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Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to be itching for a verbal wrestling match with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson during an interview with him earlier this month. He was disappointed that he didn’t get it.
“I thought he would behave aggressively and ask so-called sharp questions,” Putin said in an interview with Russian state television anchor Pavel Zarubin earlier this week. I was not only ready for this, I wanted it! ”
In the more than two-hour interview with Karlsson, which aired on February 8, Putin led the conversation. The president gave a lengthy lecture on Russian and Ukrainian history, largely in propaganda, with little interruption from Mr. Carlson. The organizers gave Putin a virtually public platform to reiterate the reasons for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his criticism of NATO, and his disdain for the United States and other Western countries’ support for Ukraine in the ongoing war between the two countries. . The only moment Carlson appeared to openly challenge the president was when discussing his detention. wall street journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich.
The interview ended up being a propaganda victory for Putin, but not in the way he had hoped.
“He tried to interrupt me several times, but surprisingly for a Western journalist, he patiently listened to my long conversations, especially those related to history. And you gave me no reason to do so,” Putin told Zarbin, according to a translation of the conversation by Politico EU.
“Frankly, I didn’t get much joy out of this interview,” he added.
The Kremlin acknowledged that it had rejected numerous media requests to meet with the Russian president ahead of Putin and Karlsson’s meeting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that the coverage was denied because most major Western media outlets “do not even try to appear impartial in their reporting.” Of course, we have no intention of communicating with this type of media. ”
As many have pointed out, the idea that Mr. Carlson was “unbiased” in his coverage of Russia is laughable.Mr. Karlsson was likely chosen for an interview by President Putin. because For his prominent defense of U.S. and NATO intervention in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia and his often blatant support for and whitewashing of the actions of the Russian government. The host has a long history of supporting pro-Russian issues regarding the war, going so far as to actively claim in 2019 that he was “pro-Russia.”[rooting] “For Russia,” he said amid rising tensions between the two countries.
The Russian government has tried to exploit Carlson’s reporting in the past. In March 2022, Mother Jones obtained a Kremlin memo encouraging state media outlets to “use whenever possible snippets of popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s broadcasts that sharply criticize U.S. actions.” did. [and] NATO, negative role in unleashing the Ukraine conflict; [and] This is a defiant and provocative action by the leadership of the Western countries and NATO against the Russian Federation and President Putin personally. ”