"You say Hitler has been dead for so many years, 80 years. But, his example lives on. The people who exterminated Jews, Russians or Poles are alive. And the president, the current president of today's Ukraine, applauds him in the Canadian Parliament, gives [him, 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka] a standing ovation. Can we say that we have completely uprooted this ideology, If what we see is happening today? That's what denazification is in our understanding. We have to get rid of those people who maintain this concept, and support this practice and try to preserve it. That is what denazification is, that is what we mean," Putin said during an exclusive interview with the American journalist that was released Thursday.
The Russian president noted that despite the fact that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler had died 80 years ago, some continue to support his ideas, pointing to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the stunning 2023 incident in which members of the Canadian Parliament honored a 98-year-old Nazi collaborator and wartime SS member.
Putin also detailed that during peace negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul, an agreement was reached in writing that "neo-Nazism would not be cultivated in Ukraine, including that it would be prohibited at the legislative level."
"You know, as strange as it may seem to you during the negotiations in Istanbul, we did agree that we would have it all in writing. Neo-Nazism would not be cultivated in Ukraine, including that it would be prohibited at the legislative level. Mr. Carlson, we agreed on that. This, it turns out, can be done during the negotiation process. And there's nothing humiliating for Ukraine as a modern, civilized state. Is there any state allowed to promote Nazism? It is not, is it?" the president stressed.
Turning again to Russia's special military operation, Putin further acknowledged that it has not yet achieved its objectives, emphasizing the significance of denazification, including a ban on neo-Nazi movements.
"We haven't achieved our aims yet because one of them is denazification. This means the prohibition of all kinds of neo-Nazi movements," Putin told Carlson.
Putin spoke in Russian during the interview, and the quotes were provided through an official translation by Carlson's team in English.