War in Ukraine
Schedule for Putin interview with US talk show host
Tucker Carlson did an interview with Putin. photo
© Richard Drew/AP/dpa
Kremlin chief Putin’s first interview with a Western journalist since the beginning of the war is scheduled to air in prime time in the United States. US talk show host Tucker Carlson announces this as a media event.
The right-wing US talk show host Tucker Carlson has published his interview with the Russian President Vladimir Putin announced for Friday night CET. It is Putin’s first in-depth conversation with a US interviewer since his war of aggression against Ukraine began almost two years ago.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the former Fox News presenter, who has since left Moscow, could decide for himself when it would be published. The 54-year-old Carlson has been announcing the interview as a media event for days.
Putin probably agreed to the interview shortly before the presidential election in Russia on March 17th because he currently sees an advantage and benefit for himself in his war against Ukraine, said Russian political scientist Tatjana Stanovaya. The Kremlin chief is betting that Western aid to Kiev with ammunition and weapons will decline, that the USA will be busy with its own presidential election in the fall and that internal political problems in Ukraine will increase.
Why Carlson?
The aim of the interview was to convince the West to abandon Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in order to pressure a new leadership in Kiev to negotiate with Moscow, said the expert living abroad.
Putin uses Carlson as access to the US audience. The former Fox News host, who is also known for spreading conspiracy theories, reaches millions of people via social networks. He is against US financing of the war.
Carlson represents a different position than Western media, with whom discussions would make no sense, said Peskov, justifying the initiative. Several Western media outlets had also requested an interview with Putin. Carlson had declared that the conversation would be made available free of charge and in its entirety on the social network X (formerly Twitter) and on his website. The talk show host accused the US mass media of lying to viewers and readers by omitting them.
Carlson was fired from Fox News last year. He hosted a high-ratings evening show there for years. He used this to spread conspiracy theories and false reports and to agitate against minorities. Shortly afterwards he started his own show on X.