Kremlin explains why Putin spoke to Tucker Carlson

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s interview with conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson this week provided a great opportunity to make people in the West think, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Speaking to TASS on Saturday, Peskov said the two-hour interview, which largely revolved around relations between Moscow and Kiev, made it possible for Putin to be heard in the West.

Asked about the interest the interview has sparked, garnering over 100 million views in just one day on Carlson’s X account (formerly Twitter) alone, the spokesman replied that the numbers do not necessarily equate to universal support from viewers.

“We cannot expect that our point of view will receive support. The main thing for us is that our president is heard. And if he is heard, this means more people will think about whether he is right or not. They will think, at least,” Peskov stated.

The spokesman also referred to Putin’s remarks during the interview when he acknowledged that it is difficult to resist Western propaganda, claiming the US and Britain control the major media outlets.

“The Anglo-Saxons, one way or another, own all the largest broadcasters, all the largest newspapers, and so on. And against this background, the main thing is to give people the opportunity to become acquainted with our point of view. And in this regard, this is a very good opportunity.”

The interview, which was published on Thursday, was the first sit-down between a US media personality and the Russian president since the beginning of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in early 2022. It covered a wide range of topics, while largely revolving around the ongoing hostilities. The Russian president also offered a lengthy review of the centuries of shared history between Russia and Ukraine, arguing that the latter has been long used by the Collective West to antagonize Moscow after the collapse of the USSR.