Putin grateful for Tucker Carlson interview, but complains about lack of piercing questions

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he was surprised by a lack of sharp questions from US television host Tucker Carlson in an interview that made headlines around the world last week.

Carlson, a former Fox News star, released a two-hour interview with Putin in Moscow last Thursday, just ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

In it, the Russian president said the West needed to understand that it was “impossible” for Russia to be defeated in Ukraine.

Carlson came in for criticism from Western media for the lack of tough questions in the interview, in which Putin lectured him on his views of Russian history, portraying the country as a victim of Western betrayals.

On Wednesday, Putin told a Russian TV interviewer, Pavel Zarubin, that he had wanted Carlson to behave more aggressively, which would have given him the right to reply just as pointedly.

“To be honest, I thought that he would behave aggressively and ask so-called sharp questions. I was not just prepared for this, I wanted it, because it would give me the opportunity to respond in the same way,” Putin said in comments broadcast on Wednesday.

He told Zarubin he was surprised that Carlson had not interrupted him more.

“Frankly, I did not get full satisfaction from this interview,” Putin said.

Putin acknowledged that Carlson had “tried to interrupt me several times” but praised the conservative journalist, who is close to former US president Donald Trump, for his “patience.”

Carlson didn’t ask Putin about war crimes Russian troops have been accused of in Ukraine, or about his relentless crackdown on dissent.

“He didn’t allow me to do what I was ready for,” Putin said, describing Carlson as a “dangerous man.”

Nonethless, Putin said he was grateful to controversial right-wing US talk show host for his “intermediary” role with the West.

“Since we are not able to have direct dialogue (with the West) today… we have to be grateful to Mr.Carlson to be able to do it by his intermediary” role, Putin told journalists in quotes distributed by the Kremlin.

The Kremlin said Putin had agreed to the Carlson interview because the approach of the former Fox News host differed from the “one-sided” reporting of the Ukraine conflict by many Western news outlets.