Putin Speaks to Tucker and America
Tucker Carlson’s historic interview with Vladimir Putin changes everything.
By Todd Davis
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. View more opinion on ScoonTV.
The rumors began to spread across social media; Tucker Carlson was in Russia. What was he doing there? Was he going to achieve the modern Holy Grail in journalism, a sitdown interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin? Quickly, the knives came out in the mainstream media, jealous that Tucker was on the verge of achieving something no one else in the West had the integrity and stature to pull off, the predictable attacks began; Tucker Carlson was a Russian stooge, he wasn’t a real journalist or the ultimate smear the media has tried to use on former President Donald Trump, he is a Russian asset and a traitor.
When one takes a minute to digest these attacks their purpose becomes clear; the laboriously constructed narrative that the Western media has been complicit in pushing, that Ukraine is good and Russia is evil would face a direct challenge from the other side, which until now, had never directly addressed a Western audience. On February 6th, 2024, Tucker met with Vladimir Putin to conduct a 2-hour interview with the sitting wartime President of Russia.
The interview unfolded in a conversational, almost podcast-like format. Portions of the event sounded like a real-life version of Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History as Putin took listeners through centuries of Russian political and cultural history providing a framework on why Ukraine is Russia. A week later, Tucker’s interview has been viewed 200 million times on X. It is impossible to quantify the effect this will have as many people, particularly Americans, heard Putin, in his own words, for the first time. Inevitably the comparisons will be made between Putin and his intellectual prowess and capacity to field questions and give in-depth answers with American President Joe Biden who falls apart the moment he’s off script from a teleprompter. People now have the tape and can judge for themselves Putin’s words and character.
Tucker’s conversation with Putin can be broken down into roughly fifteen parts that we will now take a look at.
Historical Background on Why Ukraine is Russia
Putin answered Tucker’s first questions by telling a mesmerizing story about the history of Russia, from its Kievan Rus foundation in the Viking Age through Catherine the Great. He provided the cultural and legal foundation for why Ukraine, from the right bank of the Dnieper River, is Russia and always has been Russia. Whether a person agrees or disagrees with the Russian President, there can be no question about his encyclopedic knowledge on the topic. Putin’s words were a stark contrast to those of Nikki Haley and Chris Christie who were unable to name the provinces in Ukraine that were being fought over by the Russians and Ukrainians. American listeners immediately discovered that Vladimir Putin doesn’t talk like American politicians. His words are measured, carry weight, and are backed up by voluminous facts.
NATO rebuffs of Russia after 1991
One of the great tragedies of modern geopolitics is that the West made Russia an enemy when it could have been one of America’s greatest allies following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Putin recalled, with something approaching sadness and regret, how Russia and he personally many times approached the West and their military alliance NATO, looking for rapprochement. Putin recalled how he asked former U.S. President Bill Clinton if Russia could join NATO, with Clinton tentatively saying yes before changing his mind later (likely after being set straight by the Deep State). Five waves of NATO expansion eastward have put in Putin’s words pressure, pressure, pressure, on Russia. Ukraine was the breaking point, a place that Russia would not allow NATO to go as the current borders of Ukraine are both culturally and geopolitically, Russia.
NATO and CIA involvement in the 2008 and 2014 Ukraine elections
With his background as a lawyer, Putin always wants everything to be done according to international law. Legal justification is essential for the Russian President. This is why intervention in Ukraine began as a Special Military Operation (SMO) with specific goals and not a generic declaration of war. Putin explained the events surrounding the 2008 and 2014 elections in Ukraine that were influenced and supported by the CIA resulting in the overthrow of the legally elected government. These events directly led to the war between Ukraine with the DPR and LPR breakaway republics who wanted to maintain their Russian heritage and did not like the direction that Ukraine was taking with its hostility toward Russia and open door policy with the West. Russian intervention in this conflict, a hot war since 2014, was the impetuous behind the SMO.
Denazification of Ukraine
Tucker Carlson asked Putin what he was hoping to achieve in Ukraine and the first thing the Russian President said was the Denazification of the country. The Soviet Union defeated the Nazis in World War II at a tremendous cost, the loss of 25 million Russians, most of them civilians. Preventing the rise of Nazis is clearly a major issue for the President. He described the history of Ukraine and its relationship with National Socialism. Tucker acknowledged that there are a lot of Nazis in Ukraine but how do you change that? How do you change the hearts and minds of those who lean toward that ideology? Putin alluded to their being legislation that bans Neo-Nazi parties, militias, and symbols throughout Ukraine. This feels like a major hint as to what will be a requirement in the final peace terms between Ukraine and Russia.
Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine
Putin stated that Russia has always been available and willing to negotiate an end to this conflict. Russia and Ukraine had a peace deal on the table in March 2022. Russia even withdrew its army from around Kiev as a gesture of goodwill so that Ukraine was not negotiating with a gun to its head. Putin’s mention of this once and for all dispels the myth that there was ever any “Battle of Kiev” where the Ukrainians threw back the Russians. Carlson asked Putin why he hadn’t called up Joe Biden and got a deal done. Putin replied, “What is the point?” The Biden administration has decided to fight Russia until the bitter end. Ukraine passed a ridiculous law legislatively banning any negotiations with Russia. Putin said the war could end when weapons stop being sent to Ukraine. After that, the conflict will rapidly conclude and peace will be agreed upon. Until the United States stops sending weapons to Ukraine, there is little prospect of peace. If this is true, then American efforts sustaining the war are counterproductive to a reasonable, humane ending to the conflict.
NATO is trying to intimidate its populations
A common refrain people hear from former generals and politicians is that if Russia takes Ukraine then the Baltic States, Poland, and Germany are next. If America doesn’t send money to Ukraine now, then it will have to send soldiers to fight Russia later. Putin said this was ridiculous. Russia has no interest in global war. Who would want such a war Putin asks? He said it is obvious that these countries use this fear-mongering to extort taxpayer dollars to fund the war in Ukraine. He then goes on to state, almost like he is directly addressing Steve and Emmas in Ohio or Albuquerque, that the US border is open, and the country is $34 trillion in debt. Leading Putin to conclude,
America has nothing better to do than fight in Ukraine?
Who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline?
One of the more humorous exchanges of the interview took place when Tucker asked the Russian President, who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline and Putin said, you. Carlson, laughing, responded that he had an alibi. Putin went on to explain that someone had to have both the motive and means to pull off such an attack. He stated, unknown to many, that there was still an open pipe to Germany and natural gas could be delivered. Still, the Germans have taken a political decision against their economic interests. Putin worked in Germany before his political career and has an affinity for the country and it pained him that the Americans were using the Germans to their economic and social detriment to continue the prosecution of the war in Ukraine.
When Putin revealed that he had intelligence data and proof that the Americans blew up Nord Stream. Tucker asked, then why not reveal it to the world? And here Putin gave one of his most poignant responses of the night, he said there is no point. The United States dominates and controls the world media. Russia cannot win a propaganda war against America. It’s too expensive to even try. For everyone in the media, the truth will be what America says is the truth.
Economic breakdown of two hemispheres
The interview then developed into a broad discussion about global economics and how this is beginning to bifurcate into two spheres; countries in BRICS and countries in the G7. G7 economies are largely driven by GDP that is artificially inflated by stock markets and supported by little real production in the traditional sense. BRICS economies are driven by natural resources and raw materials. How these two opposition theories interact and compete with one another will be a constant feature in future global economic trends.
Putin pointed out the incredible strategic mistake the United States has made by weaponizing the dollar when it is used as an extension of military policy through sanctions. Sanctions deprive the nation imposing them of trade and cause the sanctioned nation to redirect its trade to other markets. Further, suppose a country believes that the United States will sanction it based on whim, LGBT policy, or insufficient support for whatever the latest military adventure overseas entails. In that case, countries will look for alternate means of currency over the dollar. America is, in effect, killing the value of the dollar, its most important asset, through sanctions and global militarism.
The Russian President provided examples from within his own country; Russian trade in Yuan went from 3% pre-war to 34% currently. Conversely, trade in the dollar went from 50% to 13%. This is a dramatic paradigm shift. Hundreds of Western companies from McDonald’s to Coca-Cola, to Mercedes Benz have collectively lost trillions in profits by no longer doing business with Russia. Sanctions do not work against world powers because trade is not lost, new markets open up and other companies step into territory ceded. Russia now has the 5th largest economy in the world and the largest economy in Europe surpassing Germany since the intervention in Ukraine.
Not only has Russian trade expanded with China, to the tune of $230 billion a year, but the trade is balanced with both nations profiting from the new relationship. After Russia, China is the nation American politicians are most antagonistic toward. Putin pointed out that spurning trade with China hurts America.
Putin concluded his thoughts on the economic future of the world by making a poetic, ominous prediction for the West. Global development favors BRICS. One cannot stop it. The population and resources are all on the side of BRICS. Preventing the ascension of BRICS would be like stopping the Sun from rising. It cannot be done. It can only be delayed by the United States through military force.
U.S. Presidents don’t matter, Elites make the decisions
Vladimir Putin has been president of Russia for over two decades. He has met with all the American presidents over that time. He stated that he had good relationships with George W. Bush and Donald Trump but that U.S. Presidents don’t make the decisions about American policy, those are made by the Elites behind the throne. American presidents enact the will of these people. When Tucker asked him who these people are, and who is making the decisions in the United States, Putin shrugged and said who knows? Americans would say the Deep State, but who is that? Who is setting the course for the country? Who decides we must have an open border or war in Gaza? It certainly isn’t a mentally compromised Joe Biden.
All these decisions emanating from the American Elites are directed at maintaining the world supremacy of the United States, said Putin. Until that goal changes, there can be no stability in America or the world. America must begin acting like a world partner, not a world dictator.
Russian Diplomatic Efforts
Following the 2014 coup at Maidan, NATO began establishing de facto military bases within Ukraine. Ukraine took on an adversarial relationship with the Russians. Putin explained the numerous attempts at diplomacy Russia tried to engage in with NATO and Ukraine before the special military operation began. All these attempts were either ignored or willfully subverted like the Minsk Agreement where the former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, confirmed neither Ukraine nor NATO ever intended to honor them.
Putin referenced conversations he had with Joe Biden, the last time they spoke, about the situation developing in Ukraine before February 2022. Russia was not being respected and its national security interests were not being honored. Tucker this time and several others asked what various world leaders said to Putin during these exchanges and every time Putin told Tucker that he should ask them. Putin made a point of never betraying these private conversations or introducing hearsay into his narrative. Putin has previously said that his greatest mistake was trusting the West. In this portion of the interview, his tone is once again clouded with sadness and disappointment over the duplicity of NATO nations engaged in when dealing with Russia.
We are again left wondering, why did our Western leaders make an enemy out of Russia? It didn’t have to be this way.
Zelensky’s ability to negotiate peace
Tucker Carlson asked if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could negotiate a peace deal with the Russians. Vladimir Putin let his dislike for the Ukrainian President slip through when he somewhat mockingly said, “Why not, he’s the president of Ukraine, isn’t he?” Putin reiterated that Russia is willing to listen to peace offers should Zelensky repeal the anti-negotiation law in the Ukrainian parliament. He then spoke about how it was ridiculous to listen to men like Boris Johnson who directed Ukraine down the disastrous path it has taken. Arrogance led to the belief that Russia could be beaten on the battlefield. Western Hubris has transformed Ukraine into a Greek tragedy.
Christian Leader
Carlson asked Putin what it means to be a Christian and the leader of an Orthodox Christian nation while having to order people to kill and be killed. Putin didn’t answer this directly, choosing instead to speak about the Russian Soul. He mused about Dostoyevsky and Family eventually speaking in depth about the Motherland.
Listening to Putin, and other Russians, speak about the Motherland is an experience that has no equal in America. The Motherland is articulated in quasi-religious tones as a manifestation of the soul of the Russian people. It is no wonder that Western invasions of Russia have failed in 1708, 1812, 1941, and now in 2022. How can you conquer a people who have this degree of reverence and faith in their homeland? The rich black earth of the Motherland echoes throughout centuries of Russian history. Putin concluded by saying,
Religion is not about external manifestations it is about what is in the heart.
AI and Elon Musk
A brief light-hearted conversation followed these metaphysical thoughts about Elon Musk and the future of AI. Putin didn’t seem entirely comfortable with AI, a trait not uncommon among us all. He felt that there was nothing that Elon Musk couldn’t accomplish, making one wonder, is Elon the most famous man in the world today?
Evan Gershkovich
With the interview winding down, Tucker asked if Putin would extend a favor of goodwill by releasing imprisoned journalist Evan Gershkovich who Russia is holding on espionage charges. The request gave Tucker cover from media sources that blasted him for going to Russia as a journalist while another journalist was being imprisoned. Putin replied, with a mixture of exasperation and regret, that Russia has made so many offers of goodwill that have not been reciprocated that it has no more to give.
Putin said that negotiations were ongoing with intelligence agencies (CIA) and he expected that Gershkovich would be returned. He wants Gershkovich to go home but there is a process and it is being worked out. Reading between the lines of this Putin made it clear that Gershkovich is a spy, otherwise, why would the negotiations involve the CIA? If Gershkovich were simply a reporter, as is claimed by the West, then a deal would be done through the State Department. Putin alluded to who he likely wants in exchange for Gershkovich, Vadim Krasikov who was convicted in 2021 of murdering Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Chechen terrorist. Without using names, Putin described the crimes of Khangoshvili against the Russians; having soldiers lie down on the road and running over their heads with a truck.
Russia eventually got what it wanted in the Brittney Griner prisoner swap. If Gershkovich, who is held on charges of trying to determine how many missiles Russia has in stockpile, is going to be released, Russian terms likely will have to be met.
Where does the war in Ukraine go?
The interview concluded with Tucker Carlson asking, where does the war in Ukraine go from here and how does it end? Putin stoically said that at this moment Ukraine is a satellite of the United States. In his view, the strategic defeat of Russia is impossible and America will have to come to terms with that.
What is happening between Ukraine and Russia is a civil war. Putin believes that, like all civil wars, after the fighting has ended the reconciliation will begin. It will not happen immediately but eventually, Ukraine and Russia will be reunited. They share a common history, a common God, a common language, and a common social and ethnic heritage.
Putin then told a remarkable story about a group of Ukrainians who were surrounded and had no hope of escape. The Russian soldiers called out to them, brothers, surrender. The Ukrainians responded, in Russian,
Russians don’t surrender.
In their last moments, these Ukrainians identified as Russian. They fell back on the ethos of the warriors who held at Stalingrad and Borodino. Russians don’t surrender. And Russians will be reunited again when this is all over.
