Russian President Vladimir Putin accuses West of ‘prolonging Ukraine conflict’, urges US to halt arms supply in interview with Fox News

In his first media interview ever since the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States and other Western countries of prolonging the war. He also said the US needed to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine.

During a conversation with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Putin claimed peace talks with Ukraine were almost on the finish line, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began obeying the instructions from the West.

The interview was aired on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’, a streaming service that Carlson launched in December 2023. Notably, Carlson was fired by Fox News in April 2023, for getting ‘too big for his boots’, a book claimed.

“Ukraine threw away all these agreements and obeyed the instructions of Western countries, European countries, and the United States to fight Russia to the bitter end,” Putin told Carlson.

Though the Kremlin, in December last year, said that engaging in peace talks with Ukraine was ‘unrealistic’, Putin claimed Russia still speaks with the US ‘through various agencies’ about ending the war.

“If you really want to stop fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons. It will be over within a few weeks,” Putin said, in a message to the United States.

Recalling his last conversation with Joe Biden, before Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin said, “I said to him, then, I believe that you are making a huge mistake of historic proportions by supporting everything that is happening there, in Ukraine, by pushing Russia away.”

The Russian President also particularly blamed former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was forced out of the UK Parliament in June 2023, and said Johnson had dissuaded Zelenskyy from signing a peace deal in the early stages of the conflict.

“The fact that they (Ukraine) obey the demand or persuasion of Mr Johnson, the former prime minister of Great Britain, seems ridiculous,” Putin said.

Putin also spoke about the Central Intelligence Agency – the civilian foreign intelligence service of the United States, revealing Carlson wanted to join the agency.

“The CIA, the organisation you wanted to join back in the day, as I understand,” Putin told Carlson, adding, “We should thank God they did not let you in.”

“Although it is a serious organisation, I understand,” Putin remarked.

The entire interview was shared on X by Tucker Carlson, who has frequently criticised US support for Ukraine, and has referred to Zelenskyy as a ‘Ukrainian pimp’ and ‘rat-like’.

Ahead of the interview, Carlson said he was driven to speak to Putin because the Americans had “no idea why Putin invaded Ukraine or what his goals are now”.

Here’s Putin’s conversation with Tucker Carlson