As of: March 1, 2024, 9:50 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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Tucker Carlson (l) defended himself against criticism of his interview with President Putin.
© Gavriil Grigorov/imago-images
The US presenter Tucker Carlson appeared tame in the interview with Putin, but now he began to criticize.
Meanwhile, the impact of the conversation is spreading widely – including in the USA.
Moscow – For the first time since the start of the Ukraine war, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an interview to a Western media representative at the beginning of February.
The interlocutor of his choice: the right-wing US moderator Tucker Carlson, who did not ask any critical questions and only served as a cue for the Kremlin leader.
During the conversation with Putin, Tucker was tame.
But now he began to criticize: The American called a pseudo-argument from Putin “one of the stupidest things I have ever heard.”
The reaction from the Kremlin followed promptly.
Kremlin counters Carlson's criticism of Putin: "Doesn't understand much, but listens"
Carlson sat down with podcast host Lex Fridman this week to chat.
The issue published on Tuesday (February 27) also covered the controversial Putin interview.
As one of his pseudo-arguments for the invasion of Ukraine, which violates international law, the Kremlin chief repeatedly uses the need to “denazify” the neighboring country.
The democratically elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is himself Jewish and the extreme right only plays a marginal role in the rest of the political landscape.
The West therefore sharply criticizes this alleged reason for the war of aggression.
Critical words now came from Carlson, of all people, who had not questioned Putin's statements during his interview.
“I thought it was one of the stupidest things I had ever heard,” said the US presenter in his conversation with Fridman.
“I hate this whole conversation because it’s not real,” the US host continued.
“It’s just ad hominem.
"It's a way of associating someone with an evil regime that no longer exists,"
Newsweek
quoted Carlson and Fridman as saying.
The reaction from Moscow was not long in coming.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the American “doesn’t understand much,” but listens.
“Just because he interviewed Putin doesn't mean someone tried to convert him.
“That’s stupid, nobody has such intentions,” Peskov continued – and then also had praise for Carlson.
“What sets him apart is his willingness to listen to different points of view and present them to his listeners and viewers,” the Kremlin spokesman claimed, according to a report by the Russian news agency
Interfax
.
Arguments for Trump hardliners: What was behind Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson
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But why this interview at all?
The target audience was the West, a suspected Kremlin insider recently analyzed in an interview with the Russian opposition media
Meduza
.
The aim was for people in Russia to see that Putin was “still setting the agenda,” said the anonymous source.
In view of the US budget dispute, there is another reading.
Without US aid, Washington and Kiev say, Ukraine will lose the war.
“This interview is now fodder for all these Republican hardliners,” was the analysis of the political podcast “Lage der Nation” (LdN) last week.
During his time as a Fox host, Tucker Carlson was considered the arch-conservative mouthpiece of former President Donald Trump.
Trump supporters among Republicans in particular are calling for an end to aid to Ukraine.
The Putin interview now provides them with arguments why the USA should no longer support Ukraine, they said.
“That is the reason why Putin gave this interview,” said the analysis by LdN moderators Philip Banse and Ulf Buermeyer.
So far, the USA has been Kiev's most important supporter, but the Republicans are currently blocking further military aid to Ukraine in the budget dispute.
Former US President Trump allegedly received help from Russia during his last election campaign and is said to be close to Putin.
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