Putin Urges US to Push Ukraine to Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an interview with US television host Tucker Carlson in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2024. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an interview with US television host Tucker Carlson in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2024. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via REUTERS
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Putin Urges US to Push Ukraine to Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an interview with US television host Tucker Carlson in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2024. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an interview with US television host Tucker Carlson in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2024. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin used an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to urge Washington to recognize Moscow's interests and persuade Ukraine to sit down for talks.
Putin also said that Russia stands ready to negotiate a potential prisoner exchange that would free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained last March on espionage charges he denies, and hinted that Moscow wants the release of its agent imprisoned in Germany.
Most of the interview, released Thursday, focused on Ukraine, where the war is nearing the two-year mark. Putin pointed at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's refusal to conduct talks with the Kremlin. He argued that it's up to Washington to stop supplying Ukraine with weapons and convince Kyiv, which he called a US “satellite,” to sit down for negotiations.

“We have never refused negotiations,” Putin said. “You should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to a negotiating table.”

It was Putin’s first interview with a Western media figure since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

Two journalists working for US news organizations — The Wall Street Journal’s Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Alsu Kurmasheva — are in jail.
Asked by Carlson whether Russia would release Gershkovich, Putin said Moscow is open to talks but repeated that the reporter was charged with espionage, an accusation Gershkovich has denied.
“He was caught red-handed when he was secretly getting classified information,” Putin said of Gershkovich, adding that he doesn't exclude that the reporter could return home.
“There is no taboo on settling this issue," Putin said. “We are ready to solve it but there are certain conditions that are being discussed between special services. I believe an agreement can be reached."
He pointed to a man imprisoned in a “US-allied country” for “liquidating a bandit" who killed Russian soldiers during the fighting in the Caucasus: “He put our soldiers taken prisoners on a road and then drove a car over their heads. There was a patriot who liquidated him in one of the European capitals.”
Putin didn't mention names, but he appeared to refer to Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving a life sentence in Germany after being convicted of the 2019 brazen daylight killing of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity.
German judges who convicted Krasikov said he had acted on the orders of Russian federal authorities, who provided him with a false identity, a fake passport and the resources to carry out the hit.



Biden after Trump’s Election Win: Setbacks Are Unavoidable

US President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, November 7, 2024, after Donald Trump won the presidential election. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
US President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, November 7, 2024, after Donald Trump won the presidential election. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
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Biden after Trump’s Election Win: Setbacks Are Unavoidable

US President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, November 7, 2024, after Donald Trump won the presidential election. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
US President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, November 7, 2024, after Donald Trump won the presidential election. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Seeking to console fellow Democrats, US President Joe Biden delivered remarks to the nation Thursday in what was his first appearance on camera following Republican Donald Trump’s decisive victory.

"Setbacks are unavoidable. Giving up is unforgiveable," Biden said at the White House Rose Garden as he addressed staff who were disappointed in Vice President Kamala Harris' defeat. "A defeat does not mean we are defeated."

Biden said Tuesday's election had proven the integrity of the US electoral system and said he would preside over an orderly transfer of power.

"We lost this battle. The America of your dreams is calling for you to get back up," he said.

The president reiterated that the US election system “is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent. And it can be trusted, win or lose.”

“America endures,” he said. “We’re going to be ok, but we need to stay engaged.”

Some Democrats have blamed Biden, 81, for Harris' defeat, saying he should not have sought reelection. Biden only dropped his reelection bid in July after a disastrous TV debate with Trump raised alarm bells about his mental fitness.
Trump's campaign said Biden had invited him to meet at the White House at an unspecified time. In the weeks ahead, Trump will select personnel to serve under his leadership.