U.S. podcaster Lex Fridman said Wednesday that he plans to visit Moscow and interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There’s probably a lot to say about this war [in Ukraine]. I should say that I interviewed Volodymyr Zelensky and I will be traveling to Russia to interview Vladimir Putin,” Fridman said on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Fridman, a computer scientist who has hosted his popular interview podcast since 2018, traveled to Kyiv late last month to interview Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The YouTube video for that interview, which was published on Jan. 5, currently has over 6.6 million views.
“I’m aware of the risks. I accept the risks, and the goal of the mission is just to push for peace,” the podcaster said.
However, the Kremlin said Thursday that it had reached no agreement with Fridman about interviewing the Russian president, though it said it would consider his request.
“We have been in touch with him. He contacted us. He said that first, he would like to come to Moscow… to discuss the possibility of an interview with the president,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Pskov said “certain conditions” would need to be worked out before Fridman could interview Putin. “There are no definite agreements… but we are in contact,” he said.
“In any case, we will be happy to have him come to Moscow,” Peskov added.
Fridman, who grew up with Russian-speaking parents in Moscow before moving to the United States shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, drew criticism online earlier this month after he insisted on speaking in Russian for parts of his interview with Zelensky.
Zelensky, who himself is a native Russian speaker from Eastern Ukraine, spoke in Ukrainian, English and Russian at various parts of the interview.
During his Wednesday interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, Fridman expressed confidence in U.S. President Donald Trump’s ability to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
“Both Zelensky and Putin fear Donald Trump, and that’s a great person to then make peace because he has the leverage,” Fridman said.
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