Who conducted the interview with Putin: Journalist or propagandist

Tucker Carlson, the right-wing former host of Fox News, described his "mission" in Russia simply - the American public should finally be presented with what is really happening in Russia and Ukraine, he writes Deutsche says.

According to Carlson, a journalist very attached to Russia, information from the media in the US is nothing more than propaganda.

The Kremlin gladly accepted the request for an interview of this fan of former US President Donald Trump. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was an opportunity to convey a message to millions of Americans.

And that at a time when further US aid to Ukraine is more than uncertain. Congress has not yet reached an agreement on this - the gap between Democrats and Republicans is too deep.

Putin: Russia is not an aggressor

And so Carlson and Putin, both in dark suits and ties, sat facing each other in the Kremlin for more than two hours. Putin began the conversation with a historic monologue that lasted more than twenty minutes.

He emphasized once again that Russia is not an aggressor, but that it defends its people, country and its future.

He spoke about the need to protect the Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine, and that he had to prevent Ukraine from becoming a security threat to Russia after its possible entry into NATO.

Carlson listened with a serious expression on his face, furrowed brows, and wanted to know if Putin could imagine a situation in which Russia would march into Poland. "No," Putin replied, "only in one case: if Poland were to attack Russia."

The Russian president said that Russia has no interest in Poland, Latvia or other countries. NATO countries, he added, only tried to intimidate their own people - with an imaginary Russian threat.

Putin pointed out that he is ready for negotiations and explained that if the United States really wanted to end the fighting, it should first stop supplying weapons to Ukraine. Then everything would be over in a few weeks, he said.

Photo: Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

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An agreement could be reached, Putin said. However, he clarified, there are certain conditions that are discussed between the secret services. Putin indirectly said he could envision releasing an American journalist in exchange for a Russian sentenced to life in prison for a murder in Berlin in 2021.

"Co-production" of Karlsson and Putin

Experts on Russia, such as Janis Kluge from the Berlin-based Foundation for Science and Policy, warn of the existence of cooperation between Carlson and Putin.

"Carlson is smart and his plan is clear. He and Putin will work together perfectly to spread the false narrative about Ukraine, weaken Biden and strengthen Trump," Kluge wrote on Platform X on Wednesday.

"This co-production may be the most effective and toxic propaganda clip ever made," Kluge stated.

"Tucker Carlson is not a journalist, he is a propagandist," wrote political scientist Jan Bremer. "That's why Putin accepted him as an interviewee."

Kremlin critic and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov stated that it is not surprising that "real journalists" have so far not received a single appointment for an interview with the head of the Kremlin.

"Any show hosted by a serious journalist is unacceptable for a dictator like Putin," he said. "Why else would he spend two decades putting pressure on a free media?"

Propaganda gift for Putin

As the media write, this interview had a long prelude. More than two years ago, the editor-in-chief of the state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonyan, asked the Kremlin for an interview with Karlsson.

Her colleague Vladimir Solovyov, Putin's chief propagandist, even offered right-wing agitator Carlson a job after he was fired from Fox News.

Russian state propagandists see Carlson as one of their own, said Tikhon Dzhadko, the editor-in-chief of the independent Russian TV station Dozhd, who is in exile.

As the German weekly Spiegel writes, the "right-wing American commentator" who has millions of followers and "relativizes and trivializes" Russian aggression served Putin as proof for the Russian audience that the US and the West are divided.

"Carlson had no questions about some statements of the head of the Kremlin. He did not ask about the war crimes committed by the Russian army in Bucha and other places in Ukraine, nor about the Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia," the German weekly concluded.