00:00John Kirby, welcome to DW.
00:02Thank you so much.
00:03It's a happy day for the United States. Congratulations.
00:06Thank you. And so, as the president made clear, a big thanks to Germany, to the German government, to Chancellor Schultz for his leadership and his involvement in making this happen.
00:18Not everyone in Germany actually is so happy that the Tiergarten murder, as we call him, was released to free the other hostages. Can you understand that sentiment?
00:29Of course we can. Look, Mr. Krasnikov is a bad man, a murderer. This is a serious criminal. And Germany was well, well within their rights to lock him up.
00:42We understand that. Of course we understand that not everybody would be happy about this. And that's why, again, we applaud the leadership, the courage that it took for Chancellor Schultz to make this decision.
00:55It's also, many would say, a happy day for Vladimir Putin. He is also celebrating this day that he got his people freed. Would you say this is a day to kind of come to the conclusion that one can negotiate with Vladimir Putin?
01:10There is no way that you're going to get wrongfully detained individuals out of Russia without a negotiation. Just ain't going to happen any other way. That's the way Mr. Putin operates.
01:21That doesn't mean that there's some sort of rapprochement in our relationship or we're heading into an era of U.S.-Russia relations where we're going to start negotiating over things like Ukraine.
01:33We're still going to hold Mr. Putin accountable for his aggression in Ukraine. We're still going to stand up to his designs and make sure that Ukraine can continue to succeed on the battlefield.
01:42That's not going to change. There's not going to be some detente here with Russia over this. We can do two things at the same time.
01:49We can negotiate to get Americans and other individuals who are innocent out of Russia for their own safety and for the good of their families, and at the same time hold Mr. Putin accountable, and we'll do that.
02:00But in a way his strategy worked out. He kidnaps Americans or people from allies.
02:06He was kidnapping Americans before there was negotiations in play here.
02:14And I'm sorry, but I just don't believe that there's data that proves that negotiating for detained individuals somehow leads to the detention of additional individuals.
02:29This is a play for Mr. Putin. Mr. Putin's been doing this for years, detaining people wrongfully on trumped-up charges.
02:36Whether or not there's negotiations at play or not, this is what he does, which is why the State Department here in the United States has warned Americans not to travel to Russia.
02:45It's a dangerous place to go for detention risk.
02:48So just to come back to what you said earlier, you don't see anything coming out of that regarding the conflict in Ukraine and how to deal with Vladimir Putin when it comes to that war?
02:59No. No, I don't.
03:03There is another major conflict, of course, in the Middle East. The United States wasn't informed about the killing of the Hamas leader in Iran. Is this correct?
03:15We were not involved in this at all, and there was certainly no foreknowledge.
03:23Do you think the world is a better place without him?
03:26I think it's important that we focus on getting the ceasefire deal.
03:31You know what will make for a better Middle East? Is getting a ceasefire deal in place.
03:37Get some other hostages out. Men, women who need to be back with their families as well, including some Americans. That would make for a better Middle East.
03:50But isn't it harder now to negotiate a ceasefire without a leader in place?
03:55We're going to continue the discussions that we've been having with our counterparts in the region to see if we can get the ceasefire deal over the finish line.
04:04The gaps are of a narrow enough nature that they can and should be closed. It's important that we get this deal now.
04:12Mr. Sinwar has continued to refuse to agree to terms. He needs to agree to this proposal, to this deal.
04:22Benjamin Netanyahu didn't inform the United States even though he just had been here. Is he still a reliable partner?
04:30He is the elected Prime Minister of the Government of Israel. Israel is an ally and a partner and a friend.
04:35The President and Prime Minister Netanyahu have known each other a long, long time.
04:39They don't agree on everything. They come from two different political traditions.
04:42But they know how to work together. They know how to talk to one another.
04:48How to make decisions that are in the best interest not only of U.S. national security but Israel's national security.
04:55Sean Kirby, thank you so much.
04:56My pleasure. Good to be with you.
