For introduction The interview between Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin is a platitude that suggests the whole exchange’s uneasy relationship with the truth. “Of course, the Kremlin,” Karlsson said, standing outside in a snowy Moscow city, noting that his interview took place in the building behind him. But the building he was gesturing to was not the Kremlin. As others have noted, it is a state historic landmark.
The two-hour interview that followed, Putin’s first with Western media since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, was similarly deceptive. In response to Carlson’s first question about why President Putin was worried about a NATO attack on Russia just before the invasion of Ukraine, the president said, “Are we on a talk show or are we having a serious discussion?” Are you there?” he asked dismissively. (Tucker’s loud laughter in response is David Brent-like and upset.)
Putin then asked for “30 seconds or a minute” to provide “a little historical background,” which was a lie, and the conversation ended. The next nearly half-hour follows the president tumbling down a rabbit hole of revanchist history that begins in the 9th century, expands Russia’s historical claims to Ukrainian territory, and goes through centuries of vague justifications for invasion. Show the progress. Mr. Carlson does not dispute this at all. (Carlson says in his foreword that he and his team were not satisfied with the detour, saying it was “a nuisance.”) During the interview, Carlson told Putin that history lessons were “not boring. No!” he said with a hint of self-mockery.)
This rewriting of history is not new. Many who watched the interview, posted on Carlson’s website and Twitter, no doubt jumped into a broader discussion about the present. There they were able to get Putin’s thoughts on AI, the Roman Empire, and individual American conservative stalwarts. While President Putin has faintly praised Elon Musk (“I don’t think you can stop Elon Musk…I think he’s a smart guy, and I really believe that”), George W. Bush (“I know he was portrayed as some people in the United States)” to Donald Trump (“I had a very personal relationship with Trump”), he said. I’m going to go out of my way to stab Carlson. He refers to Carlson’s “Basic Education in History.” At one point, while discussing the CIA (which President Putin has said is responsible for sabotaging the Nord Stream pipeline), the president said that he had learned that Mr. Karlsson had previously applied to join the agency but had been rejected. He said there was. “You should thank God they didn’t let you into the country,” Putin says. “It’s a serious organization, but I understand.”
Former editor Lionel Barber financial times A person who interviewed Putin in 2019 (the last Westerner to do so before Carlson) told me prior to the interview that Putin is a “master of destabilization” and that he makes sure to use that skill against journalists. He said he is doing so. Has Carlson become unstable? Difficult to say. Karlsson, who long ago perfected the on-air expression of squinting and disbelief, often appeared simply confused by Putin’s repeated responses.
But what was different from many of the Russian president’s previous interviews, and of particular interest to many Kremlin watchers, was the president’s stance on the West. Previously, Putin had made a point of denouncing its “decadence” and discussing its accelerating decline, but here Putin was less hostile and more neutral. “Western society is more realistic than Russian society,” he says simply, which he says has “allowed us to have great successes in production, even science, etc.”
So how does President Putin envision the end of the war? Agreements with Western countries. “We are ready for this dialogue,” he said, insisting that Russia had been ready for quite some time. Asked in spring 2022 about previous attempts to negotiate a peace deal, Putin accused Boris Johnson of blocking the deal by persuading Kiev to keep fighting. Putin said Johnson was motivated by “arrogance, a pure heart, but not a great spirit.” Carlson suggested that Johnson may have been acting at the behest of the Biden administration. Putin added: “Where is Mr. Johnson now?” And the war continues. ”
President Putin told Carlson that the United States needed to do more to end the war. The situation could be “over within weeks” if the U.S. “cuts off arms supplies.” “We should tell the current leaders of Ukraine to stop and come to the negotiating table,” he says. “This endless mobilization, hysteria and internal problems in Ukraine will come to an agreement sooner or later.”
Although this is not sword-wielding rhetoric, Putin also pointed out that the deal should include Ukraine ceding territory to Russia because Russia has not achieved all of its war objectives. There is. As Lawrence Friedman writes, President Putin regularly claims to be ready for peace talks, “but when pushed further into a corner, his diplomatic interests turn to Ukraine’s neutrality.” It turns out that it is only to help achieve some of the core objectives, such as the transfer of Ukraine’s territory larger than that currently occupied by the Russian Federation. We can take such calls more seriously if they begin with a promise to withdraw from Ukrainian territory. ”
After all, President Vladimir Putin’s first interview with a Western nation since the war began was neither a great moment in the history of sharp and inquisitive journalism, nor was it particularly enlightening. To Tucker Carlson’s credit, he called on President Putin to release imprisoned people. wall street journal Accompanied by reporter Evan Gershkovich, he is allowed to leave the country. President Putin refused to allow this and maintained control of the discussion and narrative throughout the exchange. But I’m not sure this interview will be as effective as a propaganda tool as many feared. Even gaining a foothold in Putin’s perspective, it is difficult to understand where the American right begins. Despite all the hype, most viewers would have undoubtedly stopped watching at some point during Putin’s “It’s not boring!” Historical appropriation.
[See also: Lionel Barber on Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview]