Putin defends Russia's recent aggression, blames US and Europe for rising tensions.

[Revi]

Title taken from story. Germany's leading newspaper Bild has published an exclusive interview with Putin, thought it was pretty interesting.

Putin discussed the Kremlin's relationship with Germany, tensions with the NATO alliance, and the common threat of terrorism Russia shares with the West.

Putin — currently juggling Russia's intervention in both Syria and eastern Ukraine — defended Moscow's decision to annex Crimea in March of 2014, saying "it is not borders and state territories that matter, but people’s fortunes."

He also spoke about his relationship with German chancellor Angela Merkel, saying he trusts her and calling her "a very open person." And he apologized for bringing his dog to a meeting with Merkel, who dislikes dogs, in 2007.

BILD publisher Kai Diekmann and senior politics editor Nikolaus Blome conducted the interview at Putin's residence in Sochi on January 5th. It was translated from German to English by BILD. This is Part 1...

Interview: http://uk.businessinsider.com/vladim...ssia-us-2016-1

Way too long to quote, better format on that website anyway.

[Shalcker]

Title taken from story. Germany's leading newspaper Bild has published an exclusive interview with Putin, thought it was pretty interesting.
Interview: http://uk.businessinsider.com/vladim...ssia-us-2016-1

Way too long to quote, better format on that website anyway.

If you're going with TLDR from already condensed retelling why not link Bild directly? :/
They have both parts too already:
Part 1 - „For me, it is not borders that matter“
Part 2 - „We do not claim the Role of a Superpower“

Or directly from Kremlin for "uncut" version (i feel that Bild cuts are not always warranted, and sometimes misrepresent what is said a bit):
Part 1
Part 2

As example right from the start:
Bild:
BILD: Mr President, 25 years ago, we celebrated the end of the Cold War. Now we have just had a year of more crises and wars than ever before. What went so horribly wrong in the relationship between Russia and the West?

Vladimir Putin: That is the big question. We have done everything wrong.

BILD: Everything?

Putin: From the beginning, we failed to overcome Europe’s division. 25 years ago, the Berlin Wall fell, but invisible walls were moved to the East of Europe. This has led to mutual misunderstandings and assignments of guilt. They are the cause of all crises ever since.


Kremlin:
Question: Mr President,

We have just marked the 25th anniversary of the end of the Cold War. Last year, we witnessed a great number of wars and crises across the world, something that had not happened for many years. What did we do wrong?

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: You have started just with the key question. We did everything wrong from the outset. We did not overcome Europe’s division: 25 years ago the Berlin Wall fell, but Europe’s division was not overcome, invisible walls simply moved to the East. This created the foundation for mutual reproaches, misunderstanding, and crises in the future. Many people, including in the Federal Republic [of Germany], criticise me for my well-known speech at the Munich Conference on Security. But what was so unusual that I said?

After the Berlin Wall fell, there were talks that NATO would not expand to the East. As far as I remember, the then Secretary General of NATO, national of the Federal Republic Manfred Woerner said that. By the way, some German politicians of that time gave warnings and proposed their solutions, for example, Egon Bahr.

You know, before meeting with German journalists I, naturally, thought that we would anyway come to the issue you have touched upon now, so I took archived records of talks of that period (1990) between Soviet leaders and some German politicians, including Mr Bahr. They have never been published.

Question: Are these interviews?

Vladimir Putin: No, these are working discussions between German politicians Genscher, Kohl, Bahr and Soviet leadership (Mr Gorbachev, Mr Falin, who, I think, headed the International Division of the Central Committee of the Communist Party). They have never been made public. You and your readers will be the first to learn about this talk of 1990. Look what Mr Bahr said: “If while uniting Germany we do not take decisive steps to overcome the division of Europe into hostile blocs, the developments can take such an unfavourable turn that the USSR will be doomed to international isolation.” That was said on June 26, 1990.

Mr Bahr made concrete proposals. He spoke about the necessity to create a new alliance in the centre of Europe. Europe should not go to NATO. The whole of Central Europe, either with East Germany or without it, should have formed a separate alliance with participation of both the Soviet Union and the United States. And then he says: “NATO as an organisation, at least its military structures must not extend to include Central Europe.” At that time, he already was the patriarch of European politics, he had his own vision of Europe’s future, and he was telling his Soviet colleagues: “If you do not agree with it, but on the contrary agree with NATO’s expansion, and the Soviet Union agrees with it, I will never come to Moscow again.” You see, he was very smart. He saw a deep meaning in that, he was convinced that it was necessary to change the format radically, move away from the times of the Cold War. But we did nothing.