Harry Fletcher
Feb 09, 2024
Tucker Carlson Network
Tucker Carlson has released a rambling interview with Vladimir Putin, and it had commentators on social media asking the same question.
Does the former Fox News presenter actually speak Russian?
The Russian president spoke with a very visible earpiece in order to translate his long diatribe on Russian history and its relationship with Ukraine.
Carlson, meanwhile, wasn’t wearing a visible earpiece - at least not of the same size as Putin's - and viewers were therefore curious as to how Carlson was understanding Putin.
Some wondered whether the interview was edited in such a way to suggest a more seamless translation, but others questioned whether Carlson actually spoke fluent Russian.
Well, we can say with some certainty that Carlson doesn’t speak Russian.
In fact, he said it himself back in 2022. When asked if he was becoming a political pawn for Putin, he told Axios that he couldn’t speak Russian and “could care less” about the country.
"It's too stupid," he said. “I don't speak Russian. I've never been to Russia. I'm not that interested in Russia. All I care about is the fortunes of the United States because I have four children who live here."
So, unless Carlson has learned Russian since then, the presenter does not speak the language.
The interview itself saw Putin speak for more than two hours, with Carlson becoming the first Western media to speak to him since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
When Carlson asked why he doesn’t call President Joe Biden and work out a solution in Ukraine, Putin asked: “What’s there to work out?”
“Stop supplying weapons and it will be over within weeks,” he added.
Putin also claimed that peace talks had at one point “reached a very high stage of coordination of positions... they were almost finalized”.
indy100 has reached out to Tucker Carlson’s representatives for comment.
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