Tucker Carlson aired his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
The interview ― Putin’s first formal sit-down with a Western media figure since he began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine ― stretched more than two hours. Putin spent the first 30 minutes explaining the history of Russia and Ukraine at the end of World War II before calling American efforts to further fund Ukrainian defense a “cheap provocation” by the United States.
Putin said he remained open to negotiations with Ukraine to end the conflict but claimed the U.S. was using the country as a proxy and stymying efforts to find a resolution.
“We’re willing to negotiate,” the Russian president said. “It is the Western side, and Ukraine is obviously a satellite state of the U.S. It is evident.”
Putin also suggested, without evidence, that the CIA was responsible for the destruction of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines in 2022. The pipelines linked Russia to Western Europe, and their sabotage launched a confounding investigation into who was responsible for the explosions.
Investigators have so far been unable to identify a responsible party.
“You personally may have an alibi, but the CIA has no such alibi,” Putin told Carlson in the interview after being asked who blew up the pipelines. “I won’t get into details, but people always say in such cases look for someone who is interested.”
Carlson announced the interview earlier this week amid days of speculation that he had traveled to Moscow. The former Fox News host claimed that “not a single Western journalist” had bothered to speak with Putin but that he was doing so because “Americans have a right to know all they can about a war they’re implicated in.”
The interview immediately sparked condemnation from Democratic lawmakers and other media outlets who cast it as a means for Putin to reach a growing far-right faction in the Republican Party. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) called Carlson a “traitor” while others said the decision to interview Putin was “unbelievable.”
The Kremlin has dramatically cracked down on the Western media’s ability to cover Russia from inside the country, saying news outlets have “stupefied” their readers with propaganda. Despite Carlson’s claims, many major outlets have attempted to speak with the Russian president, but the Kremlin has rebuffed those attempts for years.
Russia has also imprisoned Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, for more than 10 months while he awaits trial on charges of espionage. Both the Journal and the U.S. government have flatly rejected the espionage allegations.
Carlson asked about Gershkovich’s detention and if the Kremlin would be willing to release him to his media team to be brought back to the U.S. “as a sign of your decency.”
“We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them,” Putin replied, although he appeared open to an unspecified reciprocal swap with the U.S. “We have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner. However, in theory, we can say that we do not rule out that we can do that if our partners take reciprocal steps.”
Carlson continued to press for more information before Putin described Gershkovich’s behavior as espionage and said the reporter was “caught red-handed.” He went on to claim, without evidence, that the reporter was “not just a journalist” but someone who had obtained “confidential information.”
“I do not rule out that the person you refer to, Mr. Gershkovich, may return to his motherland,” Putin said. “We are ready to talk. … But we have to come to an agreement.”
The Journal has vehemently rejected any suggestion that Gershkovich was working in any capacity beyond that of a reporter, declaring his imprisonment part of the fierce crackdown on the media since the Ukraine invasion began.
“The concept of a free press ― the underpinning of a free society ― has been singularly challenged,” Emma Tucker, the Journal’s editor in chief, told readers in December. She described the act as an extension of how Putin’s “clampdown on independent media extended to the foreign press.”
Carlson has long been sympathetic to Putin and harshly critical of U.S. funding for Ukraine. Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said Carlson “contrasts the position of the traditional Anglo-Saxon media” in a statement this week, adding that Russia had “no desire to communicate” with most Western media. Peskov described such outlets as failing to be impartial in their coverage.
Lawmakers in Washington have struggled to pass a new round of funding for the besieged nation this week, which could be included in a massive $95 billion national security bill that also includes support for Israel.
Republicans, however, have increasingly lined up against further aid to Kyiv.