On Thursday night, former FOX host Tucker Carlson published a two-hour interview with President Vladimir Putin in which the Russian leader addressed issues related to the Ukrainian conflict, the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO), and the explosion of the Nord Stream pipeline.
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NATO expansion
Putin recounted the main moments of NATO's expansion through the countries of Eastern Europe. In 2008, the U.S.-controlled military alliance began a more aggressive approach to Ukraine, promising that the country could be admitted to the group.
This circumstance began to gradually change Russia's relations with Ukraine, which had developed with a positive attitude until that moment.
"In 2008 they opened the doors of NATO to Ukraine. In 2014 they carried out a coup d'état and began to persecute those who did not recognize the coup d'état," Putin said.
He also explained that the 2014 coup in Ukraine created an imminent threat, which forced Russia to take Crimea under its protection
The Ukrainian conflict
"We repeatedly, repeatedly offered to seek a solution to the problems that arose in Ukraine after the coup in 2014 by peaceful means. But no one listened to us," Putin stressed.
"And what's more, the Ukrainian leadership, which was under full control of the U.S., suddenly declared that it would not fulfill the Minsk agreements, they did not like anything there, and continued military activity in this territory," he added.
Meanwhile, the development of this territory by NATO military structures took place under the guise of various training and retraining centers for personnel, the Russian President said, adding that they had actually built bases there.
He recalled that the Ukrainian authorities adopted laws that restricted the rights of Russians. "In Ukraine, they declared that Russians are -- they passed a law -- a non-titular nation, and at the same time they adopted laws that restrict the rights of non-titular nations."
"This all together caused the decision to end the war that was started by neo-Nazis in Ukraine in 2014 by armed means," Putin said.
Nord Stream explosion
When asked about who were the authors of the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, the Russian leader attributed what happened to the United States, a country that was interested in sabotaging that energy project and that had the means to do so.
"In this case, we must look not only for someone who is interested, but also for someone who can do it. Many might be interested but not everyone can reach the bottom of the Baltic Sea and carry out this explosion," Putin said.
Carlson then asked why Russia does not present the evidence obtained about sabotage in the gas pipelines to win this propaganda war.
Putin indicated that it is difficult to win in the dispute over the meaning of events given that the United States "controls all the media in the world and many in Europe."
Regarding Germany's silence about NATO's involvement in the Nord Stream explosion, Putin noted that the German authorities "are not guided by national interests, but by the interests of the collective West. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the logic of their actions or inaction."