There is speculation that US talk show host Tucker Carlson may secure a sit-down interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin for his primetime show on X. If confirmed, the former Fox News host would be the first American media figure to formally interview the Russian leader since the invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Carlson's long-standing support for Putin, coupled with his criticism of Western countries, has positioned him as a prominent figure in the pro-Putin wing of the American conservative movement. Despite Western outlets facing denials from Putin, Carlson's potential interview seems to be an exception.
Rumours circulated on social media Monday morning, with various videos showing Carlson leaving his Moscow hotel in a black SUV bound for the Kremlin.
Russian state media has treated Carlson like a celebrity, showing his various activities, from airport arrivals to dining at a restaurant and attending the "Spartacus" ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre.
In one widely circulated video on social media, including on X, Carlson told a fan that he was there because "I wanted to talk to people and look around and see how it was doing — and it's doing very well." When asked about a possible interview with Mr. Putin, Carlson shrugged and said, "We'll see".
Carlson was the most popular host at Fox News before he was unexpectedly sacked last April.
Since leaving, he has used X, previously Twitter, to stream a right-wing talk show called Tucker on X. He has interviewed several celebrities on his show.
In his broadcasts on Fox News and X, Carlson labelled the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as a “dictator” and “sweaty and rat-like” while once declaring that he was “rooting for Moscow”.
His pro-Putin and anti-Ukrainian argumentation has been acknowledged in Moscow, where his clips have become staples of Russian state television, with local propagandists using them to demonstrate that powerful people in the United States support Putin's military operation.
