Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken the world by surprise by giving a two-hour-long interview to an American journalist, launching what experts call a peace offensive to end the ongoing war with Ukraine on his terms only. He has so long been shying away from interactions with international media over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the brutal war, bringing in its trail colossal miseries to the people of Ukraine, loss of lives on both sides and an economic, humanitarian crisis affecting the rest of the world. Why he has chosen a hand-picked journalist of the US for the interview given at the Kremlin has triggered speculation about his real intent which is being interpreted as something more than a propaganda war.
The selection of time for the interview seems significant too, fitting perfectly in Putin’s scheme of things. For, he spoke at a moment of apparent leverage. The much vaunted Ukrainian summer counteroffensive has failed to achieve substantial gains, while the Biden administration is hard put to get congressional approval for desperately needed additional military aid for Kyiv. In fact, the Republicans are dead against providing military and monetary assistance to Ukraine.
Against this backdrop, Putin’s assertion before the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that ending the war is “simple” sounds ludicrous indeed. The solution he offered is stopping the supply of weapons to Ukraine by the US and its allies. While he stated he was prepared to settle the conflict diplomatically, he also defended the indefensible invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Carlson had to quit Fox News for his controversial interviews and he is regarded as an unabashed apologist of Donald Trump and white supremacists. The clout he appears to have became evident when Putin urged Carlson to convey to the US administration the need to “tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop (the war) and come to the negotiating table.”
It is only natural that President Biden rejected such overtures outright. US officials had previously assessed that Putin had no intention of negotiating seriously until after the US presidential election in November. He seems to be waiting to see whether Trump might return to the White House and offer him more favourable terms. This explains the sudden decision to choose a journalist close to the Trump lobby for the interview. The objective appears to send a loud and clear message to the Republicans and the American people that they should cut off military and material aid to Ukraine and force it to agree to his terms for peace once they are back in power.
However, Putin’s first interview with an American media figure since the invasion and his peace overtures, whatever their worth, is getting traction. The US and Ukrainian officials believe the least that Ukraine’s military can hope to do is to defend its current positions. Putin’s words do not match his actions that may indicate his interest in ending this war. If he was, he would pull back his forces and stop his relentless attacks on Ukraine, experts say. The Biden administration has supported Ukraine’s resolve to reclaim territory that Russia has occupied since its invasion. Russia now occupies around 18 per cent of Ukrainian land.
It seems Putin’s peace proposals are nothing but an attempt to permanently take possession of Ukrainian territory Russia has annexed and then stop the war. This could be the reason why he devoted much of the time during the interview to Russia’s history mixed with legends and unsubstantiated stories dating centuries back to claim Ukraine was once part of Russia. He has subtly launched his propaganda war to this effect well before Trump succeeds in his goal of becoming US President once again and works in collaboration with Putin on global issues.
Should that happen, a bizarre trade off lies in store for the world.