Kremlin confirms Carlson has interviewed Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US journalist Tucker Carlson on Tuesday for an interview, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily media briefing on Wednesday. The American had announced the imminent release of the footage hours earlier.
Peskov declined to say when exactly the public will be able to see the interview and would not comment on its contents. He noted that being an American, Carlson was neither pro-Russian nor pro-Ukrainian in terms of his attitude to the Ukraine conflict, which is expected to be the focus of the interview.
He pointed out that the interviewer’s position contrasts with that which dominates in Western media, which is why the Kremlin had granted his request. The Kremlin spokesman added, however, that Carlson is wrong when he claims that Western news outlets haven’t bothered to seek an interview with the Russian leader.
Western mainstream media cannot claim “even the appearance of impartiality” on Ukraine and “all have a one-sided position,” Peskov explained. Moscow has “no desire” to communicate with them and doubts that anything good would come out of it, he said.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that Carlson will likely publish his production on Thursday, citing “people familiar with the matter.”
Carlson has vowed that his talk with Putin will be released uncut on his streaming platform and will not be paywalled. He said it was important for the American public to hear what the Russian president had to say, because the stakes of the Ukraine stand-off were very high.
He claimed other Western media outlets were not doing a proper job informing the public about Moscow’s position, misleading them on why the US and its allies were spending taxpayer money on supporting Kiev. Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter) promised Carlson that the interview would not be suppressed on the platform, he added.
Critics claim that Carlson is sympathetic to the Russian cause. Former US Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who is pro-Ukrainian, branded him “a traitor” in an X post and launched a mock poll on whether the journalist was on Putin’s payroll.
Even before Carlson confirmed his plans, neoconservative writer Bill Kristol urged the authorities to prevent him from returning home, “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
Carlson predicted that Western governments “will certainly do their best to censor” him because “they are afraid of information they can’t control.”
