The Russian president gave an extended interview to the director of Sputnik’s parent media agency on Wednesday, focusing on the crisis in Ukraine, the threat of direct NATO intervention and the prospects for peace talks.
The key takeaway from President Putin’s conversation with Rossiya Segodnya head Dmitry Kiselev is that those “looking for a contrite Russia, a weak Russia, a compliant Russia” won’t find it in “the Russia that Vladimir Putin was presenting to the world in his interview,” says former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and independent military and international affairs observer Scott Ritter.