Tucker Asks Putin if He Could Release WSJ Journalist as ‘Sign of Decency’: ‘He’s Obviously Not a Spy’

Carlson: “I just got to ask you one last question, and that’s about someone who’s very famous in the United States, probably not here, Evan Gershkovich, who’s The Wall Street Journal Reporter, he’s 32 and he’s been in prison for almost a year. This is a huge story in the United States, and I just want to ask you directly, without getting into the tales of it or your version of what happened, if, as a sign of your decency, you would be willing to release him to us and we’ll bring him back to the United States.”

Putin (via translator): “We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them. We have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner. However, in theory, we can say that we do not rule out that we can do that if our partners take reciprocal steps. When I talk about the partners, I, first of all, refer to special services. Special services are in contact with one another. But there are certain terms being discussed via special services channels. I believe an agreement can be reached.”

Carlson: “So, this stuff has happened for, obviously, centuries. One country catches another spy within its borders, it trades it for one of its own intel guys in another country. I think what makes it, and it’s not my business, but what makes this different is the guy’s obviously not a spy. He’s a kid. Maybe he was breaking your law in some way, but he’s not a super spy, and everybody knows that, and he’s being held hostage in exchange, which is true — with respect, it’s true, and everyone knows it’s true. So, maybe he’s in a different category. Maybe it’s not fair to ask for somebody else in exchange for letting him out. Maybe it degrades Russia to do that.”

Putin (via translator): “You know, you can give a different interpretations to what constitutes a spy.”

Carlson: “Are you suggesting he was working for the U.S. government or NATO, or he was just a Reporter who was given material he wasn’t supposed to have? Those seem like very different things.”

Putin (via translator): “I don’t know who he was working for, but I would like to reiterate that getting classified information in secret is called espionage. He was working for the U.S. Special Services, some other agencies. I don’t think he was working for Monaco, as Monaco is hardly interested in getting that information. It is up to special services to come to an agreement. Some groundwork has been laid. There are people who, in our view, are not connected with special services. Let me tell you a story about a person serving a sentence in an allied country of the U.S.. That person, due to patriotic sentiments, eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals during the events in the caucuses. Do you know what he was doing? I don’t want to say that, but I will do it anyway. He was laying our soldiers, taken prisoner, on the road, and then drove his car over their heads. What kind of person is that? Can he even be called human? But there was a patriot who eliminated him in one of the European capitals. Whether he did it of his own volition or not, that is a different question.”

Carlson: “Yeah, but Evan Gershkovich didn’t do that. That’s a completely different — I mean, this is a 32-year-old newspaper Reporter.

Putin (via translator): “He committed something different. He’s not just a journalist. I reiterate, he’s a journalist who was secretly giving confidential information. Yes, it is different, but still, I’m talking about other people who are essentially controlled by the U.S. authorities wherever they are serving a sentence. There is an ongoing dialogue between the special services. This has to be resolved in a calm, responsible, and professional manner. They’re keeping in touch, so let them do their work. We are ready to talk. Moreover, the talks are on their way, and there have been many successful examples of these talks crowned with success. Probably, this is going to be crowned with success as well, but we have to come to an agreement.”

Carlson: “I hope you let him out. Mr. President, thank you.”