Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked right-wing American TV host Tucker Carlson for an interview last week, but said he was surprised he didn’t ask “sharp questions.”
Carlson, a former Fox News star, released a two-hour interview with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last Thursday that made headlines around the world.
Putin told Russian TV host Pavel Zarubin on Wednesday that he wished Karlsson had acted more aggressively, which would have given him the right to issue a similarly vitriolic response.
“To be honest, I thought he would be aggressive and ask so-called pointed questions. I wanted it from the very beginning,” Putin said in comments broadcast on Wednesday.
In the hours following Zarbin’s interview, there was no sign of a response from Carlson other than an enthusiastic expression of support. The quality of the Moscow metro system.
Mr. Carlson’s interview was President Putin’s first with an American journalist since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began nearly two years ago, and in the interview, President Putin said that the West believed Russia was defeated in Ukraine. He said people need to understand that it is “impossible” to do so.
“Because we can’t have direct dialogue, [with the west] Today… we must be grateful that Mr. Karlsson’s intermediary role made this possible,” President Putin said.
He told Zarubin that he was surprised that Carlson did not interfere further.
“Frankly, I was not completely satisfied with this interview,” Putin said.
The Kremlin said Putin agreed to Carlson’s interview because the former Fox News host’s approach differed from the “one-sided” coverage of the Ukraine conflict by many Western news organizations.
Carlson was criticized by some in the Western media for not asking tough questions in the interview. Putin acknowledged that Karlsson had “tried to get in my way several times,” but praised the “patience” of the conservative journalist, who is close to former President Donald Trump.
Elsewhere in the interview with Zarubin, Putin said he preferred Joe Biden to Donald Trump, but would work with any US president.
Zarbin asked the president which one is “better for us,” Democrat Biden or Republican Trump.
President Putin answered without hesitation: He’s a more experienced, predictable guy, an old-school politician,” but added, “We’re going to work with any American president that the American people trust.”
Kremlin documents leaked in 2021 reveal that Putin launched a covert operation to support “mentally unstable” Donald Trump during a closed-door meeting of Russia’s National Security Council during the 2016 US presidential election. It suggested that he had given his personal permission.
President Putin and his security chiefs agree that a Trump White House would help secure Russia’s strategic objectives, including “social turmoil” in the United States and This includes weakening the president’s negotiating position.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report