Occupation of Ukraine and Poland. Putin announces new plans to US if he is not stopped

The idea behind the interview with the dictator is obvious: Tucker Carlson was supposed to show the most radical Republicans Putin as a specific leader of a great country with a conservative vision of the world. Yes, he has invaded neighbouring countries, he denies Ukrainians the right to subjectivity, he has destroyed a number of cities. But there may be one leader who will bring Putin to the table. And in just a day, he will resolve the issue of the war in Ukraine. And this great politician is Donald Trump. If you want simple solutions, vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

That is why in the preface to the two-hour conversation, Tucker Carlson promised the audience to explain the real reasons for Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Putin spent almost half an hour for his interlocutor to listen to him talking about the reigns of his idols Catherine II and Peter the Great, both of whom aggressively addressed the Ukrainian issue. It is therefore not surprising that Putin is so keen on military aggression, repression and genocide.

Tucker Carlson promised to ask tough questions, but not a single one about Mariupol, Bucha, or Putin's desire to organise a massive Stalin-style genocide.

Instead, Putin spoke with great pleasure about the denazification of Ukrainians. That, he said, all pro-Ukrainian movements should be banned, and at the same time, people who are their activists should be eliminated.

"You know, no matter how strange it may seem to you, during the negotiations in Istanbul, we did agree that neo-Nazism would not be cultivated in Ukraine, including its prohibition at the legislative level. It turns out that this can be done in the course of the negotiation process. And there is nothing humiliating for Ukraine as a modern civilised state. Is any state allowed to propagandise the Nazis? It is not, is it? That's all," Putin recalled about Arakhamia and Podoliak's meeting in Istanbul.

There was also a link to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: "I once talked to Zelenskyy about this. I said: "Volodya, what are you doing? Why are you supporting neo-Nazis in Ukraine today when your father fought against fascism? He is a veteran". I'm not going to say what he answered, it's a separate topic, and I think it's incorrect."

I think we will hear what Vladimir Aleksandrovich has to say, but closer to the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. And by the way, I would like to know what fronts Zelenskyy's father fought on. Due to his age, he could not have taken part in World War II (Oleksandr Zelenskyy was born in 1947 - ed.). Rather, the current president's grandfather fought.

Putin is confident that Russia and Ukraine will come to an agreement anyway. Because everything that is happening in Ukraine is like a civil war. "Everyone in the West thinks that the fighting has permanently split one part of the Russian people from the other. It hasn't. Reunification will happen. It hasn't gone anywhere," - again, the thesis that Ukrainians are just Russians who got away.

The Kremlin dictator used a multi-million dollar platform and decided to play the money card. He asked why the US should help Ukraine. "Don't the Americans have anything better to do? You have problems at the border. You have problems with migration, problems with the national debt. More than 33 trillion dollars. And you have nothing to do? That's why you have to fight in Ukraine. Wouldn't it be better to make a deal with Russia?" - this was a direct appeal to conservative Americans to put pressure on senators and congressmen so that Ukraine would not receive money and weapons.

"To come to an agreement, already understanding the situation that is developing today, understanding that Russia will fight for its interests to the end, and, understanding this, actually return to common sense, start to respect our country, its interests and look for some solutions?" Putin continued. This is a clear refusal to negotiate any end to the war. Putin is determined to continue the war and will throw all the resources of the Russian state at it.

Between the lines, he offered the Western world a new grand bargain. A very shaky, unstable peace, first for half of Ukraine, and then for the whole of Ukraine, and then Russia will go on to seize new lands.

That is why the rhetoric was very similar to what Ukrainians heard on the eve of the full-scale invasion. That no, we are not going to attack. Now this applies to Poland and Latvia.

"The Russian threat is being inflated. Russia will send its troops to Poland only in one case: if there is an attack on Russia from Poland. Why? Because we have no interests in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else. Why would we want to do that? We simply have no interests. Only threats," Putin said. 

This is an announcement of new territorial gains if Ukraine falls.

If I were the General Staff of Poland, I would listen to this interview very carefully - our neighbour is mentioned 36 times in two hours. Americans heard an alternative story about how the Poles started World War II and collaborated with Adolf Hitler. Putin has twisted history so much that, according to his version, it was the Poles who caused World War II because they refused to give up Gdansk, as the Third Reich had asked. So, he says, Ukraine is also leading to World War III by refusing to do what Putin wants.

Immediately, Putin almost solemnly promised Orban a piece of Transcarpathia if he succeeded in occupying Ukraine. He said, of course, Hungarians have the right to "historical lands".

Putin agreed to this interview because he wanted to play like Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. He directly addressed the American conservative voter.

He decided to sow doubts about whether it was worth supporting a country thousands of kilometres away. Whether it was worth spending the money - relatively small for the US budget - of $60 billion on Ukrainian aid. Putin has officially asked us to give up on Ukraine and let it be occupied.

The moral of this interview

Russia will not leave Ukraine alone until its hands are cut off. I would like the Ukrainian leadership to understand this, as it has started a dubious game of replacing the popular commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces with the rather controversial Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Similarly, our Western partners must finally understand that it is impossible to negotiate with Putin. An old man in his dying years decided to get mountains of corpses and rivers of blood just because he believes that in the 21st century it is possible to be like Peter the Great.

I don't know how Trump's conservative advisers will assess Putin's historical fantasies. But it is clear that Russia is not only a problem for Ukrainians. Putin has officially declared that he considers the United States an "underdog" country and aims to continue tearing up neighbouring states because he can.

Specially for Espreso

About the author: Maryna Danyliuk-Yarmolaieva, journalist

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of blogs.