Harry Fletcher
Feb 15, 2024
Tucker Carlson Network
After letting Vladimir Putin drone on and on about Russian history in a non-event interview recently, Tucker Carlson has been criticised by the man himself for not asking hard enough questions.
It turns out that Carlson threw such softball questions as the Russian president that even the man himself thought he had it too easy.
The interview saw Putin speak for more than two hours, with Carlson becoming the first Western media to speak to Putin since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
When asked about the interview by a Russian broadcaster, Putin said (according to a Reuters translation): “To be honest, I thought that he would behave aggressively and ask so-called sharp questions.
“I was not just prepared for this, I wanted it, because it would give me the opportunity to respond in the same way.”
A translation of the transcript posted on the Kremlin website also said: “He tried to interrupt me several times, but still, surprisingly for a Western journalist, he turned out to be patient and listened to my long dialogues, especially those related to history. Frankly, I did not get full satisfaction from this interview."
The interview did eventually see Carlson ask some questions, rather than letting Putin talk about Russian history. 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”.
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