Independent broadcaster Tucker Carlson confirmed he will release an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a video posted on X Tuesday afternoon.
“There are risks to conducting an interview like this – obviously – so we thought about it carefully over many months,” Carlson said in the video, which was recorded in Moscow. “So, here’s why we’re doing it: first, because it’s our job. We’re in journalism. Our duty is to inform people. Two years into a war that’s reshaping the entire world, most Americans are not informed. They have no real idea what’s happening in this region.”
“But they should know,” he added. “They’re paying for much of it in ways they may not fully yet perceive.” Why I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/hqvXUZqvHX
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 6, 2024
The independent broadcaster described the war in Ukraine as a human disaster that’s claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Beyond depopulating the largest country in Europe, Carlson explained how the conflict has “utterly reshaped the global military and trade alliances,” resulting in an upended world economy.
“And yet the populations of the English-speaking countries seem mostly unaware,” he said. “They think that nothing has really changed, and they think that because no one has told them the truth. Their media outlets are corrupt. They lie to their readers and viewers, and they do that mostly by omission.”
Carlson cited the numerous interviews the corporate press has held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, describing them as “fawning pep sessions specifically designed to amplify Zelensky’s demand that the U.S. enter more deeply into a war in Eastern Europe and pay for it.”
“That is not journalism,” he said. “It is government propaganda of the ugliest kind – the kind that kills people.”
By contrast, Carlson said no Western journalists have interviewed Putin and, perhaps as a result, most Americans don’t understand what prompted the Russian president’s invasion.
“Americans have a right to know all they can about a war they’re implicated in, and we have the right to tell them about it because we are Americans, too,” he continued. “Freedom of speech is our birthright. We were born with the right to say what we believe. That right cannot be taken away no matter who is in the White House, but they’re trying anyway.”
Carlson claimed that three years ago, the Biden administration spied on his internal correspondence and leaked the contents to the corporate press in an attempt to stop a Putin interview Carlson was planning.
“Last month, we’re pretty certain they did exactly the same thing once again, but this time we came to Moscow anyway,” he said.
Carlson said X owner Elon Musk has agreed to not suppress or block the forthcoming interview, which will be available for free on X as well as Carlson’s website.
“Western governments by contrast will certainly do their best to censor this video on other less principled platforms because that’s what they do,” he said. “They are afraid of information they can’t control. But you have no reason to be afraid of it.”
“We are not encouraging you to agree with what Putin may say in this interview,” Carlson concluded. “But we are urging you to watch it. You should know as much as you can, and then, like a free citizen and not a slave, you can decide for yourself.”
The former Fox News host did not say when the interview will be released.
