Ukraine war: Putin gave ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson interview because he differs from Western media, Kremlin says
- The Kremlin said they granted Tucker Carlson an interview with Vladimir Putin because his position ‘contrasts with that of the traditional Anglo-Saxon media’
- The interview was likely to be aired on Thursday, Russia’s TASS news agency said, citing reports by the Wall Street Journal
The Kremlin said on Wednesday “many” foreign news outlets had requested to interview President Vladimir Putin, contradicting talk show host Tucker Carlson’s claim he was the only Western reporter to ask.
The former Fox News host, who visited Moscow for an interview with Putin this week, said no Western journalist had “bothered” to request access to the Kremlin leader since Moscow’s Ukraine offensive began.
“We receive many requests for interviews with the president,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked whether Carlson was the only person who requested a sit-down with Putin.
[Carlson’s position] contrasts with that of the traditional Anglo-Saxon media
“But when it comes to countries of the collective West, we are talking about large online media outlets that can’t boast of trying to at least look objective,” he said in a daily briefing, and said there was no appetite to communicate directly with such media organisations.
“These are all media outlets that take an exceptionally one-sided position. Of course, there is no desire to communicate with such media, and it hardly makes sense, and it is unlikely that it will be useful,” Peskov added.
Carlson’s position “contrasts with that of the traditional Anglo-Saxon media,” Peskov said.
CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour and the BBC’s Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg were among those who refuted Carlson’s claim he was the only Western reporter to ask to speak to the Russian leader.
