Tucker Carlson to interview Vladimir Putin, criticises West

Former TV host Tucker Carlson revealed Tuesday that he is going to interview the Russian President as tech billionaire Elon Musk has also assured him of not "censoring his meeting" with Vladimir Putin.

Earlier, the former Fox News host was asked whether he was arranging an interview with Vladimir Putin to which he said with a smile: "We’ll see."

The 56-year-old journalist is on his first-ever trip to Russia and said that he "wanted to talk to [people] and walk around and see how it [Russia] was doing. And it was doing very well."

It would be the first-ever interview of any Western journalist with the 71-year-old leader whose country commenced a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

"We are not encouraging you to agree with what Putin may say in this interview," Tucker Carlson announced in a video posted on X — formerly called Twitter, adding that "most Americans have no idea why Putin invaded Ukraine or what his goals are now."

Speaking from what appeared to be a high building, he further said: "But we are urging you to watch it. You should know as much as you can. And then, like a free citizen and not a slave, you can decide for yourself."

He did not provide any details about the publishing of the interview however; he criticised the US’ all-out support of Ukraine against Russia, as he had been very critical of Washington’s approach.

"You’ve never heard his voice. That’s wrong. Americans have a right to know all we can about a war they’re implicated in, and we have the right to tell them about it," he continued.

"Western governments by contrast will certainly do their best to censor this video. They are afraid of information they can’t control."

Carlson also acknowledged what he called “risks to conducting an interview like this ”noting that he and his crew paid for the visit to Moscow and did not take any financial support from government groups.

He had earlier expressed his desire to sit with the Russian President and claimed that his efforts to arrange such a meeting years ago made him "a target of the US government surveillance".

"The populations of the English-speaking countries seem mostly unaware. Their media outlets are corrupt. They lie to the readers and viewers," he said.

"The interviews [Zelensky has] done in the US are not traditional interviews, they are fawning pep sessions specifically designed to amplify Zelensky’s demands that the US enter more deeply into a war in eastern Europe and pay for it.

"That is not journalism. It is government propaganda of the ugliest kind," he said in the video Tuesday.

Independent Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. while speaking in favour of Carlson had said that "he has every right to interview Putin." He also said that people in the US "need more transparency instead of less."

Carlson abruptly left Fox News in April last year where he gained prominence.

He rose to fame in Russia when he expressed his views repeatedly about Moscow’s role in US elections when Donald Trump was elected.

The journalist also noted that Elon Musk, who owns X, has promised him that he won’t "censor or suppress the interview, which will not be placed behind a paywall."