In a two-hour-long interview that aired on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin used the platform offered by right-wing American media personality Tucker Carlson to rail against the United States, justify the invasion of Ukraine, decry the purported injustice Russia has suffered from the West, and peddle conspiracy theories.
In a conversation that Putin controlled from start to finish, Putin undermined the United States, praised principal US rival China, spoke highly of former US President Donald Trump, and offered monologues on history that went on for over 30 minutes uninterrupted at one point.
Putin's interview with Carlson is being seen as a propaganda victory as he railed against the West for over two hours without uncritical questioning. The interview comes at a time when Putin enjoys sympathies from the hard-right sections of the Republican lawmakers and party supporters in the United States, which has halted US military aid and financial help to Ukraine.
Carlson, a former star anchor of right-leaning Fox News, said in a monologue before the interview that he decided to interview Putin because the US public has a right to know what's happening in Russia and that the English-speaking world has not been told the truth about the Ukraine War and its consequences. He said, "Their media outlets are corrupt. They lie to their readers and viewers and they mostly do that by omission."
Criticising the US media for the coverage of the Ukraine War, Carlson said US outlets have interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "in fawning pep sessions" but have not aired the Russian point of view. He said Zelenskyy's interviews have been "specifically designed to amplify Zelenskyy's demand that the US enter more deeply into a war in Eastern Ukraine and pay for it". He called it the "propaganda of the ugliest kind".
Ironically, following the interview with Putin, Carlson fawningly said in a monologue that he concluded from Putin's history lessons going back to the 8th century that Russia's historic claims on Ukraine that Putin has cited come from a "sincere" line of thinking.
Here we break down the top highlights of Putin's interview to Carlson, why it is significant, and what Putin accomplished with the interview. In the interview shared on X (formerly Twitter) and his website by Carlson, he asked questions in English and Putin replied in Russian and the translation was provided by Carlson's team in real-time. The story is based on that translation.
Putin Flags US Plots, West's Unjust Behaviour
In line with his long-held views, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of purported US plots against Russia with Tucker Carlson and flagged the West's unjust treatment of Russia.
Putin said that former US President Bill Clinton misled him about the possibility of Russia joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He said while Clinton initially said it was possible, he later reversed the position.
Putin accused the United States of toppling leaders friendly to Russia in Ukraine. He also said the United States was planning a "large-scale military operation" against Russia and the invasion of Ukraine was a way to prevent it. He also said that one such operation had already been thwarted earlier.
Putin also accused the United States of staging the Nord Stream attack, a sabotage of the Russia-Europe gas pipelines in 2022 shortly after Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
When Carlson urged Putin to release jailed US journalist Evan Gershkovich, Putin said Russia has made gestures of goodwill but the West has not responded. He hinted that he may be willing to exchange him for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian man serving life sentence in in Germany for the murder of a former Russian separatist from Chechnya. He said, "We have done so many gestures of good will out of decency that I think we have run out of them."
Putin Undermined USA, Praised China
Undermining the United States was central to Putin's conversation with Carlson. At one point, he peddled the 'deep state' conspiracy theory that says it's not the elected US leaders like the president who run the country but faceless entrenched individuals. He particularly flagged the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which he also linked to the Nord Stream sabotage.
Tucked asked Putin: "So, twice you've described US presidents making decisions and then being undercut by their agency heads. So it sounds like you're describing a system that’s not run by the people who are elected, in your telling?"
Putin replied: "That’s right, that’s right."
Putin also flagged the border crisis and polarised bipolar politics that the United States is embroiled in. He said, "Don’t you have anything better to do? You have issues on the border, issues with migration, issues with the national debt."
Undermining the Western civilisation, Putin also said that while the "Western society is more pragmatic", Russians are concerned "more about the eternal, about moral values". This is in line with Putin's deeply conservative and patriarchal policy where he blames the West for homosexuality and has termed same-sex marriages and gender issues as "degradation and degeneracy".
Putin also praised China, which has emerged as the principal partner of Russia in recent years. He called it the "rising sun". He told Carlson, "The West is afraid of a strong China more than it fears a strong Russia...You cannot prevent the sun from rising. You have to adapt to it. Your political establishment does not understand that the world is changing under objective circumstances."
Long History Lessons, Justification Of Ukraine War And Its Surrender
On multiple occasions, Putin went into monologues of history to drive the point that Ukraine is an artificial construct and Russia has a historical claim on Ukraine. He went as far back as the 8th century and one monologue went for more than 30 minutes.
Putin also justified the invasion of Ukraine and claimed the Russian goal is to "stop this war". He said the invasion of Ukraine was meant for the "de-Nazification" of Ukraine that is yet to be completed. He said that it is on the United States to stop the war by stop arming Ukraine. He also called for a deal that would end in Ukraine surrendering territory to Russia.
"Our goal is to stop this war. And we did not start this war in 2022. This is an attempt to stop it...You should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to a negotiating table...This endless mobilization in Ukraine, the hysteria, the domestic problems — sooner or later, it will result in an agreement," said Putin.
He further said, "If you really want to stop fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons. It will be over within a few weeks. That’s it."
Exuding confidence in the Russian position, Putin also said that even the West now knows that Russia cannot be defeated on the battlefield. He told Carlson that the time had come for talks as "those who are in power in the West have come to realise" that Russia will not be defeated on the battlefield.
"If so, if the realisation has set in, they have to think what to do next. We are ready for this dialogue," said Putin.
Politics Behind Vladimir Putin's Interview To Tucker Carlson
Through right-wing popular media personality Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed to the hard-right Republican lawmakers and the voters who have increasingly become isolationists over the years and are against the US support to Ukraine.
Putin also expressed fondness for former US President Donald Trump, who is the presumptive Republican presidential candidate and the hard-right's favourite.
Putin also exuded confidence in his position and the distractions of the United States, which has domestic troubles and is stretched in the Middle East at the moment. As the Ukrainian counter-offensive has also turned into a stalemate, the interview was an exercise of national assertion.
"Taken together, Mr. Putin’s appearance underscored his tactical confidence as his adversaries face a vulnerable moment: Ukraine is struggling on the battlefield, further military aid is stalled in the U.S. Congress and Kremlin-friendly politicians are ascendant on both sides of the Atlantic. Chief among those politicians is Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner whom Mr. Carlson frequently praises but whom he did not ask about in the interview," noted Anton Troianovski for The New York Times.
Troianovski further noted that it is a sharp turn for the Republican Party that has been historically characterised by a hawkish foreign policy and "once defined itself through muscular resistance to Russia" but "has turned increasingly toward a form of neo-isolationism with, in some quarters, strains of sympathy for Moscow".
"Instead of a ruthless autocrat seeking to conquer territory through the most violent war in Europe since the Nazis fell, Mr. Putin has made himself into something of a like-minded ally of certain right-wing forces in the United States, not least of all Mr. Trump, who praised his aggression as 'genius' just before Russian forces stormed across the border into Ukraine in 2022," noted Troianovski.
