As of: February 14, 2024, 5:02 p.m
By: Felix Durach
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The US talk show host Carlson defends his strategy in an interview with Vladimir Putin.
The USA would also restrict press freedom and have political opponents killed.
Dubai – Tucker Carlson faced a lot of criticism for his highly publicized interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In the two-hour conversation, the US moderator was accused of allowing himself to be used as a tool for Putin's propaganda in the Ukraine war.
The 56-year-old asked the Russian president too few critical questions.
Issues such as freedom of the press or the imprisoned Kremlin critic Navalny were not even addressed.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called Carlson a “useful idiot” because of this.
During a panel at the World Government Forum in Dubai, Carlson was confronted with the allegations - but showed little insight and counterattacked the US government.
Tucker Carlson (l) defended himself against criticism of his interview with President Putin.
© Gavriil Grigorov/imago-images
Tucker Carlson defends interview with Putin – “Every leader kills”
“I didn’t talk about the topics that all other American media talk about,” said the US talk show host, referring to the allegations.
One of these topics was the accusation that Putin would have unpleasant political opponents killed.
When asked about this, Carlson simply replied: “Every leader kills people, including my leader (US President Joe Biden,
editor’s note
).
Some kill more than others.
Leadership requires killing people.”
Carlson claimed that he also deliberately did not address the issue of press freedom in Russia: “Press restrictions are the order of the day in the USA.
I know this because I lived it.” In his opinion, there is more censorship in Putin’s Russia than in the USA, “but there is also a lot in the USA”.
Carlson did not respond to questions about the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Carlson full of praise for Putin: Moscow “is so much more beautiful than any other city” in the USA
Although Carlson emphasized several times at the panel in Dubai that he was “not a fan” of Putin, he nevertheless repeatedly praised the Russian autocrat for his policies and leadership.
The US moderator cited the Russian capital Moscow as an example of the success of Putin's policies.
“It is so much more beautiful than any other city in my country.
I had no idea,” Carlson said.
His father worked for the US government in the Russian metropolis in the 1980s.
At that time there was “hardly any electricity” in Moscow.
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"And now it's so much cleaner and safer and more beautiful, in terms of its architecture and its food and its service, than any other city in the United States that you have to ask - and this isn't ideological - how did this happen?" , Carlson continued.
The United States, where he grew up, also had cities like that, Carlson claims.
But now this no longer exists.
Carlson accused that this was a conscious decision by the US government.
The right-wing US talk show host has repeatedly attracted attention in the past for spreading fake news and conspiracy stories.
Leading up to the interview, Carlson claimed in a video on X (formerly Twitter) that no other Western journalist had asked Putin for an interview since the start of the Ukraine war.
The statement was soon found to be untrue when the Kremlin itself contradicted Carlson.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they had received “numerous interview requests”.
(fd)