This is how Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin went – in 5 points EU Climate Change Service: Earth experiences warmest January on record

Putin’s monologues

The first surprise of the interview came when you looked at its duration: while Carlson’s conversations with Hungarian head of state Viktor Orbán or Argentina’s newly elected president, Javier Milei, lasted about half an hour, the interview with Putin lasted more than four times as long . a whopping two hours and seven minutes.

Why the interview drags on for so long becomes clear from the start. When Carlson asks his first question: “Tell us why you think the US should attack Russia. How did you come to this conclusion?” – Putin asks back:

When Carlson responds that it is of course a serious conversation, Putin announces that he will give the situation historical context for “half a minute or a minute.” A huge understatement: Putin then recites the history of Russia and the Soviet Union from 862. Carlson’s questions hardly deter him.

The Russian president talks in detail about the content of his TV speech before the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There are the usual arguments: Putin invokes the historical significance of Kiev for the Russian people, denies Ukraine an ethnic community, criticizes it . Ukraine in the time of Lenin and repeats his goal of a so-called ‘denazification’ of the country. Only after about 45 minutes does Putin really end his quasi-monologue.

As a result, Putin shows little interest in following Carlson’s questions. Even when the moderator tries to change the subject with a question, Putin is not deterred. “I’ll answer the question first,” he says regularly, before launching into another extended monologue.

The messages to the Carlson audience

After his extended monologue at the beginning, it becomes clear that Putin knows that the Carlson interview offers a unique opportunity to convince certain American citizens of his attack on Ukraine – or at least weaken their resistance.

It is striking how, over the course of the conversation, the Russian president repeatedly brings up topics that are sure to resonate with the typical Carlson audience. Putin repeatedly taunts the Biden administration: He can’t remember the last time he spoke to the US president; After all, he still has many other things to do, Putin reports in a deliberately nonchalant manner.

Putin continues to manage typical Republican concerns. When Carlson asks how he sees the possibility of US troops in Ukraine, Putin replies:

Putin’s answers also provide an implicit message that runs through the interview: Russia has long been ready for talks and peace; only the West, especially the US, could prevent this, he says. Probably in the hope that it will be well received in circles critical of the government. And that’s why he offers a very simple solution:

He skillfully concealed what his troops would be doing in Ukraine during this time.

Carlson has his moments…

Tucker Carlson makes no secret of his political views: right-wing, conservative, some even say right-wing extremist. He also has a clear opinion on the war in Ukraine: the moderator constantly criticizes the West and regularly shares the Russian story of a war provoked by the West. Carlson is also known for not hiding his position in interviews; he almost consistently refrained from asking critical questions in his conversations with Orbán and Milei, who are on the same political wavelength as Carlson.

It is all the more surprising that the moderator occasionally challenges the Russian ruler in his conversation with Putin – or at least tries to do so. During Putin’s first monologue, Carlson responds that he does not see why a look at the beginning of the last millennium should be important to the current situation. Carlson keeps trying to stay on point again and again, especially in the first few minutes — for example, when Putin consistently refuses to explain how he could actually stop a supposedly widespread Nazi mentality in Ukraine. And when he asks how Putin can reconcile his self-declared Christian faith with killing others, he implicitly accuses the Kremlin leader of a certain double standard.

Carlson probably has his best moment shortly before the end. The moderator directs the conversation to Evan Gershkovich, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, who was arrested in Moscow almost a year ago. Carlson says:

Even if Putin blocks it – Russia has already made so many benevolent gestures, he says – Carlson continues:

Carlson fails in this regard. Putin only consoles him by saying that he also wants Gershkovich to return to his homeland: “I am absolutely honest about that.” But this requires further dialogue.

…but they don’t last

But even though Carlson occasionally surprises in the interview, the Trump demagogue falls back into old patterns, especially in the middle of the conversation. This means: he provides Putin with leading questions, which he is only too happy to exploit.

The talk of destroying the “Nord Stream” pipeline is irritating. ‘Who did that?’ Carlson wants to know. “You,” answers Putin’s interpreter. ‘I was busy that day. Thank you very much,” Carlson replies, making Putin laugh. Then they get serious again. Because they agree: the US is responsible for the destruction – even though nothing has been proven yet. “The Germans are sure their NATO partners did this,” Carlson says, giving Putin an example for a new monologue against the West.

Carlson’s conspiratorial ideological tendencies also appear again and again in the interview. When Putin reports on meetings with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Carlson summarizes that it all sounds as if the US president-elect is not actually in charge of the country’s affairs – which Putin confirms.

Moreover, Carlson’s controversial view of world events is also noticeable in different formulations. He consistently refrains from talking about a Russian attack on Ukraine – instead using words like “act.”

It is also striking that Carlson leaves out various sensitive topics – such as Russian war crimes such as in Bucha, the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin or the capture of Alexei Navalny.

The impressions after the show

Carlson’s contribution from Russia did not end with the interview. The moderator published a nine-minute video for his paying customers in which he shared his impressions of the interview – first in the Kremlin a few minutes after the conversation, then in the evening in his hotel room.

Carlson speaks about the ambivalent impression the interview left on him. “I don’t really know what to think,” Carlson said. The beginning in particular – Putin’s monologue – initially irritated him.

“Putin is not good at explaining his position,” Carlson concludes. You notice that he lives in a world where he obviously doesn’t have to justify himself very often. And further:

Even during the debriefing, Carlson cannot stop his swipe at the West. It is clear that Russia is not an expansionist power, he says. And then a real incendiary speech begins:

Putin is “very hurt” by the West’s historic rejections of Russia. “His eyes lit up when we talked about this,” Carlson said. Russia is already so big that you have to be an ‘idiot’ if you think the Kremlin is interested in expansion. Meanwhile, Carlson explains the war in Ukraine this way: “They just want secure borders,” he says. Maybe people in Russia are “a little too paranoid” about this. But there’s little more to it than that.