But beyond the 1 car part of the story, remember this is an election campaign in Russia. Granting interviews is part of the process.
I would not be surprised if Ukraine is a small part of the interview. It is not considered that important in Russia, compared to inflation and spot-events of scarcity. He did a Q&A domestically somewhat recently and most of the questions asked him were not about Ukraine.
Did you get the impression that the questioning was free and spontaneous?