Russian Govt Confirms Putin Gave Interview to Ex-Fox News Host Tucker Carlson

President Vladimir Putin granted an interview to US television host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, his first to an American journalist since before the start of the Russia-Ukraine war nearly two years ago.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had agreed to the Carlson interview because the approach of the former Fox News host differed from the “one-sided” reporting of the Ukraine conflict by many Western news outlets.

“When it comes to the countries of the collective West, the large network media, TV channels, (and) large newspapers can in no way boast of even trying to at least look impartial in terms of coverage,” Peskov told a regular news briefing on Wednesday. When asked why Carlson had landed an interview with Putin, Peskov said the American journalist’s approach was “in no way pro-Russian, it is not pro-Ukrainian – it is pro-American”.

To be aired on Thursday

The interview is likely to be aired on Thursday, Russia’s TASS news agency said, citing reports by the Wall Street Journal. Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 2022, was last formally interviewed by a US media outlet in October 2021, though he has since spoken to Russian, Chinese and Kazakh media.

Many Western media outlets have left Moscow or shuttered their operations due to onerous media laws passed shortly after the war. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, an American citizen, was detained on spying charges in March 2023. Carlson said in a post on X on Tuesday that the interview would enable Americans to understand Russia’s view of the war.

“We are not here because we love Vladimir Putin….We are not encouraging you to agree with what Putin may say in this interview, but we are urging you to watch it. You should know as much as you can,” he said. Putin says he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine to safeguard Russia’s national security against what he casts as a hostile West. Kyiv and its Western allies say it is an unprovoked war of aggression and imperial-style land grab.

Carlson, who has said much Western media coverage of the war is biased in Kyiv’s favour, said he had also asked Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for an interview. The White House said earlier Wednesday that Putin should not be given an uncritical outlet to justify his war in Ukraine. “I don’t think we need another interview with Vladimir Putin to understand his brutality,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

(With agency inputs)