Tucker Carlson is in Moscow to interview Vladimir Putin, the former Fox News host announced Tuesday.
“We are not here because we love Vladimir Putin. We are here because we love the United States, and we want it to remain prosperous and free,” Carlson said in a video teasing the upcoming interview, which had still not been released. He said the entire thing would soon be posted for free, unedited, on his website tuckercarlson.com.
Carlson had been spotted chatting with citizens and Moscow this week, leading to wide speculation that he was preparing a visit with the Russian president, whose military is still pressing its two-year invasion of Ukraine. The U.S.-backed Ukrainian resistance has been flagging as Congress dithers about another massive military aid package.
“There are risks to conducting an interview like this, obviously, so we thought about it over many months,” Carlson said in the video released on all Tucker Carlson Network platforms, including his X account. “Here’s why we’re doing it: First, it’s our job. We’re in journalism. Our duty is to inform people. Two years into a war that’s reshaping the entire world, most Americans are not informed. They have no real idea what is really happening in this region, here in Russia, or 600 miles away in Ukraine. But they should know. They’re paying for it.”
Carlson said that he paid his own way to make the trip to Moscow, and said he also had reached out to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for an interview but has not yet been granted one.
“But the interviews he’s already done in the United States aren’t traditional interviews,” Carlson said. “They are fawning pep sessions specifically designed to amplify Zelenskyy’s demand that the U.S. enter more deeply into a war into Eastern Europe. And pay for it.”
Carlson also repeated his allegation that the federal government – naming the Biden administration outright – has been spying on him and leaking damaging text messages to the press.
“Almost three years ago, the Biden administration illegally spied on our text messages, and then leaked the contents to their servants in the news media,” he said. “They did this in order to stop a Putin interview that we’d been planning. Last month, we’re pretty certain they did exactly the same thing once again. But this time, we came to Moscow anyway.”
A message sent to the White House press office was not immediately returned Tuesday.
