Gabrielle Settles, USA TODAY
Thu, February 8, 2024
The claim: No Western journalists have reached out to interview Putin
Former Fox News host and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson announced Feb. 6 (direct link, archive link) that he was going to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming along the way that no one else has bothered to do so.
Carlson talked about the Russia-Ukraine war and criticized media outlets from “English-speaking countries” for interviewing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in what Carlson called “fawning pep sessions.” Then he levied a claim about Western media.
“Not a single Western journalist has bothered to interview the president of the other country involved in this conflict, Vladimir Putin,” Carlson says.
His announcement was reposted more than 165,000 times on X and shared on Facebook more than 10,000 times.
The interview is set to air on Carlson's media network on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. Eastern.
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Our rating: False
The Kremlin and journalists from multiple outlets have refuted Carlson’s claim. Western media organizations have reached out many times for an interview with Putin, but the interviews weren't granted.
Carlson is among other Western journalists requesting an interview
CNN anchor and journalist Christiane Amanpour took to X to refute Carlson in a Feb. 6 post of her own.
“Does Tucker really think we journalists haven't been trying to interview President Putin every day since his full scale invasion of Ukraine?” she wrote on Feb. 6. “It's absurd – we'll continue to ask for an interview, just as we have for years now.”
BBC News Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg also chimed in with an X post.
“Interesting to hear Tucker Carlson claim that ‘no western journalist has bothered to interview’ Putin since the invasion of Ukraine," he wrote. "We’ve lodged several requests with the Kremlin in the last 18 months. Always a ‘no’ for us."
The Associated Press noted in a story it is also among the outlets that have sought to interview Putin.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, confirmed that other outlets have reached out since the start of the war, according to reports from Russian and international media groups.
“No, Mr. Carlson is wrong. In fact, he cannot know this,” Peskov told reporters on Feb. 7. “We receive many requests for interviews with the president, but mainly, when it concerns the countries of the collective West, we are talking about large online media: traditional TV channels, large newspapers, which cannot boast of attempts to at least look impartial in terms of covering what is happening.”
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Peskov said Carlson was chosen for the interview because “he has a position that differs” from other English-language media.
USA TODAY reached out to Carlson for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
Christiane Amanpour, Feb. 6, X post
Steve Rosenberg, Feb. 6, X post
Interfax News, Feb. 7, The Kremlin confirmed that Putin gave an interview to American journalist Carlson
Associated Press, Feb. 7, Russia says former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has interviewed Vladimir Putin
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tucker Carlson wrong about Western media ignoring Putin | Fact check
Fact Check: Putin's Interview with Tucker Carlson Allegedly Included a Threat of War with the US. Here Are the Facts
Jack Izzo
Fri, February 9, 2024
Claim:
In an interview with Tucker Carlson in February 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened the United States with war.
Rating:
Rating: False
On Feb. 6, 2024, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson sat down for an interview with Vladimir Putin. It was the president of Russia's first interview with an American since Russia's attempted invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Carlson's independent streaming service, Tucker Carlson Network, aired the interview and uploaded it to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Feb. 8, 2024.
The interview took about two hours, so news organizations and social media users alike spread clips and soundbites in their coverage of the event. One post on X showed a screenshot of a news article from The New Zealand Herald that read "'Serious global conflict': Putin threatens US with war in Tucker Carlson interview." The user claimed that Putin never said that during the interview.
We found no evidence Putin made such a direct threat either, so we rate this claim as "False."
To check the claim, Snopes first investigated whether the headline was real. We found the headline on the front page of The New Zealand Herald, as shown in the X post. However, clicking on the link to read the story revealed a different, less provocative headline: "Former Fox host Tucker Carlson releases interview with Vladimir Putin on social media." Put simply, the more dramatic headline was found only on the site's front page, as if the headline's sole purpose was to draw more attention to the article.
Next, we checked the interview itself to see whether we could identify any points where Putin could have been interpreted as threatening war with the United States. We took an English-language transcript of the interview released by the Kremlin and cross-referenced it with the version of the interview posted to Carlson's X account.
In an ideal world, Snopes would have independently translated the interview to avoid using the Russian government as a primary source. However, because the interview was intended for an English-speaking audience, Putin's replies were translated and overdubbed in English, preventing us from hearing the original Russian. The Kremlin transcript closely matched the dubbed translation provided in the video, but Snopes could not independently verify the exact words Putin used.
With that said, neither the video nor the written evidence supported the claim that Putin threatened war. The following excerpt, which begins around 1:07:00 and lasts until 1:11:35 in the video posted to X, is the clip we found most closely resembling the claim.
Tucker Carlson: Do you think NATO was worried about this becoming a global war or nuclear conflict?
Vladimir Putin: At least that's what they're talking about. And they are trying to intimidate their own population with an imaginary Russian threat. This is an obvious fact. And thinking people, not philistines, but thinking people, analysts, those who are engaged in real politics, just smart people understand perfectly well that this is a fake. They are trying to fuel the Russian threat.
Tucker Carlson: The threat I think you were referring to is Russian invasion of Poland, Latvia — expansionist behavior. Can you imagine a scenario where you send Russian troops to Poland?
Vladimir Putin: Only in one case: if Poland attacks Russia. Why? Because we have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don't have any interest. Its just threat mongering.
Vladimir Putin: It is absolutely out of the question. You just don't have to be any kind of analyst, it goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of global war. And a global war will bring all of humanity to the brink of destruction. It's obvious.
There are, certainly, means of deterrence. They have been scaring everyone with us all along: tomorrow Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons, tomorrow Russia will use that, no, the day after tomorrow. So what? These are just horror stories for people in the street in order to extort additional money from US taxpayers and European taxpayers in the confrontation with Russia in the Ukrainian theatre of war. The goal is to weaken Russia as much as possible.
Tucker Carlson: One of our senior United States senators from the State of New York, Chuck Schumer, said yesterday, I believe, that we have to continue to fund the Ukrainian effort or US soldiers, citizens could wind up fighting there. How do you assess that?
Vladimir Putin: This is a provocation, and a cheap provocation at that.
I do not understand why American soldiers should fight in Ukraine. There are mercenaries from the United States there. The biggest number of mercenaries comes from Poland, with mercenaries from the United States in second place, and mercenaries from Georgia in third place. Well, if somebody has the desire to send regular troops, that would certainly bring humanity on the brink of a very serious, global conflict. This is obvious…
In this clip, Putin does mention that sending "regular troops" to Ukraine would "bring humanity [to] the brink of a very serious, global conflict." However, he had just stated that "it goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of global war."
Because those two statements contradict each other, we determine that there was never really an explicit threat of war made against the United States, and thus the claim is not true. Pointing out that neither side truly wants a global war indirectly implies that it would be foolish for the United States to escalate in Ukraine, allowing Putin to continue to threaten retaliation without giving U.S. officials any new information about how he might actually react to an escalation.
In this clip, Putin does mention that sending "regular troops" to Ukraine would "bring humanity [to] the brink of a very serious, global conflict." However, he had just stated that "it goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of global war."
Because those two statements contradict each other, we determine that there was never really an explicit threat of war made against the United States, and thus the claim is not true. Pointing out that neither side truly wants a global war indirectly implies that it would be foolish for the United States to escalate in Ukraine, allowing Putin to continue to threaten retaliation without giving U.S. officials any new information about how he might actually react to an escalation.
Sources:
“Https://Twitter.Com/GeromanAT/Status/1755870696217944330.” X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/GeromanAT/status/1755870696217944330. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.
“Https://Twitter.Com/TuckerCarlson/Status/1755734526678925682.” X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1755734526678925682. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.
“Interview to Tucker Carlson.” President of Russia, 9 Feb. 2024, http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/73411.
Ljunggren, David, et al. “Putin Tells Tucker Carlson Russia Has No Interest in Attacking Poland or Latvia.” Reuters, 9 Feb. 2024. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-rare-us-interview-says-russia-has-no-interest-attacking-poland-or-latvia-2024-02-09/.
Murphy, J. Kim. “Tucker Carlson Shares Controversial Two-Hour Vladimir Putin Interview.” Variety, 9 Feb. 2024, https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/tucker-carlson-vladimir-putin-interview-1235902906/.
“‘Serious Global Conflict’: Putin Threatens US with War in Tucker Carlson Interview.” NZ Herald, 10 Feb. 2024, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/former-fox-host-tucker-carlson-releases-interview-with-vladimir-putin-on-to-social-media/XD27XPXEQFBCFGPPQVEWQ7ODL4/.
Tucker Carlson Releases 2-Hour Interview With Vladimir Putin
Nick Visser
Thu, February 8, 2024
Carlson announced the interview earlier this week amid days of speculation that he had traveled to Moscow. The former Fox News host claimed that “not a single Western journalist” had bothered to speak with Putin but that he was doing so because “Americans have a right to know all they can about a war they’re implicated in.”
The interview immediately sparked condemnation from Democratic lawmakers and other media outlets who cast it as a means for Putin to reach a growing far-right faction in the Republican Party. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) called Carlson a “traitor” while others said the decision to interview Putin was “unbelievable.”
The Kremlin has dramatically cracked down on the Western media’s ability to cover Russia from inside the country, saying news outlets have “stupefied” their readers with propaganda. Despite Carlson’s claims, many major outlets have attempted to speak with the Russian president, but the Kremlin has rebuffed those attempts for years.
Russia has also imprisoned Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, for more than 10 months while he awaits trial on charges of espionage. Both the Journal and the U.S. government have flatly rejected the espionage allegations.
Carlson asked about Gershkovich’s detention and if the Kremlin would be willing to release him to his media team to be brought back to the U.S. “as a sign of your decency.”
“We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them,” Putin replied, although he appeared open to an unspecified reciprocal swap with the U.S. “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.”
Carlson continued to press for more information before Putin described Gershkovich’s behavior as espionage and said the reporter was “caught red-handed.” He went on to claim, without evidence, that the reporter was “not just a journalist” but someone who had obtained “confidential information.”
“I do not rule out that the person you refer to, Mr. Gershkovich, may return to his motherland,” Putin said. “We are ready to talk. … But we have to come to an agreement.”
The Journal has vehemently rejected any suggestion that Gershkovich was working in any capacity beyond that of a reporter, declaring his imprisonment part of the fierce crackdown on the media since the Ukraine invasion began.
“The concept of a free press ― the underpinning of a free society ― has been singularly challenged,” Emma Tucker, the Journal’s editor in chief, told readers in December. She described the act as an extension of how Putin’s “clampdown on independent media extended to the foreign press.”
Carlson has long been sympathetic to Putin and harshly critical of U.S. funding for Ukraine. Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said Carlson “contrasts the position of the traditional Anglo-Saxon media” in a statement this week, adding that Russia had “no desire to communicate” with most Western media. Peskov described such outlets as failing to be impartial in their coverage.
Lawmakers in Washington have struggled to pass a new round of funding for the besieged nation this week, which could be included in a massive $95 billion national security bill that also includes support for Israel.
Republicans, however, have increasingly lined up against further aid to Kyiv.
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