Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson says he’ll interview Russian President Vladimir Putin

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced in a video on the social media platform “X” he will interview Russian president Vladimir Putin. The New York Times is now reporting that the Kremlin confirmed that the interview has happened.

“We are in Moscow tonight, we are here to interview the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin,” Carlson said. “We will be doing that soon.”

In his video, Carlson said it is his duty as a journalist to inform the American people and accused American media of bias towards Ukraine throughout the Russia-Ukraine war, which began more than two years ago after Putin launched a full-scale invasion.

“Their media outlets are corrupt,” Carlson said. “They lie to their readers and viewers, and they do that mostly by omission. For example, since the day the war in Ukraine began American media outlets have spoken to scores of people from Ukraine, and they’ve done scores of interviews with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.”

American journalists have taken exception to Carlson’s description of their Russia-Ukraine war coverage. CNN’s Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour calling Carlson out on “X.”

Does Tucker really think we journalists haven't been trying to interview President Putin every day since his full scale invasion of Ukraine? It's absurd — we'll continue to ask for an interview, just as we have for years now. https://t.co/pW8F2zbq1i

— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) February 6, 2024

“Does Tucker really think we journalists haven’t been trying to interview President Putin every day since his full scale invasion of Ukraine? It’s absurd — we’ll continue to ask for an interview, just as we have for years now,” Amanpour posted.

With Ukraine aid stalled in Congress and no clear path forward, the interview with Carlson marks Putin’s first interview with Western media since the beginning of his country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian state-run media has reported every move of Carlson’s trip to Moscow, which has increased the anticipation of the release of the interview. Carlson said that the interview will be aired unedited on his website and on “X.” Carlson added that he also requested to interview Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.