by Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who now has a show on the social network declared to interview. President Vladimir V. Putin.
If so, Carlson would be the first American media figure to secure a formal interview with the Russian leader since he invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, has indicated that Putin was denying requests from new Western media because their countries had been “stunned” by anti-Russian propaganda. But Carlson has been a defender of Putin as he attacked Western critics of him, placing him at the forefront of a pro-Putin wing of the American conservative movement.
In a phone call with journalists on Monday, Peskov said: “Many foreign journalists come to the Russian Federation every day. Many continue to work here and we appreciate that.” And he added: “As for possible interviews with the president, even with foreign media, we have nothing to report at the moment.”
Russian media on Monday showed a black Mercedes van allegedly transporting Carlson around Moscow entering and exiting the state administrative building that houses Peskov’s office.
On television and online, Russian state media has treated Carlson like a visiting celebrity, offering a series of photos and videos of his various stops: arriving at the airport, dining at a restaurant, attending the “Spartacus” ballet at the Bolshoi. Theater.
In a widely circulated video, including When asked about a possible interview with Putin, Carlson shrugged and said, “We’ll see.”
Less than a year ago, Carlson was a top cable news star as host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News, where he was best known for trafficking in white nationalist themes and conspiracy theories.
Fox abruptly canceled his show last spring, following a series of controversies both on and off the air. Carlson has had a much lower profile since his new position at X, where he started his own show last year.
When photos and videos of Carlson in Moscow began circulating on social media over the weekend, his fans reveled in the hope that an interview was on the horizon, and his critics criticized what they described as an appeasement of a autocrat waging an illegal war while brutally suppressing dissent at home.
The news of his arrival in Russia provoked a decidedly warm reaction in Moscow. In a report on local reaction to his visit, a woman tells an interviewer from Russian state media Sputnik: “He is the bravest and bravest American journalist today.” One man adds: “He is known for telling the truth, which is why he often faces criticism in the United States.”
Carlson is a familiar face in the country. When he was still at Fox, Carlson’s comments often appeared on Russian state television, including those describing Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, as a “dictator” waging a “regime change” war against Russia at instances of the United States and Great Britain. teachers. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. He did so with the explicit goal of overthrowing Zelensky’s government.
Following Mr. Carlson’s cancellation at Fox, Russian media attributed it to his “Intrepid” reports about Ukraine.
Carlson has claimed without evidence that the US government had thwarted his previous attempt to interview Putin.
Carlson has touted his show on X as a bastion of free speech.
Putin has stepped up his restrictions on free speech in Russia during the Ukraine war. The country’s media was ordered to refer to it as a “special military operation.” Journalists face possible jail time for calling it an invasion.
Putin’s government has kept Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, in prison for nearly a year. The government accused him of espionage, an accusation vehemently denied by Mr. gershkovichhis newspaper and the United States government, which has declared that he is unjustly detained.
