5 highlights from Tucker Carlson's interview with Vladimir Putin

NATO and the West

Putin laid blame for the current conflict in Ukraine at the feet of Western powers, who he claimed were behind the 2014 coup that upended the Ukrainian government and have been setting up bases at Russia's doorstep after inviting Ukraine to join NATO.

THE key part of the #TuckerCarlson interview.

In 2004, NATO, a US puppet, annexed 3 Russian border states.

Then the CIA engineered a coup d'état of a freely elected, but pro-Russian, Ukrainian president.

Then we invited Ukraine to join NATO.#Putin, thus provoked, invaded. pic.twitter.com/U1CE3FIqZI

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— Larry Alex Taunton (@LarryTaunton) February 9, 2024

Putin also went back further into history, claiming that the West "tricked" Russia into thinking they could join the "brotherly family of civilized nations" after the Cold War ended in 1991. He said former President Bill Clinton had even floated the possibility of Russia joining NATO during his presidency, but that he backed off after speaking with his advisors.

Putin also maintained that his country had been willing to negotiate a peace with Ukraine, but that former British Prime Minster Boris Johnson undermined it.

"We prepared the huge document in Istanbul that was initialed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation," he said. "He had fixed his signature to some of the provisions, not to all of it. He put his signature and then he himself said, 'We were ready to sign it, and the war would have been over long ago — 18 months ago. However, Prime Minister Johnson came to talk us out of it, and we missed that chance. You missed that chance.'"

Putin also weighed in on U.S. politicians, questioning why they would even consider sending American troops to Ukraine when their own country has so many of its own problems.

"Do the United States need this? What for? Thousands of miles away from your national territory. Don't you have anything better to do? You have issues on the border, issues with migration, issues with the national debt. More than $33 trillion. You have nothing better to do, so you should fight in Ukraine? Wouldn't it be better to negotiate with Russia?"

He also suggested that sending U.S. troops to get involved "would certainly bring humanity to the brink of a very serious global conflict."