Days after granting an interview to US television journalist Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was appreciative of the chance but was startled by the former Fox News host’s lack of “sharp questions”.
Putin told a Russian journalist, Pavel Zarubin, that he wanted Carlson to be confrontational so that he could respond just as pointedly.
“I think that your Carlson – by saying ‘your’ I mean that he is a fellow journalist like you. He is a dangerous man,” said Putin.
“And here is why. 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,” he added.
Putin said Zarubin he was surprised Carlson, who is notorious for poking his guests, didn’t interrupt him more.
“Frankly, I did not get full satisfaction from this interview,” Putin said, adding that he was still grateful for the role played by Carlson.
“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.”
Carlson’s Interview
Carlson published a two-hour interview with Putin last week, which made global headlines since it was the Russian president’s first contact with an American journalist since the Ukraine war began two years ago.
Putin claimed he consented to the interview because Carlson’s approach was different from the “one-sided” reporting of the war by other Western news journalists and sources.
Also read: In a rare interview with a US outlet, Putin warns Tucker Carlson that the Ukraine war could last a few weeks.
During the interview, Putin stated that if Western nations ceased supplying weapons to Ukraine, the war might end in a matter of weeks.
“It will be over within a few weeks. That’s it,” he said.
Emphasizing the goals of what he called the “special military operation” in Ukraine, the Russian president said it was yet to be achieved since one of the aims “is de-Nazification”.
Putin added the West now understood that Russia wouldn’t be defeated even though Ukraine was receiving support from the US, European Union and NATO.