“Mr. Karlsson is wrong,” Peskov said at his daily briefing for reporters. “We have received many requests for interviews with the president.”
Peskov acknowledged that the Kremlin routinely blocks media interviews from major Western news organizations, but agreed with Karlsson because he has a “different position” from the main “Anglo-Saxon media.” said. (Anglo-Saxon is a common blanket jab at Western countries, even when mostly Americans are involved.)
Carlson’s claims were surprising given that two journalists, both American citizens, are currently imprisoned in Russia. The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich was arrested last year by federal security agents on suspicion of spying during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, and Als is the other. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberties’ Kurumasheva, a dual citizen of the United States and Russia, was arrested in October while visiting Russia from Prague, where she lived.
Carlson was fired from Fox News last April.
The Kremlin’s decision to grant the interview signals President Putin’s interest in building bridges with the Republican party’s destructive MAGA elements, with Donald Trump returning to the presidency and the Republican Party in the U.S. appears to reflect the Kremlin’s desire to continue blocking military aid to Ukraine.
Cutting off aid from the United States, Ukraine’s biggest Western backer, could give Russia a path to victory in the nearly two-year war. The war is nearly at a stalemate, but Ukraine faces critical shortages of soldiers, ammunition and weapons to fight a much larger and better-equipped Russian army.
President Putin calls himself a guardian of traditional conservative values, demonstrating common cause with MAGA conservatives who oppose gender-neutral toilets. President Putin has repeatedly made derisive references to Western countries’ promotion of transgender rights.
Putin’s government has also crushed free speech, banned the public expression of LGBTQ+ identities, and imprisoned hundreds of anti-war activists, critics, feminists, lawyers, and cultural figures for speaking out.
The Trump-supporting Republican Party is a natural ally for Putin on LGBTQ issues because the Kremlin has long sought to exploit divisions in American society and intervene in American politics, including through the use of internet troll farms.
“Carlson is smart and his agenda is clear. He and President Putin will work together brilliantly to reinforce the false narrative about Ukraine, weaken Biden and strengthen Trump,” said the Berlin-based Russian analyst Janis Kluge wrote about the possibility of a rematch between the U.S. presidents. “This collaboration of theirs may be his most effective and harmful propaganda clip ever created.”
Peskov said the Kremlin prioritized Karlsson’s media over mainstream Western media, accusing Peskov of bias and saying that giving interviews to established Western media outlets was a “no-brainer” for the Kremlin. There is no profit,” he added.
Nevertheless, Peskov insisted that Western media were keen to interview his boss. “When it comes to the Western world, we receive requests from the major network media, traditional television channels, and major newspapers, and these media outlets have a hard time reporting what’s going on. We can never boast that we are trying to look at least fair, ”said Peskov.
“These are all media outlets that take one-sided positions,” he added. “Of course, we have no intention of communicating with such media and there is no benefit to interviewing them.”
Mr. Peskov confirmed that Mr. Karlsson interviewed Mr. Putin directly. Peskov also described Carlson as “pro-American.”
Mr. Carlson has often echoed the Kremlin’s propaganda about Russia’s war against Ukraine, attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and opposing U.S. military aid to defend Ukraine.
Pro-Kremlin commentator Sergei Markov was among those cheering Karlsson’s interview with Putin and his ability to reach Trump’s Republican base, while also criticizing Putin’s interpretation of the war.
Markov falsely claimed that Western governments had “banned” interviews with Putin by major Western news organizations because “all Western governments know in principle that Russia is right.”he provided no evidence for that claim
“This is a global conspiracy that Tucker Carlson can partially destroy,” Markov said.
Konstantin SoninThe prominent Russian economist and critic of President Vladimir Putin, now at the University of Chicago, said that instead of Carlson visiting Ukraine, which is under daily barrage of Russian military fire, he said, “What’s going on?” He said it would be “remarkable” to go to Moscow “to find out if there are any.” missile.
“How can visiting Moscow, the capital of an aggressor country 500 miles from the front lines of the war, help us figure out what’s going on?” Sonin Posted With X.
Others expressed similar disappointment.
“I can’t believe it!” wrote Evgenia Arbats, a prominent Russian journalist currently living in the United States and a supporter of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“I am like the hundreds of Russian journalists who had to go into exile to continue reporting on the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine,” Albats wrote. “The other option was to go to prison. And now this [jerk] He teaches us about good journalism while filming from a $1,000 Ritz suite in Moscow. ”
Ukrainians were deeply offended by Karlsson’s interview, posting: image Pictures of Kiev residents taking shelter with their pets in the subway were posted on social media after Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday.
Putin has insisted in recent months that he is open to peace talks and blamed Zelenskiy for continuing the war. However, in hinting at dialogue, Russia continues to demand Ukraine’s complete surrender, including handing over the territory it seeks to seize. The Russian government also demands that Ukraine be “neutral”, meaning it must abandon its aspirations to join the European Union and NATO, as well as “demilitarization” and “denazification”. President Putin has accused Ukraine of being led by the Nazi regime, but has offered no evidence of this.
Despite shocking casualties on both sides and growing fatigue among the Russian people, authorities in Moscow are forcing the Russian people into a prolonged war of attrition, according to recent opinion polls. Recent polls show that the majority of Russians want a quick peace deal that does not return occupied territory to Ukraine.
However, such an agreement would not be acceptable to Ukrainians, including many people living in the occupied territories.
Russian Telegram channel Ostrodino Novosti reported that Russian state media has mentioned Karlsson more than 2,000 times in recent days, with some outlets following Karlsson in his car and asking where he eats and with whom. They reported that they met and reported where they visited.
According to local media, Karlsson visited Vuksno i Tochka, a fast food restaurant that replaced McDonald’s when it pulled out of Russia.
“This attention to the American people has led to the appearance on social networks of jokes about the love of state propaganda for foreigners who have come to the Russians,” the Ostrogino Novosti news agency reported.
Evgeny Podubny, a military correspondent and blogger for pro-war Russian state television who is popular among Russian nationalists and has more than 700,000 Telegram subscribers, is the author of Karlsson’s interview with President Vladimir Putin. said it was proof that “our truth is needed now more than ever” in the West.
State TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, one of the Kremlin’s anti-Western attack dogs, suggested that Carlson’s interview would dash any last hopes that new American military aid to Ukraine would be approved. It seemed like it was.
Solovyov said Karlsson’s visit came at “the worst time for the West” and implored Karlsson to join Solovyov’s Union of Russian Journalists.
Olga Skabeeva, another pro-Kremlin propagandist and prominent TV presenter, simply posted a black-and-white image of Karlsson’s face with the words “Thank you” next to it. we are waiting “
Yuri Hempel, a pro-Russian lawmaker from Crimea, called on Karlsson to fly to Crimea, a Ukrainian territory illegally invaded and annexed by Russia in 2014.
Dmitry Korezev, an independent Russian journalist, said Putin had given numerous interviews on American television over the past few years, but no one seemed to care.
“But now an interview with a presenter with a special reputation is clearly considered an unprecedented breakthrough,” Korezev posted on X. “The Second Coming has literally happened.”
Korezhev joked in Tuesday’s video that Karlsson was “naive” to claim that Russia invaded Ukraine, adding that Putin “didn’t invade anywhere, he attacked Russia. “We will correct the official position that it was NATO that did this,” he added.