Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin

An interview becomes legendary when it gets its own page on Wikipedia. On February 6, 2024, Tucker Carlson spoke with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. The report (127 minutes) offers a good, or at least broad opportunity to hear the Russian perspective on the war against Ukraine.

Rurik

About a quarter of the more than two-hour interview was devoted to answering the first question, or rather, to Putin’s opening monologue. It began in 862 with Prince Rurik; from there, returning to the present was quite the journey. In and around Moscow, it was cinema-worthy material.

You can watch the full interview (with chapters) on Carlson’s website, and below, from Carlson’s YouTube channel.

Fortunately, a version was also found where Putin speaks in Russian (Kremlin 2023, 126 m).

Reactions

Negative reviews were already circulating before anyone had seen anything. See The biggest overreactions to Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview that no one has seen yet (The Spectator, 08-02-2024), or hear from Hillary Clinton. After the release, the reactions did not improve, with descriptions like overtly ridiculous (The Daily Beast), softball interview (CNN), sycophancy
(= flattery) (The Guardian), and nonsense (BBC).

Aftermath

During the conversation, relations seemed quite friendly, but that changed afterward. Carlson compared Putin to an over-prepared student and called his “denazification” argument ‘one of the dumbest things I’d ever heard’. Putin, in turn, was not complimentary about the interviewer. See, for instance, Putin Humiliates Tucker Carlson After Interview (Newsweek, 15-02-2024) and Putin (…) mocks Tucker Carlson’s questions (The Guardian, 15-02-2024).

More

Watch (EN/NL)

• Tucker Carlson Putin interview: What we learned (BBC News, 4 m)
• Five key moments from Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin: Elon Musk is unstoppable (The Telegraph, 5 m)
• Putin’s most insane moments in Tucker Carlson interview (Times Radio, 9 m)
• Tucker Carlson responds to haters: ‘I’m Not Flaking For Putin’ (The Hill, 9 m)
• Russians give verdict on Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson (The Times, 1 m)
• Tucker Carlson on US-Russia After Putin Interview (Firstpost, 24 m)
• Vladimir Poetin interviewed by Carlson: ‘Regurgitation of half-truths’
 (BNR, 7 m)
• ‘Tucker Carlson is Putin’s voluntary campaign manager,’ says Russia expert (WNL, 6 m)
• Analysis after Putin interview: ‘This is very bizarre’ (De Telegraaf, 12 m)
• After Putin interview: ‘Russian state media in turmoil’ (De Telegraaf, 7 m)

Read

• What Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin shows, and what it hides (NPR, 23-02-2024)
• What did Vladimir Putin say to Tucker Carlson? Five key takeaways (Aljazeera, 09-02-2024)
• Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview: 9 takeaways (Politico, 09-02-2024)
• ‘Talkshow or a serious conversation?’ (The Guardian, 09-02-2024)

Financial Times

The last major interview between Putin and the Western press was on June 28, 2019. The interview with The Financial Times focused largely on (Putin’s view on) liberalism. See Vladimir Putin says liberalism has ‘become obsolete’ for the text and Vladimir Putin: the full interview for the video (90 m). A meeting and/or clash between two worlds, English subtitled. Short version (6 m) below.

Also see Learn Russian with Vladimir Putin (1/2) and Learn Russian with Vladimir Putin (2/2)