Decoding Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson

thanks for joining us I'm Alex levingston and I'm Jay strubberg Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling for the US to cut off military aid to Ukraine and says it's up to the US to arrange negotiations to end the war Putin's remarks came in a largely non-confrontational interview with former Fox News host tuger Carlson calling Ukraine a quote satellite of the US Putin said American leader should recognize Russia had legitimate reasons for its 2022 Invasion here with his reaction to the interview is Jack Barky he worked as a spy in America for 10 years and then escaped the KGB by faking his own death a remarkable story he also wrote about his experiences in his book deep undercover really uh glad to get to speak with you today because this interview is catching some headlines um and you know about the inner workings of the Kremlin so when you were approached by the KGB in your early 20s they convinced you that you were on the right side of history now President Putin is still trying to paint pain a narrative that decisions to invade Ukraine were Justified how much did this interview help him advance that narrative depends upon which audience you're talking about uh with regard to the home audience that home run because you know he here I am you talking to one of the the the most prominent uh journalist quote unquote journalists uh in the United States and I owned the guy and I I took him to school uh with regard to the American audience I think if if they're like me they were they were I I require hardship pay for having to watch uh this 2hour boring uh lecture fundamentally lecture by Putin he he owned he owned tuer Carson and and I uh I may if I may volunteer Mr Carlson was woefully unprepared H yeah it was not a confrontational whatsoever no uh sense of any holding the feet to the fire or anything like that like a normal journalist would do because he's a commentator exactly exactly so Putin claimed the war on Ukraine could end if the US stopped supporting Ukraine here are his comments to take a lesson if you really want to stop fighting you need to stop supplying weapons it will be over within a few weeks that's it and then we can agree on some terms so what is your reaction to that but then also what is your reaction to the US's role in this because as all of this is going on you know here we can't get a border deal together that includes Aid to Ukraine that includes Aid to Israel how does that then make our support look for Ukraine in a time like this where he's doing interviews with Tucker Carlson and saying essentially that this could be over if we just did not get involved now this is a question that requires about a half hour answer I'm sorry 45 seconds I I don't I don't want to get into uh United States internal politics at all but I just want to want to point out that even a simple fact check and uh first of all uh Mr Carson said through that interview most of that interview like a like a a middle school student but at one point he should have been prepared to know that Putin was just lying because Putin was uh was stating that the war was started by Nazis in the Ukraine in in 2014 that's a BL blatant lie uh 2014 there was an uprising uh by the people to support the parliament decision to get closer to uh the European Union and then Putin Next Step he invaded uh Crimea so you know this this this this was this was a disaster I'm sorry I can't get into any of the other issues because because you know it's a it's way too complicated and there there are issues within the United States and there there there are parties that have certain opinions I don't agree with but this this is not uh this is not my expertise I'm not a political commentator yeah and whether it's Putin saying that uh the the war in Ukraine could end if the US uh pulled its re uh funding of Ukraine or Putin saying that Russia had no intentions of expanding the war into Poland or lvia these are these are claims these making but I guess as somebody who has worked within Russia what do we need to know about his way of thinking if the US pulled out what would happen uh he that interestingly enough he never said what his goals are he never said so this is what I want to to agree uh with whoever is on the other side of the table uh and and we get it done so so he he play he played it he played it as well as Putin can play it he is just a fabulous manipulator and uh with regard to going into Poland or uh the Baltic states he is not suicidal he he I don't think he he know he throw this he throws this out as a threat the same way occasionally somebody in his cabinet says something about using the nuclear option that he's not suicidal but uh you know he's he's playing this he but he he the bottom line is we can't guess what he really wants to end this war uh and so this thing in my view is going to go on unfortunately for the poor people in in Ukraine and by the way in Russia as well yeah and we're heading into year three of this conflict uh in the final minutes of the interview Tucker Carlson pressed President Putin about releasing Evan gerscovich uh the American reporter who has been held in Russian captivity for nearly a year now here is his response we have done so many gestures of Goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them we have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner however in theory we can say that we do not rule out that we can do that is there a glimmer of hope here I don't think you typically hear the words Goodwill and decency when you're talking about what is going on in Ukraine right now but do you think that there is any hope well first of all Tucker just uh wanted to become a hero uh by Putin saying yeah okay we let him go pu Putin Putin's kg answer is uh just business as usual what what he hinted at was like okay know we we can we can work on some kind of an exchange when you know when the fsp will talk to the CIA and uh hopefully we have somebody we have this guy here and you need to release somebody over there there this wasn't another no answer by Vladimir Putin he fundamentally didn't answer any other the questions directly and remember the last time there was an exchange it was for Britney Griner for a guy known as The Merchant of death in in in Russia so not exactly an equal exchange correct former KGB historically go ahead okay that's historically the mo that that the KGB pursued and that's still the same thing with with Russian intelligence Jack barsky former KGB spy really fascinating conversation thanks for coming on sir thank you

Channel: Scripps News

Views: 262,680

Keywords: Scripps News, Jack Barsky, International relations, Putin interview, Tucker Carlson, Russia, US military aid, Geopolitics, Expert analysis, vladimir putin, tucker carlson, putin news, vladimir putin interview, vladimir putin interview tucker, tucker carlson putin interview, carlson tucker interviews vladimir putin, tucker carlson puttin interview, tucker carlson putin, tucker carlson vladimir putin, tucker carlson interview, tucker putin, tucker carlson putin russia, Ukraine

Id: -UDOtaxPdjQ

Length: 7min 38sec (458 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 09 2024