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00:00 24's Doug Herbert has been listening in to that very long press conference from Vladimir
00:04 Putin.
00:05 Doug, we heard there again just a moment ago, Putin is still very unapologetic, very assertive
00:10 on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
00:11 Yeah, his position hasn't changed at all.
00:13 If anything, after being canceled last year, this has been his first annual marathon press
00:18 conference since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
00:21 If anything, he has a lot of strut in his step this year.
00:23 Why?
00:24 Because it comes at a crucial moment.
00:25 It's a moment where Western support, Western military aid for Ukraine appears to be dwindling
00:32 as Republicans, especially in the United States Congress, block a new aid package.
00:37 This in Putin's view validates what he's been saying all along, that the West is basically
00:41 doesn't have the staying power, that it's weak and decadent, and ultimately that Putin
00:46 and his forces, his army, will outlast the Western so-called resolve, the as long as
00:51 it takes resolve, standing shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine.
00:54 He's reiterated that.
00:55 His objectives, when I say nothing's changed in his position, yes, it was canceled last
00:59 year, this press conference, right?
01:01 This was the first time after one year hiatus, it was being held again.
01:04 But what he said is our objectives, there won't be peace until we achieve our objectives.
01:09 What are those objectives?
01:10 They were very, he was very clear in regards to Ukraine.
01:12 It's denazification going back to what has become the staple of the false Kremlin narrative
01:18 that somehow they're neo-Nazi junta running Ukraine.
01:20 So denazification, a word that we hadn't heard as much lately, but he's rehashed it this
01:25 year in full force at this press conference.
01:28 Demilitarization of Ukraine.
01:30 Remember, it's not Russia that's been the aggressor here and attacked Ukraine and invaded
01:33 Ukraine.
01:34 No, no, no.
01:35 It's Ukraine and the West at the US and NATO's behest that invaded, that basically attacked
01:41 Russia, and also returning Ukraine to neutral status.
01:45 He is unbending, unbowed.
01:47 He says he's always open for talks, but he's only going to talk if the West is also willing
01:52 to play ball and talk.
01:54 Now, Doug, beyond the war in Ukraine, Putin also mentioned his relationships with Western
01:59 nations.
02:00 Yeah, he specifically was actually the one of the French correspondent there asked him
02:03 a question.
02:04 He said, you know, Macron used to come, he came and we were in contact.
02:08 He came to the Kremlin.
02:09 We'd have talks.
02:10 Then France stopped.
02:11 You know, Putin always casts himself as the man, the would-be peacemaker.
02:15 If only the belligerent, warmongering West were willing to go to the negotiating table.
02:21 What he conveniently leaves out of all these responses is that it's not that the West is
02:25 not willing to negotiate, but like Ukraine, the West has made it clear that they are not
02:29 going to go to the table under circumstances in which you go to the table where Putin is
02:33 not willing to compromise.
02:34 And he has not hinted in any way today that he is willing to either restore Ukraine's
02:40 sovereignty, to withdraw his troops to pre-2014 borders, or even pre-2022 borders.
02:46 No compromise in the offing there.
02:48 He is willing to negotiate as he sees it, but only on Russia's terms.
02:52 And those terms are simply unacceptable, not only to Ukraine, but to the Western community.
02:57 So that's why there's really this stalemate right here.
02:59 But remember, Putin does see himself as a peacemaker, sort of absurd to many looking
03:04 in from the West, as that may seem.