Right-wing television provocateur Tucker Carlson interviews Vladimir Putin in Moscow, leading to a campaign against the Russian president’s anti-Ukrainian rhetoric and Carlson’s renewed relevance in his post-Fox career.
In a video taped after the interview, Carlson told the audience that he found Putin to be honest, even if he is not adept at getting his point across to an American audience. “He denied it, but it’s clear he was deeply hurt by West’s rejection,” Carlson said. “Like many Russians he hoped that the end of the Cold War would be an invitation for Russia to Europe.”
This is the first interview Putin has given to an American since the Russian invasion two years ago.
This pairing should come as no surprise. Carlson has been regularly praised by Kremlin propaganda outlets; For example, his clip attacking the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine has been regularly rebroadcast. Russian media have praised Carlson this week and described his visits to Moscow as similar to American media’s coverage of Taylor Swift.
Carlson filmed a video to promote the interview on the rooftop of the Ritz Carlton hotel near Red Square, a location that speaks to the esteem held for Carlson by the Kremlin, according to Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats.
“Its rooftop is controlled by the Federal Security Service, one of the successors of the KGB.” Posted On X, formerly known as Twitter. “None of us, and no other foreign journalists except Oliver Stone, had the luxury of reporting from the rooftops.”
Few have done more than Carlson to elevate the Russian leader to a figure of praise in Republican circles, just as he has elevated Hungary’s autocratic leader Viktor Orban, who was otherwise relatively obscure, to star status.
In that promotional video, Carlson said he wanted to interview Putin about the war in Ukraine to get the truth — and because other American journalists were so biased against Russia that he didn’t want to do it.
This was obviously a lie; Reporters from CNN and the BBC and executives from NPR and Fox were among those who said their networks would be eager to interview Putin without strings attached. Even the Kremlin refuted Carlson’s claims, saying it received and rejected requests from American outlets “extraordinarily one-sidedly.”
So was this a tough interview to hold a wartime leader accountable?
retelling of history
Putin dominated the talks – which lasted more than two hours – relying on long, controversial talks in addition to propagandistic ones to argue that Russia has held eastern Ukraine for centuries. (Ukrainian leaders and many historians dispute his rendition of the region’s history.)
Russian leader blames Ukrainians for 2022 invasion. Carlson did not question Putin’s implication. Nor did he use the word “invasion” to describe the deployment of Russian troops and missiles into Ukraine, which triggered the war.
According to the interpreter of the exchange, Putin told Carlson, “We were defending our people, ourselves, our homeland and our future.”
Putin appears to have conducted opposition research worthy of the KGB agent he once was. He tells Carlson at different moments about majoring in history and applying (unsuccessfully) for a position at the Central Intelligence Agency.
At the end of the interview, Carlson pressured Putin to release Ivan Gershkovich wall street journal The reporter was imprisoned by Russian authorities on spying charges nearly a year ago – charges the newspaper strongly rejects. He suggested that Putin should not use Gershkovich as a pawn to secure the release of the Russian spy.
Carlson said of Gershkovich, “That guy is clearly not a spy, he’s a kid.” “And maybe he was breaking your law in some way, but he’s no super spy and everyone knows that. And in return he’s being held hostage, which is true. With respect, that’s true. And Everyone knows it’s true.”
Carlson did not question the fate of dual US-Russian citizen Alsu Kurmasheva, a reporter for the US-funded network Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He was detained and charged last year with failing to register as a foreign agent.
And Carlson specifically did not press Putin on the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for him and his child welfare commissioner on war crimes charges.
“I’m from La Jolla, California. I’m not for Putin. Please,” Carlson said in a post-interview video. He then said that “professional liars in Washington” want to convince the public that Putin is a modern-day Adolf Hitler, and called State Department officials naive for thinking that Russia has expansionist ambitions in Poland or other countries.
Carlson said, “We are run by maniacs – the president and that poisonous idiot, (Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria) Nuland.”
Carlson has spent years attacking those who made the case that the Russian regime tried to sow discord in the 2016 election through online disinformation, that former President Donald Trump’s campaign took advantage of the chaos. , and some of Trump’s key aides had ties to the Russians. Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn has resigned after it was revealed that he lied about specific policy discussions with the Russian ambassador to the US before taking office.
Carlson has spent much of his time trolling both his former network and Trump critics, while criticizing those who laid siege to the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 in an effort to stop the certification of President Biden’s 2020 victory, despite opposition from some. Leaped to the rescue. Of his colleagues at Fox.
A fresh start on X after Fox News
Fox News fired Carlson — who was the network’s biggest star at the time — last spring. His key role in amplifying baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 elections was revealed in a defamation suit against the network, which led to a $787 million settlement; Fox paid an additional $12 million to settle claims from a former producer that Carlson had created a sexist and bigoted workplace. The evidence made public demonstrated Carlson’s widespread contempt — for his viewers, Trump, his reporting colleagues and, especially, the executives who run his network.
After being fired from Fox, Carlson shifted his campaign to Twitter, calling it the last major bastion of free speech. He then launched the digital Tucker Carlson Network.
Carlson has used that platform to interview subjects including extremist conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who filed for bankruptcy after the families of schoolchildren killed in the Connecticut massacre won a $1 billion settlement against them; former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli convicted of securities fraud; U.S. Representative Majority Taylor-Greene, who is known for embracing conspiracy theories; and right-wing social media troll who goes by the pseudonym De-Tweet Catered.
For a former cable television star who wanted to insert himself into the national conversation once again, Carlson was thwarted on Thursday by two current presidents and one former president. The news of President Biden, who was accused of a memory lapse by a special prosecutor, overshadowed Carlson’s video drop. The Russian President’s historical claims dominated the interview. And, of course, there was Trump, whose ability to appear on Colorado’s ballot dominated the Supreme Court’s landmark argument earlier in the day.
It’s hard to estimate how wide an audience Carlson has now. (The views figures on
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