A former MI6 boss shot down Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that NATO should stop sending weapons to Ukraine because it is “impossible” to defeat Russia.
In an interview with US TV host Tucker Carlson, despot Putin warned that defeating Russia in Ukraine is “impossible by definition”.
“I will tell you what we are saying on this matter and what we are conveying to the US leadership,” Putin said. “If you really want to stop fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons.
“It will be over within a few weeks, that’s it, and then we can agree on some terms. Before you do that, stop.”
But speaking to BBC Radio 4, former MI6 boss Sir Alex Younger said: “Anybody who thinks that it’s a good idea to stop the war on Putin’s terms – which is what the withdrawal of support would fundamentally amount to – has to understand that the grievances he described run wide and deep.”
He also encouraged leaders to “think about [Putin’s] narrative, which is that Russia is entitled to behave in a way and have influence in what he defines as his sphere of influence”.
The two-hour, seven-minute interview was recorded on February 6 and released last night. Mr Carlson has since been slammed for allowing Putin to make several points to promote his own agenda with little challenge.
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused the former TV host of being a “useful idiot”.
It was Putin’s first interview with a Western media figure since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, with Mr Carlson traveling to Moscow to conduct it.
During the interview, the dictator repeated his claim that Ukraine wasn’t a real country, and instead was shaped by the “will” of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
Asked why he doesn’t call President Joe Biden and work out a solution in Ukraine, Putin asked: “What’s there to work out?”
“Stop supplying weapons and it will be over within weeks,” he added.
Putin went on to sensationally claim that he was ready to end the war, but Britain’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson “dissuaded” the head of Ukraine’s ruling party from signing the document.
Putin said in the interview: “Mr Johnson, then the Prime Minister, came and dissuaded us from doing this, saying it was better to fight Russia. They would give everything needed for us to return what was lost during the clashes with Russia. And we agreed with this proposal.
“Look, his statement has been published. He said it publicly. Can they return to this or not? The question is, do they want it or not? Further on, the president of Ukraine issued a decree prohibiting negotiations with us. Let him cancel that decree. And that’s it. We have never refused negotiations indeed.”
He was also caught on camera awkwardly having to stop his leg from shaking, fuelling rumours about his ill health.
