Peskov spoke about preparations for the interview with Carlson and Putin’s work with historical primary sources

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, in a conversation with VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin, explained how an agreement was reached on an interview between Vladimir Putin and American journalist Tucker Carlson and where the head of state gets his knowledge about history.

“Usually we try not to reveal our inner workings, but he actually contacted us himself and offered this interview. We looked at his materials, looked at his audience, looked at how balanced he was covering certain issues, and came to the conclusion of recommending that the president give such an interview. He quickly agreed to this,” told Dmitry Peskov.

“Given that the collective West is becoming more and more unpredictable, they really do not shun anything absolutely. Therefore, of course, there were certain fears that even before the start of the interview there would be some kind of persecution of this poor Carlson, they were present. Even now, as far as I understand, he is having a hard time. But, on the other hand, being a fairly smart person, I think that he foresaw that there would be such an intensity of passions. But in fairness, it must be said that this interview added considerable popularity to him,” added Dmitry Peskov.

The interview was published on February 9. In it, Vladimir Putin answered 60 questions. At the beginning of the conversation, he gave historical information about how Kievan Rus developed, and later – a unified Russian state with its center in Moscow. The head of state also named the prerequisites for the development of nationalism in Ukraine.

“It was obvious that Ukraine would be high on the agenda for this interview. The President relies on a very deep knowledge of history— said Dmitry Peskov in a conversation with Pavel Zarubin.—And he forms his judgment about history precisely on the basis of primary sources. He works very often and a lot with archival documents.”

According to Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s historical worldview “is not emotional in nature, it is based on specific knowledge of primary sources.” “Yes, this historical part will probably be very difficult to perceive in the West, among Western viewers and readers. But there are a huge number of specialists on our country, there are a huge number of historians, and historians in Eastern Europe, who will also be very keenly interested for sure. Therefore, this historical part will have its own audience,” says Dmitry Peskov.

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