The only reason that the media is being allowed access to any Russian figure is because they want to spread their ridiculous rhetoric to try and take the blame off of them for invading Georgia. That is it pure and simple.

Cindy…Ga.

I do not believe a thing that Russia has to say! If anything I would say maybe Putin is trying to push for a certain President that would be easier for him to control. One that might be easier for him (Russia) to push around.

Russia better watch out with using the press, as it might back fire on what they were wishing to accomplish.

However, GREAT JOB on getting the interview! I am glad to have some kind of commuication with Putin and Russia- as long as there is communication there is hope for a peaceful future.

Hey Matthew
I watched you journalistred from gerorgia in this war time.you did it in a verry fair way.telling the facts,and let poeple marking their own minds.
so mayby thats why russain p.putin give you this big chance to talk with him.so i belive you are a verry good worker for the peace in this area.

If they want to talk to us - press and hopefully diplomats - that has to be better than the old way of trying to guess what the other side was doing and why. I hope the next President will use diplomacy as his first choice and be able to cement a solid relationship of friendship with the Russians. Like that old saying - keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. I just hope that in the end Russia will be our friend and not our enemy.

Annie Kate
Birmingham AL

America’s enemy list is not getting any smaller, it just keeps growing and unless we have a president who is willing to use diplomacy we can expect more of the same. John McCain is not the solution to the problem, he is part of the problem that he and the Bush administration created. Putin was at the Olympics sitting next to Bush and John McCain should have never jumped into this controversy using such threats againts Russia before Bush or Condi spoke. We can’t have McCain going around threatening and bullying the world and adding more enemies to the list. McCain is dangerous and his fellow Senators know his temperment is dangerous.

Matthew:
You are right, this is very unexpected. Congrats on the interviews. It should be very interesting to hear what the Russian leadership has to say and what proof they have that the U.S. instigated the conflict. Thanks for keeping us informed. Stay safe.

Jolene, St. Joseph, MI

Wow! Putin has a really really active imagination. Doesn’t he have access to the internet or to cable tv of some kind? I just can’t believe that in the modern technological times we live in that Putin thinks these things. It’s amazing and strange. You did a great job.

Couldn’t go to Russia? So WHAT!
From a little town in Canada, with Wikipedia, Google, and news forums, I knew of the criminal, surprise, American backed, night time attack on Ossetia by Georgia’s Sackofshilts.
Russia has asked America to choose sides Georgia or them in this conflict and you promptly buried your head in the sand, with stories of what color Hillary’s pant suit is and such. Us or them<<< those are fighting words folks, and Russia HAS nuclear weapons, and America is on the wrong side of right, AGAIN.
Choosing Georgia over Ossetia would be akin to choosing China over Tibet.
Putin is NOT part of the American public, who can be lied to and misinformed so easily by the likes of McCain and Bush.
If YOU think killing blue beret peace keepers and innocent civilians in surprise invasion is not a war crime, then side with Mccain’s, ‘good friend’ Sackofshiltes.
(((Who gets to keep all those American tanks the Georgians abandoned in Ossetia???)))
CALL RUSSIA”S BLUFF and agree with independence for Ossetia.
At least ‘investigate’ the Georgian attack, and Russia baited them is tooooo LAFFABLE and excuse. OF COURSE Russia has built up troops in THEIR territories along THEIR borders. What would America do if the Russian were putting missiles in Cuba and Mexico???

Indeed it is a shame that Russians did not pay more attention to how the events are covered in the US. It was a wonderful interview, Mattew – perhaps, after your report, the Russians will review their approach… And perhaps look into some other problems with reports about them - eg. the full transcript of your interview with Putin in English appeared on CNN site some two days after (a Russian version (in Russian only) was available from RIAN website almost immediately). Before today, on CNN website there was a “summary” which completely distorted Putins’s words and more importantly - his political “position” towards the US. And a similarly “imprecise” short video “summary” then was shown on CNN News (in Australia and I presume worldwide) & was also offered on CNN website. Australian ABC Radio even ran a program with Michael Rowland who was “translating” Putin’s words from your interview into something which indeed sounded as “accusations” and a direct challenge to the US, to say the least– if Putin were to actually say that. He did not, though, and it brings us to the question of responsibility of the media – especially at times when it is all too easy to create a new nuclear stand-off, like it was in 1962 and at times when news reports are distributed around the globe with frightening speed – whether these reports are unbiased versions of the events or a product of imagination of some. It is a pity that Russians still do not realize the importance of the media and the direct impact it has on, say, an “average” American. Perhaps, a heavily “Georgionized” bias of the US media in covering of the recent events, which completely ignored Russian or even Osetian views, is also partly to blame for the current tensions in the US-Russia relations.

What would be great is if Russian leadership would allow access to press not only at the time of crisis. They can clearly benefit from having their point of view conveyed via Western Media.