St. Petersburg, Russia, June 6 (EFE).— Russian President Vladimir Putin defends former US President Donald Trump and maintains his firm stance on Ukraine, while ruling out a possible direct confrontation with NATO.
In his first interview with the Western media, including EFE, since the beginning of the Ukraine war, the Russian president said the west must stop supplying weapons to Kyiv it “you want the fighting in Ukraine to stop.”
“The military operation (in Ukraine) will end in two or three months at the most,” said Putin, recalling the letter he sent to US President Joe Biden.
Putin, who has very limited mobility due to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, has not faced media questions from Western journalists since 2021.
For the interview, Putin chose the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, held at the Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg. This building, the tallest in Europe, symbolizes Russian development and serves as the headquarters of the Russian gas giant Gazprom.
Trump Is Innocent
While stating he did not want to interfere in US politics, Putin did not hesitate to defend Trump’s innocence and mocked the claim that the former American president is a Kremlin-paid spy.
He said it was “evident to everyone” that the judicial persecution of Trump, without evidence, “represents the use of the judicial system” for political mileages.
Speculating that American citizens themselves do not trust the US judiciary, Putin noted that it has caused degradation of the country’s political system. He pointed to the increased popularity of the US presidential hopeful as proof.
“People in the US do not believe in these decisions and consider them politically motivated,” he said.
Putin reiterated that Russia would prefer Biden to win in November, considering him more “predictable,” but assured that whatever the outcome of the US presidential elections, “nothing will really change much” for the Kremlin.
Ukraine: Peace My Way
In line with the Kremlin’s recent tone, and reiterating that the current conflict began in 2014 with a coup in Kyiv, Putin called on the West to stop hindering peace prospects in Ukraine. He claimed that Ukraine’s army is suffering five times more casualties than the Russian one.
While asserting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is an illegitimate leader as his mandate expired on May 20, Putin alleged that it was not Russia but then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who aborted the signing of the Istanbul treaty, which would have ended the war a few weeks after it began, in March 2022.
“And I am sure, I have no doubt, that he (Johnson) had the support of the US administration,” he said, adding that the White House is not interested in Ukraine but in maintaining its global hegemony.
He believed that supplying precision and long-range weapons to Kyiv by NATO countries is dangerous because it could obstruct any chance of peace. By directly threatening Russian territory, he argued, it would “destroy international relations and undermine global security.”
He cautioned that the Kremlin might opt for an “asymmetric” retaliation, potentially entailing the deployment of Russian missiles in strategic areas capable of targeting the “vulnerable infrastructures” of nations supporting Kyiv.
Attacking NATO, an Absurdity
The Russian leader squarely placed blame on NATO for the Kremlin’s troubles. However, he dismissed the notion of a potential attack on a NATO country as “absurd.”
To those present, some of whom anticipated a more aggressive stance from the Kremlin leader, Putin said: “Have you seen the potential of Russia and NATO? Do you think we are crazy?'”
He indirectly criticized the media, stating that someone “invented the idea that Russia wants to attack NATO.”
“Who invented this (idea)? It’s nonsense. Understand? Delirium,” Putin said, facing away from the Baltic Sea, which borders the coasts of NATO’s two newest members, Finland and Sweden.
Putin, who fielded over 20 questions, criticized the efforts by Western government to “mislead” their people in rationalizing the provision of heavy weaponry to Ukraine, thereby prolonging the conflict and the suffering of those involved. EFE
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