Putin and Carlson: how the western media reacted to the propagandist's interview with the dictator

The world press is discussing the interview of Russian President Vladimir Putin with American TV presenter Tucker Carlson, which aired the day before.

Carlson himself claims that he sought this interview for the sake of Americans, who are paying for the war in Ukraine with their taxes, wittingly or unwittingly, and therefore have the right to know the truth from all sides of the conflict.

The Western press is more interested in the question of why Putin himself needs this. The BBC made a brief overview of the world's largest media outlets on this issue.

CNN

What we saw was not even an interview. Carlson avoided in every possible way the questions that Americans might really be interested in: the authoritarian regime in Russia, the war in Ukraine, the deaths of innocent people, war crimes, and finally the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Instead, writes CNN columnist Oliver Darcy, we heard a verbose and sometimes incoherent monologue, in which Carlson occasionally interjected clarifying comments.

"Carlson gave the autocrat complete freedom to manipulate the public and tell his side of the story, no matter how unreliable," Oliver Darcy wrote.

Tucker Carlson not only did not try to clarify Putin's favourite references to history that are not true, but in some places simply blended into the Russian president's narrative.

"After watching the first 45 minutes of this interview, it became clear that Putin was at ease on his platform. And from the beginning, Carlson had no control over anything," writes CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward.

The Independent

No one is interested in Putin's usual dictums that Ukraine is an artificial state and that Nord Stream was blown up by the CIA.

The newspaper devotes most of its publication to an episode in the interview where Carlson asks Putin to let Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkowitz, who was detained in Russia last March on espionage charges, go to America with him.

Carlson suggested that this would be a gesture of goodwill, but Putin replied that his reserves of goodwill in relations with the West had been exhausted.

Then, the Independent notes, Putin uttered the words "espionage" and "classified information" several times, and Tucker Carlson no longer tried to help his fellow journalist.

At the same time, Putin suddenly began to talk about how a "true Russian patriot" was in prison in "one of the European capitals" for "eliminating a bandit who killed Russian soldiers in the Caucasus".

Putin did not name any names, the Independent writes, but it is likely to be the Russian Vadim Krasikov, who killed 40-year-old Georgian citizen and ethnic Chechen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019.

Krasikov, whom German prosecutors believe to be an FSB officer, was sentenced to life in Germany, and Putin mentioned him not by chance – perhaps the Kremlin is preparing the ground to exchange him for journalist Gershkovich, the British newspaper writes.

Politico

What is important about this interview – predictable and lacklustre – is that Putin has unlimited access to a huge American audience before the US elections and has not missed the opportunity to sow seeds of doubt not only about the expediency of US aid to Ukraine, but also about the US political system as such. Whether these seeds will germinate will become clear later, but the process has begun, the newspaper writes.

Putin did not forget to tell how previous American presidents failed to build security relations with Moscow, Politico writes.

He went on to call the US political system a swamp and American democracy an illusion. The helpful Carlson, as the publication calls him, immediately summed up Putin's opinion for the American audience: the system in the United States is not run by those who are truly elected by the people.

Other key points of the interview, according to Politico, are as follows:

Putin is not going to end the war in Ukraine, and Washington's continued financial support for Kyiv is a waste of American taxpayers' money.

Elon Musk, with his vast wealth, unpredictable behaviour, and disturbing ambitions in the field of artificial intelligence, is one of the few figures who occupy Putin's thoughts. The Russian president wants to be friends with the American billionaire and even tries to flatter him.

To the surprise of Carlson and the whole world, Putin has letters from Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who lived in 1596-1657, which, in theory, should confirm the Russian president's version of Ukraine's history. Putin promised to translate them into English and give Carlson a copy later. "Take a copy for yourself later," Putin said.

Belgian politician and former Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt wrote a very emotional post on Twitter.

"The interview with Carlson is the best thing that could have happened to Putin. Tomorrow, America will suffer from the uncensored lies he has sown without hindrance. This is how democracies die..."