Indian Journalist Drives Putin 'into A Stupor'

• 5.12.2025, 9:03

The Russian dictator said he "did not understand the question."

Before his trip to India, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin received an uncomfortable question about the attitude of Russian-speaking residents of Donbass to the outbreak of war. Confused at first, however, Putin began repeating absurd statements about the "destruction" of parts of Donbass by the "Kiev regime," writes OBOZ.UA.

In an interview with India Today, the journalist told the dictator that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion she visited Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson, where she said predominantly Russian-speaking residents did not understand "why Putin is doing this to us." She noted that some of the people she interviewed were shocked by the outbreak of fighting that destroyed their homes.

"What can you say to people in eastern Ukraine who have families actually in Russia, who are moving between Russia and Ukraine on a permanent basis, what would you tell them?" the journalist asked.

"I didn't understand the question," the dictator

Afterward, however, he was able to give an answer. Putin replied that he did not understand "what exactly they were shocked by," and after the journalist's explanation, said that the territories in question were those that were under Ukrainian control, while other parts of Donbass were "being destroyed by the Kiev regime" and Moscow was allegedly forced to support the areas that had "declared independence."

Putin also emphasized that Russia had "provided an opportunity" for residents to declare their position in an "open referendum" and, he said, anyone who did not share the decision to join Russia could leave for other regions of Ukraine.