Putin's interview with American commentator Carlson is criticised as propaganda

The interview of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Tucker Carlson, the American commentator who has made a name spreading conspiracy theories and has questioned Washington's support for Kiev in her fight against Russian invading troops, has been sharply criticised for giving the propaganda platform to the Russian leader in his first interview with an American journalist since Russia began its entire invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.

During the interview, Putin again claimed Ukraine was a threat to Russia because the West was drawing this country towards NATO, which has been completely denied by the military alliance until it has avoided such topics as its brutal struggle with civil society and freedom of expression in Russia.

Putin called on the United States to pressure Kiev to stop fighting and reach agreement with Russia, which has occupied a fifth of Ukraine.

Carlson rarely challenged Putin, who long spoke of the history of Russia and Ukraine, failing to mention accusations by international human rights groups that Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Even to Putin himself, there are international warrants by the International Criminal Court for the illegal expulsion of Ukrainian children and sending them to Russia during the war.

“Putin delivered his message just as he wanted”, said Ian Bremmer, political expert from New York and president of Eurasiagroup.

Carlson has faced criticism for Putin's interview when his government is holding Gershkovichin and another American journalist, Alsu Kurmashevo of Radio Free Europe, in prison on charges over their reporting, which both completely deny. The Kurmashevo case was not mentioned in the interview.

For Gershkovichin, Putin said Russian and American officials are negotiating and that there is progress in this case. He hinted Moscow wants Germany to release Vadim Krasikov, who was sentenced in 2019 for killing a Chechen dissident in Berlin in exchange for Gershkovich.

“We are willing to resolve this, but there are certain conditions that need to be discussed. I believe we can reach agreement”, he said.

The far right political commentator, Tuchker Carlson, who held the interview on February 6th and published it on his website, asked Putin if he could visualize Russia by sending troops into Poland.

In just one case, if Poland attacks Russia. We have no interest in Poland, Latvia, or anywhere else. Why would we do that? Far from it, said Putin.

Carlson, former Fox News reporter, made a name spreading conspiracy theories and questioned US support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian invading troops. This was Putin's first interview with a Western media figure since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Describing the decision to interview Putin, Carlson said on February 6th on X that the American media focus on Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky, and that Putin's voice is not heard in the United States, because Western journalists “have not grown weary of” interviewing him since he began the invasion of Ukraine.

But many Western journalists have denied this, saying they have repeatedly sought to interview Putin, but have been refused.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed this, who said his office has received many requests for interviews with the president, but the <x0->most of Western media applying are traditional televisions or major newspapers that they cannot even seem impartial in their reporting. Of course, we don't want to communicate with such media”.

Carlson's reputation as an independent journalist has been questioned, and in 2020, Fox News won a case of slander against him. The judge had said in her decision that Carlson in his presentation of the stories was not “focused real facts” on the issues she was discussing and that it was “exaizing”.

Carlson was one of Fox News' most valued journalists before leaving last year. /rel/