Peskov says Fridman in contact with Moscow over possible interview with Putin
American blogger Lex Friedman contacted Russia to arrange an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on January 23.
"We are indeed in touch with him, he went out to us. He said he would like to come to Moscow first. He is originally from here, from our region," he said at a briefing.
The presidential spokesman noted that Friedman realizes that the interview is not "a matter of the immediate future." According to him, the blogger will be one of the persons to be considered and offered to Putin for a conversation.
Peskov clarified that there are no exact agreements on the matter yet.
Friedman announced his plans to visit Russia to interview the country's president the day before on the YouTube channel of TV host Joe Rogan. He said that he wanted to contribute to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.
Earlier, on January 20, Friedman criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (term expires in May 2024) after an interview with him in early January for being rude to Putin. The blogger emphasized that it is necessary to treat another leader with seriousness for a settlement.
During the interview, the Ukrainian leader said that he has a good command of the Russian language, but sincerely despises the Russian people. Thus he explained why the conversation took place not in Russian, which both he and Friedman know, but in Ukrainian with the help of an interpreter. Reacting to this, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev called Zelensky's behavior a standard violation of political correctness.
