The world was waiting patiently this week after American journalist Tucker Carlson announced on Tuesday that he had landed in Moscow, and was preparing to interview President Vladimir Putin, with the interview to be released – unedited – on X.
The landmark interview is the first time the Russian leader has spoken to a western media figure since the outbreak of the war with Ukraine.
Former Fox News host Carlson said that while there were “risks” to conducting the interview, he told his millions of fans that “it’s our job – we’re in journalism,” going on to claim that Americans are “not informed” about the war in Ukraine, despite paying for it in “ways we don’t understand.”
“No one has told them the truth,” Tucker said of people in the West, blaming Western media outlets for omitting Russia’s side of the story. “They lie to the readers and viewers,” he said, adding: “And they do that mostly by omission.”
Carlson described the media’s “fawning” treatment of Zelensky, which he said were specifically designed to amplify Zelensky’s request that the US enter more deeply into a war in Eastern Europe.
“That is not journalism,” he claimed, “It is government propaganda – propaganda of the ugliest kind.”
Carlson said “most Americans” had never heard Putin’s voice, and that they had a right to do so.
“We are not encouraging you to agree with what Putin will say in this interview,” the conservative media personality said, adding: “You can decide yourselves.”
The lengthy, unedited interview has been likened by critics to a monologue, with the Russian leader delivering a history lesson spanning one thousand years, leaving Tucker open to criticism for not interrupting or challenging Putin at that point. Moreover, some commented that it would be more accurate to say Putin was interviewing Carlson, not the other way around.
Some have focused on the questions Tucker didn’t ask – accusing him of playing softball – including his failure to ask about the jailing of opposition leaders in the run up to the country’s forthcoming elections. However, the journalist has been given credit for being brave enough to ask some tough questions, including challenging Putin about jailed US reporter Evan Gershkovich.
One thing that appeared clear from the start that Putin seems to be physically, and mentally, in much better condition than many in the West have been led to believe. The contrast between 71-year-old Putin and America’s Joe Biden was stark, with Carlson’s interview released as a bombshell report broke revealing that the American leader has a memory which is “hazy” and “poor.” The special counsel report not only found that Biden had a “faulty memory,” but is also suffering from “diminished faculties.”
Here are five of the key claims from the viral two-hour long interview, which can be viewed in full here:
Ep. 73 The Vladimir Putin Interview pic.twitter.com/67YuZRkfLL
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 8, 2024
‘ARROGANT’ BORIS JOHNSON SCUPPERED PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
One of the most significant claims made in the interview was that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was responsible for derailing the peace deal with Ukraine that had been agreed with the assistance of Turkey in Spring 2022.
Putin claimed that he was ready to end the war 18 months ago, but Johnson told Ukrainian leaders that it was better to “fight Russia.”
The 71-year-old leader claimed that Davyd Arakhamia, the head of Ukraine’s ruling party, put his ‘preliminary signature’ on the deal following direct negotiations with Russians in Istanbul.
Mr Putin told Carlson: “But then he [Arakhamia] publicly stated to the whole world, we were ready to sign this document but Mr Johnson, then the Prime Minister, came and dissuaded us from doing this, saying it was better to fight Russia.”
“They would give everything needed for us to return what was lost during the clashes with Russia. And we agreed with this proposal,” Putin added.
Responding to Carlson, who asked Putin whether Ukraine was “prevented from negotiating a peace settlement by the former British Prime Minister acting on behalf of the Biden administration,” Putin responded: “Prime Minister Johnson came to talk us out of it and we missed that chance. Well, you missed it.”
When previously asked about such claims, Johnson denied doing so, dismissing them as “total nonsense” – adding that he had “expressed concerns” about the nature of such a potential agreement in a conversation with Zelensky.
“The fact that they obey the demand or persuasion of Mr Johnson, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, seems ridiculous,” Putin said, adding:
“And it’s very sad to me because, as Mr Arakhamia put it, we could have stopped those hostilities with war a year and a half ago already. But the British persuaded us and we refused this. Where is Mr Johnson now? And the war continues.”
When Carlson asked why Johnson did such a thing, Putin responded that it was “because of arrogance, because of a pure heart, but not because of a great mind.”
“We prepared the huge document in Istanbul that was initiated by the head of the Ukrainian delegation. He had fixed his signature to some of the provisions, not to all of it. He put his signature and then he himself said, we were ready to sign it, and the war would have been over long ago. Eighteen months ago,” Putin further claimed.
Responding in a blistering op-ed in the Daily Mail today, Mr Johnson said that the interview was “straight out of Hitler’s playbook,” describing Tucker as Putin’s “fawning stooge.”
“He was to be the stooge of the tyrant, the dictaphone to the dictator and a traitor to journalism,” Johnson said of Carlson – claiming that he had “betrayed his viewers and listeners around the world.”
“He did not challenge the ludicrous suggestion that the UK government persuaded the Ukrainians to fight on, rather than surrender to Putin’s tender mercies, in the spring of 2022.
“As every member of the Ukrainian government will confirm, from Zelensky down, nothing and no one could have stopped those lion-hearted Ukrainians from fighting for their country — and nothing will,” Johnson penned today.
THE WORLD FACES WORLD WAR THREE IF THE US SENDS TROOPS TO UKRAINE
During the interview, the Russian leader clearly appeared to threaten World War III if the United States puts troops in Ukraine. The Russian president threatened the US with a global conflict which he said would “bring humanity to the brink” if it sends troops to Ukraine.
“If somebody has the desire to send regular troops, that would certainly bring humanity to the brink of a very serious global conflict,” he said.
Putin went on to urge the US to stop fighting in Ukraine and call for peace, telling Carlson, “We have to look for a way out of this situation.” Putin also said the US was guilty of “cheap provocation” over its supply of military aid for Ukraine.
However, during his first interview with a Western media figure since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Putin seemed to indicate that Washington and Moscow were engaged in back-channel peace talks.
“Certain contacts are being maintained,” he simply told Carlson, however admitted that he “could not remember” the last time he talked to Joe Biden – claiming they had not spoken since February 2022.
Asked why he could not simply call Biden and say, ‘let’s work this out,’ Putin responded, “What is there to work out? It’s very simple,” urging the US leadership, “If you really want to stop fighting, you have to stop supplying weapons. It will be over within a few weeks, and then we can agree on some terms.”
“Why would I call him? What is there to talk about?” he asked Carlson.
RUSSIA HAS ‘NO INTEREST’ IN EXPANDING WAR
Putin also claimed that Russia have “no interest” in expanding the war or invading “Poland, Latvia, or anywhere else,” describing claims that Russia wants to further the war as “scare-mongering.”
“Why would we do that? We simply don’t have any interest.”
He claimed that from Russia’s perspective, expanding the war was “absolutely out of the question,” adding: “It makes no sense to get involved in any kind of a global war” which would “bring all of humanity to the brink of destruction.”
Putin further claimed the West was “fuelling the narrative of the Russian threat.”
“They have been scaring everyone with us all along,” he claimed. “In order to extort additional money from US taxpayers and European taxpayers, in the confrontation with Russia in the Ukrainian theatre war. The goal is to weaken Russia as much as possible,” Putin claimed.
PUTIN BELIEVES RUSSIA HAS HISTORICAL CLAIMS TO UKRAINE
Putin spent the first 30 minutes of the interview delivering a historical account of Russian territory, dating back to 800, following which he argued that Romania and Hungary had “some of their lands taken away” which “still remain part of Ukraine.”
Asked if he believed Hungary had a right to take its lands back from Ukraine, and if “other nations have a right to go back to their 1654 borders?” Putin responded:
“I’m not sure whether they should go back to their 1654 borders. But … one can say that they could claim back those lands of theirs while having no right to do that. It is at least understandable.”
RELEASE OF JAILED US JOURNALIST POSSIBLE
During the interview, Putin also said that he could be open to the release of 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been in a Russian jail for close to a year after being arrested last year. Carlson asked if Putin would release the journalist and reporter as “an act of your decency.”
“We have done so many gestures out of good will that I think we have run out of them,” Putin told Carlson with a sigh. “We have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner,” he claimed.
“However, in theory […] we do not rule out that we could do that,” the Russian president said, insisting, “we are willing to solve it.”
Putin stressed that a deal could be reached only “if our partners take reciprocal steps,” meaning the special services.
“Special services are in contact with one another. They are talking about the matter in question” he said, adding certain terms were being discussed.
“They are talking about the matter in question […] I believe an agreement can be reached.”
While Carlson said “we’ll bring him back to the United States,” the Russian president implied it was not a straightforward matter, claiming that the journalist, who has not yet been tried, had received classified information.
Tucker suggested an exchange would not be fair in the situation, but Putin insisted the journalist had acted as a spy. While Carlson told Putin that “with all respect” Gershkovich was “not a super spy,” the Russian leader claimed it was clear the US reporter was “caught red-handed” and “guilty of espionage” by gaining access to confidential information.
“I don’t know who he was working for,” Putin told Carlson, adding that he was receiving classified information covertly. “This is qualified as espionage.”
“I would like to reiterate that getting classified information in secret is called espionage,” he added. “It is up to special services to come to an agreement.”
“He is not just a journalist – he is a journalist who was getting classified information,” he claimed, adding he would not rule out the journalists return to his country. “It does not make sense” to keep Mr Gershkovich in Russia, Putin said.
“I hope you let him out,” Tucker told Putin as he concluded the interview, who claimed he was “absolutely sincere” that he wanted the journalist to return home.