Russian President Vladimir Putin has brutally criticized Tucker Carlson, revealing he was unimpressed by the interviewer’s softball questions during a recent sit-down in Moscow.
Asked about Karlsson in an interview in his home country on Wednesday, the 71-year-old Putin said: “To be honest, I expected him to act aggressively and ask so-called pointed questions.”
“I was not only ready for this, I wanted it, because it gives me an opportunity to respond in kind,” he asserted of his expectations for a lively exchange. .
“Frankly, I wasn’t completely satisfied with this interview.”
In his first interview with a US journalist in two years since the declaration of war, President Putin agreed with critics who ridiculed Carlson, 54.
Putin told pro-Kremlin Russian TV interviewer Pavel Zarubin that he was surprised that Karlsson had tried to intervene only a few times.
“He was surprisingly patient for a Western journalist and listened to my long story.” [monologues], especially those related to history. “President Putin did not give me a reason to do what I was prepared to do,” he said of his expectations for an active debate.
Putin said Karlsson had a “plan” for the interview and carried it out.
“But at the end of the day, I can’t say how much it meant,” he added.
The Kremlin said Putin agreed to interview Karlsson because his approach differed from the “one-sided” coverage of the Ukraine conflict by many Western news organizations.
