
© YouTubeComputer scientist and podcaster Lex Fridman.
The Kremlin has confirmed that renowned US podcaster Lex Fridman has been in talks with Moscow about organizing an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this week,
Fridman announced on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that he was planning to travel to Russia to interview Putin as part of his personal mission to promote peace in the Ukraine conflict.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed contact, saying: "
We are in touch. He contacted us. He said he would like to come to Moscow... to discuss the possibility of an interview with the president." He noted that Fridman, who grew up in the Russian capital, is "from our parts."
However, Peskov pointed out that the podcaster is aware that any such meeting is not a "a matter of the near future," noting that
Putin does not currently have the need to give an interview.
"There must be some conditions that require additional clarification. At the very least,
he will be one of those whom we will consider and propose to the president. But so far there are no precise agreements on this matter," Peskov said, adding that Fridman would nevertheless be welcome to visit Moscow.
"I'm aware of the risks, I accept the risks, and the goal, the mission is to just push for peace," Fridman told Rogan.
Fridman previously interviewed Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky, whom he has described as a man that "lifted a whole nation" but also "struggled to make peace." In a video address on Monday, t
he podcaster said he was ultimately disappointed with the Ukrainian leader for using the three-hour interview to verbally attack Putin with "very crude words" instead of taking the opportunity to "signal willingness to negotiate."
Fridman has repeatedly stressed that understanding the roots of the Ukraine conflict and Russia's perspective is critical for any meaningful negotiations aimed at ending the hostilities. He has pointed out that it is crucial to take into account the 2014 US-backed Maidan coup in Ukraine as well as the broken promises by NATO not to expand towards Russia's borders.
Moscow has repeatedly characterized the Ukraine conflict as a Western proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainians are being used as "cannon fodder." Nevertheless, the Russian side has insisted on multiple occasions that it remains open to peace negotiations so long as they take into account the new territorial "realities on the ground" and address the root causes of the conflict.
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