01:24:29 do you think if there were a new
01:24:31 Administration after Joe Biden that you
01:24:33 would be able to reestablish
01:24:35 communication with the US government or
01:24:37 does it not matter who the president
01:24:45 is I will tell you but let me finish the
01:24:49 previous thought we together with my
01:24:52 colleague friend president J yingping
01:24:55 set a goal to reach $200 billion of
01:24:58 mutual trade with China this year we
01:25:01 have exceeded this level according to
01:25:04 our figures our bilateral trade with
01:25:06 China totals already 230 billion and the
01:25:10 Chinese statistics says it is $240
01:25:14 billion one more important thing our
01:25:17 trade is well balanced mutually
01:25:20 complimentary in Hightech and energy
01:25:22 scientific research and development it
01:25:27 balanced as for bricks where Russia took
01:25:30 over the presidency this year the bricks
01:25:33 countries are by and large developing
01:25:37 rapidly look if memory serves me right
01:25:41 back in 1992 the share of the G7
01:25:44 countries in the world economy amounted
01:25:49 47% whereas in 2022 it was down to I
01:25:53 think a little over
01:25:58 30% the bricks countries accounted for
01:26:03 1992 but now their share is greater than
01:26:08 G7 it has nothing to do with the events
01:26:10 in Ukraine this is due to the trends of
01:26:13 global development and World economy as
01:26:15 I mentioned just now and this is
01:26:18 inevitable this will keep happening it
01:26:21 is like the rise of the sun you cannot
01:26:24 prevent the Sun from rising you have to
01:26:27 adapt to it how do the United States
01:26:30 adapt with the help of force sanctions
01:26:33 pressure bombings and use of armed
01:26:38 forces this is about self-conceit your
01:26:42 political establishment does not
01:26:44 understand that the world is changing
01:26:46 under objective circumstances and in
01:26:48 order to preserve your level even if
01:26:51 someone aspires pardon me to the level
01:26:54 of dominance you have to make the right
01:26:56 decisions in a competent and timely
01:26:59 manner such brutal actions including
01:27:02 with regard to Russia and say other
01:27:07 counterproductive this is an obvious
01:27:09 fact it has already become
01:27:14 evident you just ask me if another
01:27:17 leader comes and changes
01:27:19 something it is not about the leader it
01:27:21 is not about the personality of a
01:27:23 particular person I had a very good
01:27:26 relationship with say Bush I know that
01:27:31 States he was portrayed as some kind of
01:27:34 a country boy who does not understand
01:27:37 much I assure you that this is not the
01:27:40 case I think he made a lot of mistakes
01:27:42 with regard to Russia
01:27:44 too I told you about 2008 and the
01:27:47 decision in Bucharest to open the NATO's
01:27:50 doors to for Ukraine and so on that
01:27:53 happened during his presidency he
01:27:56 actually exercised pressure on the
01:27:58 Europeans but in General on a personal
01:28:01 human level I had a very good
01:28:03 relationship with him he was no worse
01:28:06 than any other American or Russian or
01:28:10 politician I assure you he understood
01:28:13 what he was doing as well as
01:28:15 others I had such personal relationship
01:28:22 it is not about the personality of the
01:28:24 leader it is about the Elite's
01:28:28 mindset if the idea of domination at any
01:28:31 cost based also on forceful actions
01:28:34 dominates the American society nothing
01:28:37 will change it will only get
01:28:41 worse but if in the end one comes to the
01:28:44 awareness that the world has been
01:28:46 changing to to the objective
01:28:48 circumstances and that one should be
01:28:51 able to adapt them in time using the
01:28:54 advantages that the US still has today
01:28:57 then perhaps something may
01:29:02 change look China's economy has become
01:29:05 the first economy in the world in
01:29:07 purchasing power parity in terms of
01:29:10 volume it overtook the US a long time
01:29:13 ago the USA comes second then India 1
01:29:17 and A2 billion people and then Japan
01:29:20 with Russia in the fifth place
01:29:23 Russia was the first economy in Europe
01:29:25 last year despite all the sanctions and
01:29:28 restrictions is it normal from your
01:29:30 point of view sanctions restrictions
01:29:33 impossibility of payments in dollars
01:29:36 being cut off from Swift Services
01:29:38 sanctions against our ships carrying oil
01:29:42 sanctions against airplanes sanctions in
01:29:49 everywhere the largest number of
01:29:51 sanctions in the world World which are
01:29:52 applied are applied against Russia and
01:29:55 we have become Europe's first economy
01:29:59 time the tools that us uses don't work
01:30:04 well one has to think about what to do
01:30:07 if this realization comes to the ruling
01:30:09 Elites then yes then the first person of
01:30:12 the state will act in anticipation of
01:30:15 what the voters and the people who make
01:30:17 decisions at various levels expect from
01:30:20 this person then maybe something will
01:30:23 change but you're describing two
01:30:25 different systems you say that the
01:30:27 leader acts in the interest of the
01:30:28 voters but you also say these decisions
01:30:30 are not made by the leader they're made
01:30:31 by the ruling classes you've run this
01:30:34 country for so long you've known all
01:30:36 these American Presidents what are those
01:30:38 power centers in the United States do
01:30:40 you think like who actually makes the
01:30:49 decisions I don't know is a complex
01:30:52 country conservative on one hand rapidly
01:30:56 changing on the other it's not easy for
01:30:58 us to sort it all
01:31:00 out who makes decisions in the elections
01:31:03 is it possible to understand this when
01:31:06 each state has its own legislation each
01:31:08 state regulates itself someone can be
01:31:11 excluded from elections at the state
01:31:14 level it is a two stage electoral system
01:31:17 it is very difficult for us to
01:31:20 it certainly there are two parties that
01:31:23 are dominant the Republicans and the
01:31:25 Democrats and within this party system
01:31:28 the centers that make decisions that
01:31:32 decisions then look why in my opinion
01:31:35 after the collapse of the Soviet Union
01:31:38 such an erroneous crude completely
01:31:40 unjustified policy of pressure was
01:31:42 pursued against Russia after all this is
01:31:46 a policy of pressure NATO expansion
01:31:49 support for the separatists in caucuses
01:31:52 creation of a missile defense system
01:31:55 these are all elements of pressure
01:31:57 pressure pressure
01:31:59 pressure then dragging Ukraine into NATO
01:32:03 is all about pressure pressure
01:32:08 why I think among other things because
01:32:11 excessive production capacities were
01:32:15 created during the confrontation with
01:32:17 the Soviet Union there were many centers
01:32:20 created and specialist on the Soviet
01:32:22 Union who could not do anything else
01:32:25 they convinced the political leadership
01:32:27 that it is necessary to continue
01:32:29 chisling Russia to try to break it up to
01:32:32 create on this territory several quasi
01:32:35 State entities and to subdue them in UND
01:32:38 divided form to use their combined
01:32:41 potential for the future struggle with
01:32:44 China this is a mistake including the
01:32:46 excessive potential of those who worked
01:32:48 for the confrontation with the Soviet
01:32:52 it is necessary to get rid of this there
01:32:54 should be new fresh forces people who
01:32:57 look into the future and understand what
01:32:59 is happening in the
01:33:01 world look at how Indonesia is
01:33:04 developing 600 million people where can
01:33:07 we get away from that nowhere we just
01:33:10 have to assume that Indonesia will enter
01:33:13 it is already in the club of the world's
01:33:15 leading economies no matter who likes it
01:33:20 it yes understand and are aware that in
01:33:23 the United States despite all the
01:33:27 problems the situation is still normal
01:33:29 with the economy growing decently the
01:33:32 GDP is growing by 2.5% if I'm not
01:33:37 mistaken but if we want to ensure the
01:33:40 future then we need to change our
01:33:42 approach to what is changing as I
01:33:44 already said the world would
01:33:46 nevertheless change regardless of how
01:33:48 the developments in Ukraine end the
01:33:51 world is changing in the United States
01:33:54 themselves experts are writing that the
01:33:56 United States are nonetheless gradually
01:33:59 changing their position in the world it
01:34:01 is your experts who write that I just
01:34:04 read them the only question is how this
01:34:07 would happen painfully and quickly or
01:34:11 gradually and this is written by people
01:34:13 who are not anti-American they simply
01:34:16 follow Global development Trends that's
01:34:20 it and in order to assess them and
01:34:23 change policies we need people who think
01:34:26 look forward can analyze and recommend
01:34:28 certain decisions at the level of
01:34:32 leaders I just have to ask you've said
01:34:35 clearly that NATO expansion Eastward is
01:34:37 a violation of the promise you all were
01:34:39 made in 1990 it it's a threat to your
01:34:43 before you sent troops into Ukraine the
01:34:46 vice president of the United States went
01:34:47 to the Munich security conference and
01:34:49 encouraged the president of Ukraine to
01:34:52 do you think that was an effort to
01:34:54 provoke you into military
01:35:02 action I repeat once again we have
01:35:05 repeatedly repeatedly proposed to seek a
01:35:08 solution to the problems that arose in
01:35:11 Ukraine after 2014 K through peaceful
01:35:14 means but no one listen to us and
01:35:18 moreover the Ukrainian leaders who were
01:35:20 under the compl compl Us control
01:35:23 suddenly declared that they would not
01:35:24 comply with the Minsk agreements they
01:35:27 disliked everything there and continued
01:35:30 military activity in that
01:35:39 territory and in parallel that territory
01:35:42 was being exploited by NATO military
01:35:44 structures under the guise of various
01:35:47 Personnel training and retraining
01:35:49 centers they essenti began to create
01:35:52 bases there that's
01:35:54 all Ukraine announced that the Russians
01:35:57 were a non-titular nationality while
01:36:00 passing the laws that limit the rights
01:36:02 of non-titular nationalities in
01:36:05 Ukraine Ukraine having received all
01:36:08 these Southeastern territories as a gift
01:36:10 from the Russian people suddenly
01:36:12 announced that the Russians were a
01:36:14 non-titular nationality in that
01:36:17 territory is that
01:36:23 all this put together led to the
01:36:25 decision to end the war that neo-nazis
01:36:27 started in Ukraine in
01:36:31 2014 do you do you think zilinski has
01:36:35 the freedom to negotiate a settlement to
01:36:42 conflict I don't know the details of
01:36:44 course it's difficult for me to judge
01:36:47 but I believe he has in any case he used
01:36:51 to have his father fought against the
01:36:53 fascists Nazis during World War II I
01:36:57 once talked to him about this I said V
01:37:01 what are you doing why are you
01:37:03 supporting neo-nazis in Ukraine today
01:37:06 while your father fought against fascism
01:37:09 he was a Frontline
01:37:11 Soldier I will not tell you what he
01:37:13 answered this is a separate topic and I
01:37:15 think it's incorrect for me to do so but
01:37:18 as to the freedom of choice why not he
01:37:21 came to power on the expectations of
01:37:23 Ukrainian people that he would lead
01:37:25 Ukraine to peace he talked about this it
01:37:29 was thanks to this that he won the
01:37:33 overwhelmingly but then when he came to
01:37:35 power in my opinion he realize two
01:37:38 things firstly it is better not to clash
01:37:41 with neo-nazis and nationalists because
01:37:44 they are aggressive and very active you
01:37:46 can expect anything from them and
01:37:49 secondly the US L West supports them and
01:37:52 will always support those who antagonize
01:37:55 with Russia it is beneficial and safe so
01:37:58 he took the relevant position despite
01:38:00 promising his people to end the war in
01:38:03 Ukraine he deceived his voters but do
01:38:06 you think at this point as of February
01:38:08 2024 he has the latitude the freedom to
01:38:11 speak with you or your government
01:38:13 directly about putting an end to this
01:38:14 which clearly isn't helping his country
01:38:16 or the world can he do that do you
01:38:24 why not he considers himself head of
01:38:27 state he won the
01:38:29 election although we believe in Russia
01:38:32 that the kud is the primary source of
01:38:34 power for everything that happened after
01:38:37 2014 and in this sense even today
01:38:40 government is flawed but he considers
01:38:43 himself the president and he is
01:38:45 recognized by the United States all of
01:38:48 Europe and practically the rest of the
01:38:49 world in such a capacity
01:38:53 can we negotiated with Ukraine inul we
01:38:57 agreed he was aware of this moreover the
01:39:01 negotiation group leader Mr aramia is
01:39:05 his last name I believe still has the
01:39:07 faction of the ruling Party The Party of
01:39:10 the president in the
01:39:11 Rada he still hads the presidential
01:39:14 faction in the the country's Parliament
01:39:17 he still sits there he even put his
01:39:20 preliminary signature on the document I
01:39:22 am telling you about but then he
01:39:25 publicly stated to the whole world we
01:39:27 were ready to sign this document but Mr
01:39:30 Johnson then the Prime Minister of Great
01:39:33 Britain came and dissuaded us from doing
01:39:35 this saying it was better to fight
01:39:38 Russia they would give everything needed
01:39:40 for us to return what was lost during
01:39:42 the clashes with Russia and we agreed
01:39:45 with this proposal look his statement
01:39:48 has been published he said it publicly
01:39:51 can they return to this or not the
01:39:54 question is do they want it or
01:39:57 not further on President of Ukraine
01:40:00 issued a decree prohibiting negotiations
01:40:02 with us let him cancel that decree and
01:40:06 that's it we have never refused
01:40:09 negotiations indeed we hear all the time
01:40:12 is Russia ready yes we have not refused
01:40:16 it was then who publicly refused well
01:40:19 let him cancel his
01:40:21 and enter into negotiations we have
01:40:26 refused and the fact that they obeyed
01:40:28 the demand or persuasion of Mr Johnson
01:40:31 the former Prime Minister of Great
01:40:33 Britain seems ridiculous and very sad to
01:40:36 me because as Mr arakia put it we could
01:40:40 have stopped those hostilities with war
01:40:43 a year and a half ago
01:40:46 already but the British persuaded us and
01:40:48 we refused this where is Mr Johnson now
01:40:53 and the war continues that's a good
01:40:55 question where do you think he is and
01:41:02 that hell knows I don't understand it
01:41:07 myself there was a general starting
01:41:09 point for some reason everyone had the
01:41:13 illusion that Russia could be defeated
01:41:16 battlefield because of arrogance because
01:41:21 but not because of a great
01:41:26 mind you've described the connection
01:41:28 between Russia and Ukraine you've
01:41:29 described Russia itself a couple of
01:41:31 times as Orthodox that's Central to your
01:41:33 understanding of Russia you've said
01:41:34 you're Orthodox what does that
01:41:36 mean in for you you're a Christian
01:41:41 Leader by your own description so what
01:41:43 effect does that have on
01:41:49 you you know as I already mentioned in
01:41:54 988 Prince Vladimir himself was baptized
01:41:58 following the example of his grandmother
01:42:00 Princess Olga and then he baptized his
01:42:03 Squad and then gradually over the course
01:42:06 of several years he baptized all the
01:42:10 roost it was a lengthy process from
01:42:13 pagans to Christians it took many
01:42:16 years but in the end this Orthodoxy
01:42:19 Eastern Christianity
01:42:21 deeply rooted itself in the
01:42:22 consciousness of the Russian
01:42:26 people when Russia expanded and absorbed
01:42:29 other nations who profess Islam Buddhism
01:42:32 and Judaism Russia has always been very
01:42:35 loyal to those people who profess other
01:42:37 religions this is her strength this is
01:42:41 absolutely clear and the fact is that
01:42:44 the main postulates main values are very
01:42:47 similar not to say the same in all world
01:42:49 religions I've just mentioned which are
01:42:52 the traditional religions of the Russian
01:42:57 Russ by the way Russian authorities were
01:43:00 always very careful about the culture
01:43:02 and religion of those people who came
01:43:04 into the Russian
01:43:08 Empire this in my opinion forms the
01:43:11 basis of both security and stability of
01:43:14 the Russian statehood all the peoples
01:43:17 inhabiting Russia basically consider it
01:43:19 their motherhood
01:43:22 if say people move over to you or to
01:43:25 Europe from Latin America and even
01:43:27 clearer and more understandable example
01:43:31 people come but yet they have come to
01:43:33 you or to European countries from their
01:43:38 Homeland and people who profess
01:43:40 different religions in Russia consider
01:43:42 Russia their motherland they have no
01:43:48 motherland we are together this is one
01:43:50 big family and our Traditional Values
01:43:55 similar I've just mentioned one big
01:43:57 family but everyone has his her own
01:44:00 family and this is the basis of our
01:44:04 society and if we say that the
01:44:06 motherland and the family are
01:44:08 specifically connected with each
01:44:13 other it is indeed the case since it is
01:44:17 impossible to ensure a normal future for
01:44:19 our children and our families unless we
01:44:22 ensure a normal sustainable future for
01:44:25 the entire country for the
01:44:28 motherland that is why patriotic
01:44:30 sentiment is so strong in
01:44:35 Russia the one way in which the
01:44:37 religions are different is that
01:44:38 Christianity is specifically a
01:44:40 nonviolent religion Jesus says turn the
01:44:42 other cheek don't kill how can a leader
01:44:46 who has to kill of any country how can a
01:44:49 leader be a Christian
01:44:51 how do you reconcile that to
01:45:01 yourself it is very easy when it comes
01:45:04 to protecting oneself and one's family
01:45:07 one's Homeland we won't attack
01:45:13 anyone when did the developments Ukraine
01:45:17 start since the Kat and the hostility
01:45:20 these indas began that's when they
01:45:23 started and we're protecting our people
01:45:26 ourselves our homeland and our
01:45:30 future as for religion in
01:45:35 general you know it's not about external
01:45:38 manifestations it's not about going to
01:45:40 church every day or banging your head on
01:45:47 floor it is in the heart and our culture
01:45:52 oriented Doki who was very well known in
01:45:56 the west and the genius of Russian
01:45:58 culture Russian literature spoke a lot
01:46:01 about this about the Russian
01:46:08 Soul after all Western Society is more
01:46:12 pragmatic Russian people think more
01:46:14 about the Eternal about moral values I
01:46:18 don't know maybe you won't agree with
01:46:20 but Western culture is more pragmatic
01:46:27 all I'm not saying this is bad it makes
01:46:30 it possible for today's golden billion
01:46:33 to achieve good success in production
01:46:35 even in science and so
01:46:40 on there's nothing wrong with that I'm
01:46:43 just saying that we kind of look the
01:46:45 same our so do you see the supernatural
01:46:51 look out across what's happening in the
01:46:52 world now do you see God at work do you
01:46:54 ever think to yourself these are forces
01:47:05 human no to be honest I don't think
01:47:08 so my opinion is that the development of
01:47:11 the world Community is in accordance
01:47:13 with inherent laws and those laws are
01:47:20 it's always been this way in the history
01:47:22 of mankind some Nations and countries
01:47:25 Rose became stronger and more
01:47:28 numerous and then left the international
01:47:31 stage losing the status they had
01:47:35 to there is probably no need for me to
01:47:38 give examples but we could start with
01:47:40 the King isan and horde conquerors the
01:47:43 golden horde and then end with the Roman
01:47:46 Empire it seems that there has never
01:47:48 been anything like the Roman Empire in
01:47:53 mankind nevertheless the potential of
01:47:56 The Barbarians gradually grew as did
01:47:59 population in general The Barbarians
01:48:02 were getting stronger and began to
01:48:04 develop economically as we would say
01:48:08 today this eventually led to the
01:48:10 collapse of the Roman Empire and the
01:48:13 regime imposed by the
01:48:16 Romans however it took five centuries
01:48:19 for the Roman Empire to fall
01:48:23 apart the difference with what is
01:48:26 now is that all the processes of change
01:48:30 are happening at the much faster Pace
01:48:35 times so when does the AI Empire start
01:48:46 think you're asking increasingly more
01:48:49 complicated questions questions to
01:48:51 answer them you need to be an expert in
01:48:54 big numbers big data and
01:48:56 AI men is currently facing many threats
01:49:00 due to the genetic researches it is now
01:49:03 possible to create a superhuman A
01:49:06 specialized human being a genetically
01:49:09 engineered athlete scientist military
01:49:13 man there are reports that Elon Musk has
01:49:16 already had a chip implanted in the
01:49:18 human brain in the USA
01:49:23 what do you think of
01:49:28 that well I think there's no stopping
01:49:31 Elon Musk he will do as he sees
01:49:34 fit never thess you need to find some
01:49:38 common ground with him search for ways
01:49:40 to persuade him I think he's a smart
01:49:43 person I truly believe he is so you need
01:49:46 to reach an agreement with him because
01:49:48 this process needs to to be formalized
01:49:51 and subjected to certain
01:49:59 rules Humanity has to consider what is
01:50:02 going to happen due to the newest
01:50:08 AI one can make an approximate
01:50:10 prediction of what will
01:50:17 happen once mankind felt an exist
01:50:20 Potential Threat coming from nuclear
01:50:22 weapons all nuclear Nations began to
01:50:24 come to terms with one another since
01:50:26 they realized they negligent use of
01:50:29 nuclear weaponary could drive Humanity
01:50:36 extension it is impossible to stop
01:50:39 research in genetics or AI today just as
01:50:42 it was impossible to stop the use of
01:50:44 gunpowder back in the
01:50:51 but as soon as we realize that the
01:50:52 threat comes from unbridled and
01:50:54 uncontrolled development of AI or
01:50:57 genetics or any other field the time
01:51:00 will come to reach an international
01:51:02 agreement on how to regulate these
01:51:06 things I I appreciate all the time uh
01:51:08 you've given us I just got to ask you
01:51:10 one last question and that's about
01:51:12 someone who's very famous in the United
01:51:13 States probably not here Evan gersovitz
01:51:16 who's the Wall Street Journal reporter
01:51:20 um and he's been in prisoned for almost
01:51:22 a year uh this is a huge story in the
01:51:24 United States and I just want to ask you
01:51:26 directly without getting into the tales
01:51:28 of it or your version of what happened
01:51:30 if as a sign of your decency you would
01:51:33 be willing to release him to us and
01:51:35 we'll bring him back to the United
01:51:50 we have done so many gestures of
01:51:52 Goodwill out of decency that I think we
01:51:58 them we have never seen anyone
01:52:00 reciprocate to us in a similar
01:52:04 manner however in theory we can say that
01:52:07 we do not rule out that we can do
01:52:10 that if our partners take reciprocal
01:52:16 steps when I talk about the partners I
01:52:19 first of all refer to special
01:52:22 services special services are in contact
01:52:25 with one another they are talking about
01:52:30 question there is no taboo to settle
01:52:33 this issue we are willing to solve
01:52:36 it but there are certain terms being
01:52:39 discussed via special services
01:52:43 channels I believe an agreement can be
01:52:47 reached so typically I mean this stuff
01:52:49 has happened for obviously centuries one
01:52:52 country catches another spy within its
01:52:54 borders it trades it for one of its own
01:52:56 Intel guys in another country I think
01:52:58 what makes and it's not my business but
01:53:01 what makes this difference is the guy's
01:53:02 obviously not a spy he's a kid and maybe
01:53:04 he was breaking your law in some way but
01:53:06 he's not a super spy and everybody knows
01:53:08 that and he's being held hostage in
01:53:09 exchange which is true with respect it's
01:53:11 true and everyone knows it's true so
01:53:14 maybe he's in a different category maybe
01:53:16 it's not fair to ask for you know some
01:53:20 else in exchange for letting him out
01:53:21 maybe it degrades Russia to do
01:53:29 that you know you can give different
01:53:32 interpretations to what constitutes a
01:53:34 spy but there are certain things
01:53:37 provided by law if person gets secret
01:53:40 information and does that in
01:53:42 conspiratorial manner then this is a
01:53:46 Espionage and that is exactly what he
01:53:48 was doing he was receiving classified
01:53:52 confidential information and he did it
01:53:55 covertly maybe he did that out of
01:53:58 carelessness or his own
01:54:01 initiative considering the sheer fact
01:54:03 this is qualified as Espionage the fact
01:54:06 has been proven as he was caught
01:54:09 red-handed when he was receiving this
01:54:11 information if it had been some
01:54:13 farfetched excuse some fabrication
01:54:16 something not proven it would have been
01:54:18 different story then but he was caught
01:54:21 red-handed when he was secretly getting
01:54:24 confidential information what is it then
01:54:27 but are you suggesting he was working
01:54:28 for the US government or NATO or he was
01:54:31 just a reporter who was given material
01:54:33 he wasn't supposed to have those seem
01:54:35 like very different very different
01:54:44 things I don't know who he was working
01:54:47 for but I would like to read iterate
01:54:50 that getting classified information in
01:54:54 secret is called Espionage and he was
01:54:57 working for the US Special Services some
01:55:03 agencies I don't think he was working
01:55:05 for Monaco as Monaco is hardly
01:55:08 interested in getting that
01:55:10 information it is up to special services
01:55:14 agreement some groundwork has been laid
01:55:18 there are people who in our you are not
01:55:20 connected with special
01:55:22 services let me tell you a story about a
01:55:25 person serving a sentence in an Allied
01:55:30 US the person due to patriotic
01:55:33 sentiments eliminated a bandit in one of
01:55:38 capitals during the events in the
01:55:40 caucuses do you know what he was
01:55:45 doing I don't want to say that but I
01:55:48 will do it anyway he was laying our
01:55:50 soldiers taken prisoner on the road and
01:55:53 then drove his car over their
01:55:57 heads what kind of person is that can he
01:56:04 human but there was a patriot who
01:56:06 eliminated him in one of the European
01:56:11 capitals whether he did it of his own
01:56:13 valtion or not that is a different
01:56:17 yeah that I mean that's a completely
01:56:19 different I mean I mean this a 32y old
01:56:23 like he committed something
01:56:28 different he's not just a journalist I
01:56:31 reiterate he's a journalist who was
01:56:34 secretly giving confidential
01:56:37 information yes it is different but
01:56:39 still I'm talking about other people who
01:56:42 are essentially controlled by the US
01:56:44 authorities wherever they are serving a
01:56:48 sentence there is an ongoing dialogue
01:56:50 between the special services this has to
01:56:53 be resolved in a calm responsible and
01:56:56 professional manner they're keeping in
01:56:59 touch so let them do their
01:57:02 work I do not rule out that the person
01:57:04 you refer to Mr gersovitz May return to
01:57:09 motherland by the end of the day it does
01:57:11 not make any sense to keep him in prison
01:57:13 in Russia we want the US Special
01:57:16 Services to think about how they can
01:57:18 contribute to Achi the goals our special
01:57:22 pursuing we are ready to talk moreover
01:57:27 underway and there have been many
01:57:29 successful examples of these stocks
01:57:33 success probably this is going to be
01:57:35 crowned with success as
01:57:38 well but we have to come to an
01:57:43 agreement I hope you let him out Mr
01:57:50 I also want him to return to his
01:57:52 homeland at last I'm absolutely
01:57:56 sincere but let me say once again the
01:57:59 dialogue continues the more public we
01:58:02 render things of this nature the more
01:58:05 difficult it becomes to resolve them
01:58:07 everything has to be done in calm manner
01:58:10 I wonder if that's I wonder if that's
01:58:11 true with with the war though also I
01:58:13 mean I just want to I guess I want to
01:58:15 ask one more question which
01:58:16 is and maybe you don't want to say so
01:58:20 reasons but are you worried that what's
01:58:23 happening in Ukraine could lead to
01:58:26 something much larger and much more
01:58:28 horrible and how motivated are you just
01:58:30 to call the US government and say let's
01:58:42 terms I already said that we did not
01:58:45 refuse to talk we are willing to
01:58:48 negotiate it is the western side and
01:58:51 Ukraine is obviously a satellite state
01:58:53 of the US it is evident I do not want
01:58:57 you to take it as if I'm looking for a
01:59:00 strong W or an insult but we both
01:59:03 understand what is
01:59:07 happening the financial support 72
01:59:13 provided Germany ranks second then other
01:59:16 European countries
01:59:17 come dozens of billions of US dollars
01:59:20 are going to Ukraine there's a huge
01:59:24 weapons in this case you should tell the
01:59:27 current Ukrainian leadership to stop and
01:59:30 come to negotiating table resend this
01:59:33 decree we did not re sure but you
01:59:37 already said it I didn't think you meant
01:59:38 it as an insult because you already said
01:59:40 correctly it's been reported that
01:59:42 Ukraine was prevented from negotiating a
01:59:44 peace settlement by the former British
01:59:46 prime minister acting on behalf of the
01:59:48 Biden Administration so of course a
01:59:49 satellite big countries control small
01:59:51 countries that's not new and that's why
01:59:53 I asked about dealing directly with the
01:59:55 Biden Administration which is making
01:59:57 these decisions not president zinsky of
02:00:08 Ukraine well if the zinsky
02:00:11 administration in Ukraine refused to
02:00:13 negotiate I assume they did it under the
02:00:16 instruction from
02:00:18 Washington Washington believes it to be
02:00:20 the wrong decision let it abandon it let
02:00:23 it find a delicate excuse so that no one
02:00:26 is insulted let it come up with the way
02:00:30 out it was not us who made this decision
02:00:33 it was them so let them go back on it
02:00:38 it however they made the wrong decision
02:00:41 and now we have to look for a way out of
02:00:43 the situation to correct their
02:00:46 mistakes they did it so let them correct
02:00:48 it them eles we support this so I just
02:00:52 want to make sure I'm not
02:00:52 misunderstanding what you're saying I
02:00:54 don't think that I am I think you're
02:00:55 saying you want a negotiated settlement
02:00:57 to what's happening in
02:01:04 Ukraine and we made it we prepared the
02:01:08 huge document in Istanbul that was
02:01:10 initialed by the head of the Ukrainian
02:01:13 delegation he fixed his signature to
02:01:15 some of the provisions not to all of it
02:01:19 put his signature and then he himself
02:01:21 said we were ready to sign it and the
02:01:24 war would have been over long ago month
02:01:27 ago however prime minister Johnson came
02:01:31 talked us out of it and we missed a
02:01:33 chance well you missed it you made a
02:01:36 mistake let them get back to that that
02:01:39 is all why do we have to bother
02:01:41 ourselves and correct somebody else's
02:01:44 mistakes I know one can say it is our
02:01:47 mistake it was us who intensified the
02:01:50 situation and decided to put an end to
02:01:53 the war that started in 2014 in donbas
02:01:57 as I have already said by means of
02:01:59 weapons let me get back to further in
02:02:02 history I already told you
02:02:05 this we were just discussing let us go
02:02:08 back to 1991 when we were promised that
02:02:12 NATO would not expand to 2008 when the
02:02:16 doors to Nato opened to the Declaration
02:02:18 of State sovereignty of Ukraine
02:02:21 declaring Ukraine a neutral State let us
02:02:24 go back to the fact that NATO and US
02:02:26 military basis started to appear on the
02:02:29 territory of Ukraine creating threats to
02:02:32 us let us go back to cud in Ukraine in
02:02:36 2014 it is pointless though isn't it we
02:02:40 may go back and forth endlessly but they
02:02:44 negotiations is it a mistake yes
02:02:47 corrected we ready what else is needed
02:02:50 do you think it's too humiliating at
02:02:52 this point for NATO to accept Russian
02:02:57 of what was two years ago Ukrainian
02:03:05 territory I said let them think how to
02:03:09 do it with dignity there are options if
02:03:15 will up until now there has been the
02:03:18 Uproar and screaming about inflicting a
02:03:20 strategic defeat in Russia on the
02:03:25 battlefield now they are apparently
02:03:27 coming to realize that it is difficult
02:03:29 to achieve if possible at
02:03:32 all in my opinion it is impossible by
02:03:35 definition it is never going to happen
02:03:38 it seems to me that now those who are in
02:03:41 power in the west have come to realize
02:03:46 well if so if the realization has set in
02:03:50 they have to think what to do next we
02:03:52 are ready for this dialogue would you be
02:03:55 willing to say congratulations NATO you
02:03:58 won and just keep the situation where it
02:04:06 now you know it is a subject matter for
02:04:10 the negotiations no one is willing to
02:04:12 conduct or to put it more
02:04:15 accurately they're willing but do not
02:04:18 know how to do it I know they want to it
02:04:22 is not just I see it but I know they do
02:04:25 want it but they're struggling to
02:04:27 understand how to do it they have driven
02:04:30 the situation to the point where we are
02:04:33 at it is not us who have done that it is
02:04:36 our partners opponents who have done
02:04:39 that well now let them think how to
02:04:42 reverse the situation we're not against
02:04:45 it it would be funny if it were not so
02:04:53 this endless mobilization in Ukraine the
02:04:56 hysteria the domestic problems sooner or
02:04:59 later it will result in
02:05:03 agreement you know this Probably sounds
02:05:05 strange given the current
02:05:09 situation but the relations between the
02:05:12 two peoples will be rebuilt
02:05:19 it will take a lot of time but they will
02:05:25 heal I'll give you very unusual
02:05:30 examples there is a combat encounter on
02:05:33 the battlefield here's specific
02:05:36 example Ukrainian soldiers got encircled
02:05:40 this is an example from real life our
02:05:43 soldiers were shouting to them there is
02:05:45 no chance surrender yourselves come out
02:05:50 alive suddenly the Ukrainian soldiers
02:05:53 were screaming from there in Russian
02:05:56 perfect Russians saying Russians do not
02:05:59 surrender and all of them
02:06:03 perish they still identify themselves as
02:06:11 Russian what is happening is to a
02:06:13 certain extent an element of a civil
02:06:16 war everyone in the West think that the
02:06:19 Russian people have been split by
02:06:23 forever no they will be reunited the
02:06:32 there why are the Ukrainian authorities
02:06:35 dismantling the Ukrainian Orthodox
02:06:39 church because it brings together not
02:06:42 only the territory it brings together
02:06:47 souls no one will be able to separate
02:06:55 soul shall we end here or is there
02:07:00 else no I think that's great ium thank
02:07:07 President free speech is bigger than any
02:07:10 one person or any one organization
02:07:12 societies are defined by what they will
02:07:14 not permit what we're watching is the
02:07:15 total inversion of virtue