Tucker Carlson Says He’s ‘Convinced’ of Putin’s Sincerity After Interview

The long-anticipated interview between former Fox News star Tucker Carlson and Russian President Vladimir Putin finally dropped on Thursday on X, making the longtime Putin defender the first Western “journalist” to sit down with the authoritarian leader since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Carlson began the more than two-hour long video with a brief monologue about his impressions following the interview, saying that he emerged from the conversation convinced that Putin’s long-stated belief in Russia’s historic claim to Ukrainian territory was sincere.

“Vladimir Putin believes that Russia has a historic claim to parts of western Ukraine,” he said before airing the pair’s interview. “So our opinion would be to view it in that light, as a sincere expression of what he thinks.”

Tucker Carlson has been desperately seeking to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin even before he was formally recognized as a wanted war criminal, sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The designation did not repel the fired Fox News host and instead led him straight to Moscow, to shake hands with the man who spearheaded a bloody invasion of a neighboring nation, in his apparent quest to restore the Russian Empire.

Carlson revealed the slant of his inquiry even before the interview was released, portraying it as his noble attempt to inform clueless English-speaking audiences. He alleged this was necessary because “their media outlets are corrupt, they lie to their readers and viewers.”

Carlson asserted, “It is government propaganda, propaganda of the ugliest kind, the kind that kills people.” This declaration sounded especially preposterous, since it was uttered from Moscow—the capital of government propaganda that kills people. Government-controlled propagandists have long been cheering for Carlson to get this opportunity.

The spot where he stood to record the introduction spoke louder than words. Russian journalist, and political scientist Yevgenia Albats noted that for security reasons, this location is off-limits for most journalists: “The Ritz Carlton Hotel in Moscow stands right across from Red Square. Its roof is controlled by one of the KGB’s successors, the Federal Security Service.”

Carlson claimed, “Most Americans have no idea why Putin invaded Ukraine or what his goals are now. They’ve never heard his voice.” To the contrary, the coverage of this invasion, along with the Kremlin’s alleged rationale for doing so, has been extensively covered by Western media—including Putin’s own on-camera statements, immediately prior to the invasion and thereafter. Nonetheless, Tucker Carlson promised to deliver something the English-speaking world hasn’t heard before—Putin’s perspective, undiluted and uncut.

Despite state media personalities, along with the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, denying their foreknowledge of this interview, they’ve announced that it would be released in its entirety and without cuts or editing — days before Tucker did.

While many are questioning Carlson’s motivation for pursuing this interview, Putin’s most likely rationale for sitting down with an unaffiliated vlogger was articulated by Henry Sardaryan, Dean of the School of Governance and Politics at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, during Wednesday’s broadcast of The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov. He explained, “They [Americans] were so afraid of election interference by the Russian Federation, so worried that Russia is influencing them! I don’t doubt that this interview alone, if it does not play a pivotal role, at the very least it will influence the outcome of these elections to an extraordinary degree.”

Appearing on 60 Minutes on Wednesday, political scientist Sergey Luzyanin said that Putin is “hammering this nail straight into the Western mainstream media” and described his interview with Carlson as “a slowly-burning fuse, leading to the tinderbox known as American elections 2024.” Luzyanin surmised that Americans will be opened up to the infusion of Putin’s undiluted talking points. He noted, “It will be just like Columbus discovering America!”

Thursday morning, state TV host Vladimir Solovyov described Carlson’s interview as Russia “beating the West with its own weapons.”

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