![]() “I said to him, then, I believe that you are making a huge mistake of historic proportions by supporting everything that is happening there, in Ukraine, by pushing Russia away,” Putin said.Ĭarlson did, at least, press Putin on Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia since 23 March having been accused of espionage – which Gershkovich and the Journal deny. Putin said the last time he spoke to Joe Biden was before Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia’s message to the US, Putin said, is: “If you really want to stop fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons. In December, the Kremlin said engaging in peace talks with Ukraine is “unrealistic” – Ukraine has said peace can only be based on a full withdrawal from the territory Russia has seized since it invaded in 2022.īut in the interview, Putin told Carlson that Russia and the US still speak “through various agencies” about ending the conflict. It’s unclear whether viewers will come away with a clearer sense of either. In a video released ahead of the interview, Carlson said he was driven to speak to Putin, in part, because the American public has “no idea why Putin invaded Ukraine or what his goals are now”. “The fact that they obey the demand or persuasion of Mr Johnson, the former prime minister of Great Britain, seems ridiculous,” Putin said. Johnson was forced out of UK parliament in June 2023, but Putin claimed that as prime minister he had dissuaded Zelenskiy from signing a peace deal in the early stages of the conflict. Putin laid the blame at the feet of Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister, in particular. There were peace talks with Ukraine that were “almost finalized”, Putin said, but then Ukraine “threw away all these agreements and obeyed the instructions of western countries, European countries and the United States to fight Russia to the bitter end”. When a baffled-looking Carlson finally coaxed Putin into the 21st century, the Russian president accused the US and other western countries of prolonging the war in Ukraine. Putin spent more than 30 minutes giving a history of Russia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, in a monologue that took viewers from the ninth century rule of Oleg the Wise, to the struggles of the 1300s, through to a critique of Lenin’s foreign policy. But the opening of the conversation between the former Fox News host and Putin was a let down. ![]() The decision to interview Putin had been widely criticised ahead of the interview. It marked a new level of infamy for Carlson, who has frequently criticized US support for Ukraine, has referred to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, as a “Ukrainian pimp” and “rat-like”.Ĭarlson’s tone was less pugnacious in the interview with Putin, who he referred to as “Mr President” throughout. ![]()
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