Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin made headlines Thursday night when the polarizing and pro-Trump right-wing commentator interviewed the reclusive Russian dictator.
The rambling two-hour interview, filmed in Moscow, was Putin’s first with Western media since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
This brought a new level of notoriety for Mr. Carlson, who frequently criticized U.S. aid to Ukraine and called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a “Ukrainian pimp” and “a rat.”
Throughout his interview with Putin, Carlson referred to him as “Mr. President,” but his tone was less aggressive.
Meeting decided with President Putin It had been widely criticized even before the interview. However, the opening of the former Fox News host’s conversation with President Putin was disappointing.
Putin spent more than 30 minutes telling the history of Russia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine in a monologue, taking viewers from the rule of Oleg the Wise in the 9th century to the struggles of the 1300s to criticism of Lenin’s foreign policy. Ta.
When a bemused-looking Mr. Carlson finally brought Putin into the 21st century, the Russian president blamed the United States and other Western countries for prolonging the war in Ukraine.
Putin said peace talks with Ukraine were “almost complete” but that Ukraine had since “followed the instructions of the West, European countries and the United States to abandon all these agreements and fight Russia to the end.” .
Putin particularly laid the blame at the feet of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson, who was kicked out of Britain’s parliament in June 2023, claimed that as prime minister Mr Putin had dissuaded Mr Zelensky from signing a peace deal in the early stages of the conflict.
“They are [Ukraine] “It seems foolish to comply with the demands and persuasion of Mr. Johnson, a former British prime minister,” Putin said.
In a video released ahead of the interview, Carlson said part of his motivation for wanting to talk to Putin was because Americans wanted to “understand why Putin invaded Ukraine and what his goals are now.” “I have no idea what it is,” he said.
It’s unclear whether viewers will be able to understand one or the other more clearly.
In December, the Kremlin said it was “unrealistic” to participate in peace talks with Ukraine. Ukraine said peace could only be based on Russia’s complete withdrawal from territory it has occupied since its 2022 invasion.
However, Putin told Carlson in the interview that Russia and the United States were still talking “through various institutions” about ending the conflict.
President Putin said this is Russia’s message to the United States. “If we really want to stop fighting, we should stop supplying weapons. It will be over in a few weeks.”
Putin said the last time he spoke to Joe Biden was before Russia invaded Ukraine.
“I told him that I support everything that is happening in Ukraine and that I believe that by kicking Russia out we are making a mistake of historic proportions,” Putin said. Ta.
Mr. Carlson at least pressed President Putin about Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovic, who has been detained in Russia since March 23 on suspicion of espionage, but Mr. Gershkovic and Mr. Gershkovic denied this. ing.
President Putin claimed that Gershovich, 32, was “caught red-handed while secretly obtaining classified information” and that he “worked for a special agency of the United States.”
Putin said Russia was “ready to discuss” Gershkovych’s release, but added: “I would like you to think about how U.S. special forces can contribute to achieving the goals pursued by our special forces.” ” he added.
Although this claim appeared to be contradicted by the White House, What I said was In December, Russia announced that it had rejected a substantive offer to free Gershkovic and former US Marine Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence in Russia on espionage charges.
in video In the article, published ahead of the interview, Carlson claimed he gave the interview because the English “news media is corrupt. They lie to their readers and viewers.”
“We’ve been thinking about it for many months because there are clearly risks in conducting interviews like this,” Carlson said.
“Most Americans have no idea what’s going on in this region, either here in Russia or 900 miles away in Ukraine. But they should know. They paid for most of it. There is.”
Those who have supported Mr. Karlsson over the past two years will not be as surprised as others that Mr. Putin has accepted the interview request.
Carlson was an early and prominent advocate of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In mid-February 2022, when President Putin assembled up to 190,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, Karlsson echoed Putin’s claims, claiming that the emerging conflict was just a “border dispute.” It seemed like it did.
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The week after the attack, Russian state media aired clips of Carlson’s rant about Ukraine and against U.S. military aid to the country.
The interview was broadcast on Tucker Carlson Tonight, a streaming service Carlson launched in December 2023. Notably, the book later claimed that Carlson was fired from Fox News in April 2023 because he was “too big for the boots.”
The right-wing commentator faced criticism in a pre-broadcast interview. on wednesday, Hillary Clinton said: Mr. Karlsson was a “useful fool” to Mr. Putin.
“He’s saying things that aren’t true,” the former U.S. secretary of state said of Carlson.
“He’s parroting Vladimir Putin’s series of lies about Ukraine, so I don’t understand why Putin won’t give him an interview, because through him he’s not giving us any information about his objectives in Ukraine and what he expects to happen. Because you can continue to lie about what’s going on,” Clinton said on MSNBC on Wednesday.
In a video announcing the interview, Carlson claimed that “not a single” Western journalist had attempted to interview Putin.
CNN anchor Abby Phillip said that’s not true.
“Serious media outlets, including CNN, have requested multiple interviews with President Putin.” she said on her show Tuesday.
Wednesday, Kremlin was also shown to be incorrect Carlson’s argument.
“Karlson is wrong,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference. “We have received many requests for interviews with the president.”
Putin last gave an interview to Western media in 2021, when he spoke to a CNBC reporter. Since launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he has largely stopped speaking to independent media in Russia and abroad. Since 2021, he has only given interviews to Russian, Kazakh and Chinese media.
Press freedom has largely disappeared in Russia over the past two decades as pressure on independent media increased and the risk of arrest for domestic and foreign journalists working in the country increased.
Gershković’s arrest last year was the most serious attack on foreign journalists since the end of the Cold War.
But the Russian journalists were already facing long prison terms for their work and for angering Putin’s allies and friends.
In a particularly damning verdict in 2022, Russian journalist Ivan Safronov was sentenced to 22 years in prison for treason, a crime widely seen as politically motivated. Safronov, who previously worked for Kommersant, was thought to have angered the military by reporting on secret negotiations with Egypt, but all information at his trial was confidential. His lawyer said Safronov was sentenced to just 12 years in prison if he had convicted others, but he refused to cooperate.
President Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the crackdown on independent media. More than 1,000 journalists have fled the country, high-profile criminal cases have been brought against them for discrediting the Russian military and spreading “fake news,” and traditions such as Eco-Moscow have been disrupted. Broadcast media outlets are being forced to shut down. Strong government patron.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Russia will be one of the world’s top five incarcerators of journalists in 2023, with 22 journalists in prison.
In an “unprecedented” move, police arrested more than 20 journalists at a military wives’ protest near the Kremlin this week in an “unprecedented” move to prevent reporting on the demonstrations, Reporters Without Borders said.
