Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he expected former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to be more aggressive when he interviewed him last week.
“I expected him to be aggressive and ask the so-called tough questions, and I wasn't only ready for it but wanted it because it would have given me a chance to respond sharply,” Putin said.
Putin used the interview with Carlson to push his narrative on the fighting in Ukraine, urge Washington to recognize Moscow’s interests and press Kyiv to sit down for talks.
Carlson didn’t ask Putin about war crimes Russian troops have been accused of in Ukraine, or about his relentless crackdown on dissent.
“He didn't allow me to do what I was ready for,” Putin said, describing Carlson as a “dangerous man.”
Speaking in an interview with a correspondent of Russian state television, Putin also talked about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, an Australian citizen fighting extradition from Britain on US espionage charges.
"Assange is behind bars and nobody hardly remembers him anymore - only the people close to him", Putin said.
Assange has spent four years in Britain’s Belmarsh Prison fighting extradition to the US, where he faces up to a 175-year sentence on espionage charges for publishing classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.
The Russian leader also made a remark on historical responsibility.
"I do not believe that today's generation of Germans should bear full political responsibility for everything that Nazi Germany did. It is impossible to shift responsibility for what Hitler and his minions did onto the people of today's generation."
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