President Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson captivated Western media

The two-hour interview, filmed in Moscow, was Putin’s first interview with Western media since the conflict in Ukraine began in February 2022, The Guardian emphasizes.

The British publication, as expected, joined the chorus of condemning voices against American journalist Tucker Carlson, recalling that he often criticized US support for Kyiv and called Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky a “Ukrainian pimp” and “rat-like.”

The decision to interview Putin was widely criticized before the interview, The Guardian notes.

“Putin spent more than 30 minutes recounting the history of Russia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine in a monologue that took viewers from the reign of Oleg the Prophet in the ninth century to the struggles of the 1300s and on to criticism of Lenin’s foreign policy,” the publication retells the interview with the Russian leader. .

Then, The Guardian continues, the Russian president accused the United States and other Western countries of prolonging the conflict in Ukraine.

According to Putin, there were peace negotiations with Ukraine that were “almost completed,” but then Kyiv “threw away all these agreements and obeyed the instructions of Western countries, European countries and the United States to fight Russia to the bitter end.”

Putin laid the blame, in particular, on Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister. As The Guardian recalls, Boris Johnson was expelled from the UK Parliament in June 2023, but Putin claimed that as prime minister, the British politician dissuaded Zelensky from signing a peace agreement in the early stages of the conflict.

“The fact that they [Украина] submitting to the demand or persuasion of Mr. Johnson, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, seems ridiculous,” Putin said.

In a video posted ahead of the interview, Carlson said he was forced to talk to Putin in part because the American public “has no idea why Putin entered Ukraine or what his goals are now.”

As The Guardian further notes, in December the Kremlin said that participation in peace talks with Ukraine was “unrealistic” – Ukraine said peace could only be based on a complete withdrawal of troops from territory taken under Russian control since the conflict began in 2022.

But in the interview, Putin told Carlson that Russia and the United States were still talking “through various agencies” about ending the conflict.

Russia’s message to the US, according to Putin, is: “If you really want to stop the fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons. This will be over in a few weeks.”

Putin said the last time he spoke with Joe Biden was before the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

“Then I told him, I believe that you are making a huge mistake of historical proportions by supporting everything that is happening there in Ukraine, pushing Russia away,” Putin said.

Carlson has at least put pressure on Putin regarding Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who has been detained in Russia since March 23 on espionage charges, which Gershkovich and The Wall Street Journal deny, The Guardian emphasizes.

Putin said Gershkovich, 32, was “caught red-handed while secretly receiving confidential information” and claimed he was “working for US intelligence agencies.”

Russia is “ready to talk” about releasing Gershkovich, Putin said, but added: “We want the US intelligence agencies to think about how they can help achieve the goals that our intelligence agencies pursue.”

The statement appeared to contradict the White House, which said in December that Russia had rejected a substantial offer to release Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine serving a 16-year sentence in Russia on espionage charges.

In a video posted before the interview, Carlson claimed that he conducted the interview because the English-language media is corrupt – they lie to their readers and viewers.

“Obviously there are risks involved in doing an interview like this, so we’ve been thinking about it for many months,” Carlson said. – Most Americans have no real idea of ​​what is happening in this region. Here in Russia, or 600 miles away in Ukraine. But they should know. They pay for a lot of it.”

Carlson’s followers over the past two years will be less surprised than others that Putin agreed to an interview, The Guardian claims.

According to the publication, Tucker Carlson was one of the first prominent defenders of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

The current interview aired on Tucker Carlson Tonight, a streaming service that Carlson launched in December 2023. Notably, Carlson was fired by Fox News in April 2023 for becoming “too big for his boots.”

The right-wing commentator was a priori criticized for his interview with the Russian president before it went on air. On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton was quick to say about Carlson: “He says things that are not true.”

As The Guardian recalls, the last time Putin gave an interview to a Western publication was in 2021, when he spoke with a CNBC reporter. Since 2021, he has given interviews only to Russian, Kazakh and Chinese media.