The situation around Ukraine is a matter of life and death for Russia, while the West doesn’t care as much, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments on his interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson.
Putin made the comments in an interview with All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company journalist Pavel Zarubin. The president said it was important to get across to the Russian and foreign viewers how much significance Russia attaches to "everything that happens in the Ukrainian direction."
"For them (the West - TASS) this is about improving their tactical position, but for us this is about our destiny, a matter of life and death. I wanted people that will listen to this [interview with Carlson] to realize that. It’s not up to me to judge whether it hit the mark or not," Putin said.
The interview with Carlson was published overnight into February 9. A significant part of the two-hour conversation was devoted to the Ukrainian conflict and Russia's relations with the US, NATO and the West as a whole. The journalist previously said he had tried to conduct an interview with the Russian leader last year, but was banned from doing so by the US government.
Russia ready to end Ukraine conflict peacefully, but Kiev didn’t agree — Putin
. Russia is ready to end the conflict in Ukraine peacefully, but there are no signs that Kiev wants this, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Rossiya-1 television.
"People from Donbass… turned to Russia as a guarantor," he said in an interview to the program called "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin."
"We transitioned from peaceful instruments [of settlement] to instruments of military nature, but even then we sought to end the conflict peacefully, and we agreed on the parameters in Istanbul," the president went on to say.
"If it hadn’t been for the position of the West, (…)the war would have stopped as long as 1 1/2 years ago," Putin said. "But they (the government in Kiev - TASS) didn’t want it. I don’t know if they want it today."
"We are ready for dialogue," Putin continued.
Putin first briefed on liberation of Avdeyevka at 4 a.m. on February 17, Kremlin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin was first briefed on the liberation of Avdeyevka at 4 a.m. on February 17, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"The day before, on February 17, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Valery Gerasimov personally came to the Kremlin to report to the president at 4 a.m. that the operation in Avdeyevka was drawing to an end. The military commanders came in for another report at 11 a.m.," he said.
During the second report, Shoigu and Gerasimov said the operation was almost complete, according to Peskov.
"At that time, the enemy started a mass rout from Avdeyevka and abandoned its combat positions. It took a few more hours for our fighters to start mopping up the city," Peskov said.
In the afternoon, Shoigu and Gerasimov, apprised to the president that "the operation has been fully completed and our troops have fully taken control of the city," Peskov said.
Putin Says Current German Policies Cause 'Enormous' Damage to German Economy
The current policies of the German authorities are causing enormous damage to the future of the German economy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.
"It is abundantly clear that today's policies of the current [German] authorities are doing enormous damage to the future of the German economy," Putin said.
At the same time, the Russian president believes the German economy is capable of surviving without Russian energy.
"It [the German economy] is capable of existing and developing long, so there will be no catastrophe here," he said.
Russia is effectively coping with Europe's rejection of Russian gas by using other foreign routes and is working on its own domestic gas supply, RPutin said.
"Thankfully, we are coping. We have turned to other routes, we are beginning to work more on our own gasification, on the use of these energy sources to solve internal economic problems. Not only for housing and utilities, but also for the economy, for industry," Putin said.
At the same time, Russia does not deny energy sales to anyone, Putin said, proceeding to praise Turkey as the "most reliable partner," who continues to pump gas via the Turk Stream pipeline.
Despite the attack on the Nord Stream 2 pipelines, one leg remains functional, Putin noted.
"You [Europeans] only need to open the valve and say,' We want to receive,' and they will start receiving [gas] tomorrow, it's a matter of one week. But they do not want to," he said.
European countries expected that if they did not buy Russian gas, Russia would collapse, but irreversible processes are beginning to occur in the European Union and European industry is moving to other countries, Putin said. It is true that when European countries were buying Russian gas, Russia got more money, but the less Russia depends on energy, the better, because other sectors of the economy are developing more actively, Putin said.
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