Tucker Carlson's Full Interview With Russian President Vladimir Putin

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday released his controversial interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who took the opportunity—his first interview with a western journalist since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago—to defend Russia’s war, arguing Moscow has a historic claim to the eastern European country, as Carlson faces heavy pushback for giving Putin the platform. In a two-hour interview released Thursday night, Putin defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing Russia has a historic claim to areas of western Ukraine dating back to the 13th century, a claim Putin has made repeatedly in the two years since Russia launched its invasion. In the interview, which was recorded at the Kremlin on Tuesday, Putin claimed parts of Ukraine along the Black Sea “have no historical connection to Ukraine whatsoever,” according to a translation posted on Carlson’s website.

Carlson attempted to push back against Putin’s nearly 40-minute monologue on Russian history—including Russia’s position in World War II and the creation of the Soviet Union—asking what the history has to do with “what happened two years ago.” Putin also cited the eastern expansion of NATO as a reason for a “rift” between western countries and Russia, arguing “the promise was that NATO would not expand eastward but it happened five times,” saying that Russia tried to push against the expansion leading up to its conflict with Ukraine. Carlson broke into a laugh on two occasions when Putin asked if the interview was a “talk show or a serious conversation.”

Putin also argued Ukraine, and not Russia, started the war in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula by “preparing for military action,” and adding: “our goal is to stop this war” (Putin had previously referred to the war as a “special military operation” and denied responsibility for starting the war, a narrative western leaders have rejected). When asked if Russia has “achieved [its] aims” in Ukraine, Putin said it has not, naming one of Russia’s goals is to prohibit “all kinds of neo-Nazi movements” in Ukraine in a process he called the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine, a claim debunked as “factually wrong, morally repugnant and deeply offensive,” according to a group of scholars from more than a dozen western countries. When asked about U.S. involvement in the war, Putin argued, “Don’t you have anything better to do?” while citing American domestic “issues on the border, issues with migration, issues with the national debt.”

Carlson also asked Putin if he has evidence the CIA was involved in the explosion of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, a theory Putin has repeated and Carlson has speculated—Putin did not provide evidence, but said Russia “should look for someone who’s interested” and “someone who has capabilities.” Carlson also asked Putin if he would be willing to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained last year on espionage charges the Journal has condemned and the U.S. says are unfounded. Putin said he believes an agreement can be reached, but reiterated Russia’s claim that Gershkovich gained confidential information and is “essentially controlled by the U.S. authorities.” Following days of speculation, Carlson said on Tuesday he would interview Putin in Moscow, setting up the Russian president’s first interview with a western media figure since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Carlson argued “it’s our job” to talk to Putin, adding Americans “are not informed” about the war and are “paying for much of it in ways they might not fully yet perceive,” alluding to U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine, a subject Carlson has roundly criticized. Carlson in recent years has used his platform as a prime-time host first on Fox and then online, to repeatedly question military spending for Ukraine in its war with Russia, while appearing to support Putin. In November 2019, Carlson said he was “rooting for Russia,” though he later said he was joking. As Moscow was launching its invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, Carlson argued Ukraine is “not a democracy” and defended Putin, asking if the Russian president has “ever called [him] a racist” or “threatened to get me fired for disagreeing.”

Over the past year, Carlson has targeted U.S. military aid to Ukraine, asking last January “where did the money go” before claiming, without evidence, that it went to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “and his wife.” Carlson, who spent 14 years at Fox News, including six as a prime-time host, was unexpectedly ousted from the right-wing network last April in what Fox called a mutual agreement. Carlson, who appeared to be blindsided by his firing, had come under fire from Fox management in the months leading up to his removal, namely over private comments he made in text and email conversations attacking Fox executives in vulgar terms. Those comments came to light in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against Fox, which it settled for $787.5 million last April. One month later, Carlson relaunched his show on Twitter, saying the Elon Musk-owned social media platform known for its lax content moderation allows him to cover stories he would not be able to cover on Fox News.

Carlson even lamented there are “limits” to what can be covered on TV and that if hosts “bump up against those limits often enough, [they] will be fired for it.” Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, branded Carlson as a “useful idiot” and a “puppy dog” in an interview with MSNBC, and said she would “not be surprised if he emerges with a contract with a Russian outlet.” Through Carlson, Clinton argued, Putin can “continue to lie” on his objectives in Ukraine.