Putin Regrets that Russia Did Not Start Active Actions in Ukraine Earlier

Russia tried for a long time to resolve the conflict peacefully and relied on the honesty of its opponents, the president said

© Kristina Kormilitsyna/TASS

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. Russia should have started active actions in Ukraine earlier, but it tried for a long time to resolve the conflict peacefully and relied on the honesty of its opponents, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin, the video of which was uploaded to the Kremlin's Telegram channel.

"The only thing we can regret is that we did not start our active actions earlier, believing that we were dealing with decent people," the president said, describing the situation around Ukraine.

Putin went on to say that at the first stage, Russia tried to settle the conflict in Donbas "by peaceful means, namely the Minsk Accords."

"It turned out later that we were being deceived in this regard, because both the former German chancellor and the former president of France admitted straightforwardly in the public that they never planned to fulfill the agreements. Instead, they were buying time to deliver more weapons to the Kiev regime, which is exactly what they did," the Russian leader said.

Putin admits he was not fully satisfied by interview with Carlson

The Russian leader said he was preparing to give his response to pointed questions, asked in an aggressive manner, but his opponent has chosen the tactics of a patient listener

MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was not completely satisfied by his interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, because the later deprived him of the opportunity to give sharp answers to pointed questions.

In an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin, published by the Kremlin’s official telegram channel, the Russian leader said he was preparing to give his response to pointed questions, asked in an aggressive manner, but his opponent has chosen the tactics of a patient listener.

"Frankly speaking, I was not fully satisfied by this interview," the president said. "But he followed his plan, and he put it into practice.".

Putin said he would not comment on how meaningful the conversation turned out to be for the audience.

"Viewers, listeners, or maybe readers should draw their own conclusions," he said.