Controversial American right-wing journalist Tucker Carlson will soon publish an interview he conducted with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It stands like the first time Mr. Putin was interviewed By Western media since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
In a video shared on social media platform X, Carlson & Who was fired from Fox News in April last year He was a staunch supporter of Putin, and said he was giving the interview to “inform” the Americans.
Here we take a look at what Carlson previously said about the Russian president, Ukraine, and the war.
Vladimir Putin and Russia
Carlson has often used Russia and Putin in his arguments against the American left, claiming that Democrats have used Moscow as a scapegoat for domestic issues stemming from their mismanagement.
Back in 2017, the then Fox News anchor said that Vladimir Putin did not pose any threat to the United States, accusing the “left” of seeing the Russian leader “behind every problem” that befell the country.
The following year, he warned the American public not to fall into the trap of “propaganda” aimed at making them “hate Russia.”
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His rhetoric escalated in the months leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as he said liberals in the US “hate” America more than Putin and stated that “Russia is not our enemy.”
He also called on Americans to question why they “hate” Putin.
“It might be worth asking yourself, since this has become so serious, what is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much?” He said.
He limited the question to his personal experience, and said: “Did Putin ever describe me as a racist?”
“Did he threaten to fire me because I disagreed with him? These are fair questions, and the answer to all of them is: No. Vladimir Putin did none of this.”
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the interview with Putin was granted because Carlson's approach differed from the “one-sided” coverage of traditional Western media.
Peskov added that the former Fox News host's position is “different from others.”
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Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Moscow last week about the 2024 Russian presidential elections. Photo: Reuters
Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine
Carlson has often portrayed Ukraine as a victim in a war between the United States and Russia, but he blamed its leader Volodymyr Zelensky To take advantage of the conflict to establish a “dictatorship.”
In 2019, Carlson said that the United States “maybe should side with Russia if we have to choose between Russia and Ukraine.”
He also described Ukraine as a “pure client state of the US State Department” and described the then looming war as a “border issue.”
He has consistently suggested that Ukraine is caught between the United States (and by extension… NATO) and Russia.
“We are not arming Ukraine so we can help the Ukrainians — they are just unfortunate pawns in all of this,” he said.
“We are arming Ukraine so we can punish Russia…for stealing Hillary Clinton's coronation.”
He later commented on President Zelenskyy himself.
“Whatever you think of the war in Ukraine, it is clear that Zelensky has no interest in freedom and democracy,” he said after the invasion.
He added: “He is a dictator, a dangerous authoritarian who used $100 billion in American tax money to establish a one-party police state in Ukraine.”
Carlson also said that the Ukrainian president was closer to former Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin than US founding father George Washington.
Last night, he accused the West of playing into the hands of Ukrainian propagandists in wartime interviews, and said he had also offered Zelensky the chance to speak with him.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: AP
the war
Carlson said he was “absolutely opposed” to Western sanctions and had been “on Russia's side” on several occasions – sometimes claiming he was joking but later doubling down on his stance.
A few months after the war, he claimed that “by any actual reality-based measure, Vladimir Putin is not losing the war in Ukraine.”
He added: “He is winning the war in Ukraine and… Joe Biden “He looks at that and says we won't stop until you give unconditional surrender.”
In a video released last night, he said the war in Ukraine is a “humanitarian catastrophe” that has changed long-standing political and commercial realities around the world.
“However, the population of English-speaking countries seems mostly unaware, they believe that nothing has really changed, and they believe that because no one has told them the truth,” he added.
“Their media is corrupt. They lie to their readers and viewers, and they do so mostly by omission.”
