AFTER ALBERTA

Is Tucker Carlson in Moscow for Putin? The pro-Kremlin crowd hopes so

An interview with the Russian president would be “an epochal event,” one Russian Telegram channel crows.

In September, Carlson told Die Weltwoche that he had “tried to interview Vladimir Putin, but the U.S. government stopped me” | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

 

FEBRUARY 4, 2024 

BY EVA HARTOG

Conservative polemicist Tucker Carlson, or someone who looks just like him, has been spotted in Moscow, to the great joy of the pro-Kremlin community.

On Sunday, a Telegram channel considered close to Russian law enforcement reported Carlson had flown into Moscow from Istanbul three days earlier.

 The post, published by Mash, included two photos, supposedly showing Carlson at an airport and another at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater, where he was said to have attended а ballet performance on Sunday. 

It is supposedly the first time Carlson has visited Russia.

Although there has been no official confirmation, pro-Kremlin pundits and military bloggers have relished the news as a sign the former Fox News host is going to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“Without exaggerating, it is safe to say that we are in for an epochal event,” the Bezgranichny Analitik Telegram channel wrote. It added that, if it comes about, it would be Putin’s first sit-down interview with a Western journalist since his “special military operation” against Ukraine was launched almost two years ago. “And be assured, this time Putin will be heard by many in the West,” said the post, widely shared by pro-Kremlin bloggers.

Another channel belonging to the RIA state news agency wrote that in past interviews with American journalists, Putin had to defend himself against various “accusations.” 

“Maybe he’ll be more lucky with Tucker Carlson — it is said the TV host, who openly sympathizes with Russia, has come here in the hope of talking to Putin,” the post said.

In September, Carlson told Die Weltwoche that he had “tried to interview Vladimir Putin, but the U.S. government stopped me.”

Well, you’re not allowed to hear Putin’s voice, ‘coz why?” Carlson complained.

Soon after, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that although the Kremlin received “dozens” of such requests from Western media every day, it did not consider an interview useful because “[Western] society has been stupefied by Russophobic propaganda.”

But Peskov didn’t discount the possibility of an in-depth interview with a Western journalist in the future, saying: “Whether or not Carlson will be among the potential candidates, we’ll have to wait and see.” 

Formerly a prime-time host on Fox News, Carlson was squeezed out by the network last April over a defamation scandal. In December he launched his own streaming service. Before then, Carlson published interviews on X with Argentina’s Javier Milei and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.

Donald Trump has openly said he would consider Carlson as a potential running mate. 

Tucker Carlson Being Spotted in Moscow Sparks Frenzied Speculation

Published Feb 04, 2024 
By Ellie Cook

NEWSWEEK
Security & Defense Reporter

The reported appearance of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in the Russian capital has sparked intense speculation over the purpose of the conservative media personality's visit to Moscow.

Carlson arrived in Moscow on February 1, and was spotted attending the Bolshoi Theater in the capital, according to Russian outlet Mash.

Questions quickly swirled over why the TV anchor would have traveled to Moscow, and whether he intended to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin during the visit.

"Democrats and their propagandists in the media are spasming at the prospect of Tucker Carlson interviewing Putin," Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Tucker Carlson on November 17, 2022, in Hollywood, Florida. Carlson arrived in Moscow on February 1 and was spotted attending the Bolshoi Theater in the capital, according to Russian outlet, Mash.

JASON KOERNER/GETTY IMAGES

"We have a free press in this country and its people like Tucker Carlson who we depend on to speak the truth!" she wrote.

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Referencing Greene's comments on Sunday, Russia's state-backed news agency, Tass, reported that Kremlin press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, had said in 2023 that the world would have to "wait and see" whether Putin would speak with Carlson.

Carlson said in late September 2023 that he had attempted to interview the Russian leader, but that the U.S. government had blocked the move. "I tried to interview Vladimir Putin, and the U.S. government stopped me," Carlson told Swiss magazine, Die Weltwoche.

Newsweek has reached out to Carlson for comment via email.

Carlson abruptly left Fox News in April 2023, and has since set up his own streaming service and hosted shows on social media.

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Carlson has become a popular figure among Russian state media commentators, and has been accused of echoing Russian state propaganda.

Shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, progressive outlet Mother Jones published what it said was a Kremlin memo urging state-linked outlets to use more footage of Carlson in their broadcasts.

"It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally," one Russian-language memo said, according to Mother Jones.

Margarita Simonyan, a top Kremlin propagandist who heads up the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, said in August 2023 that Carlson had requested an interview with the Kremlin chief, adding the former Fox News host was "doing a great job."


Russian state television promoted Carlson's new content in September 2023, although the anchor told the Financial Times that he "had never seen this," adding: "I have no clue what it's about."