“We’re in Moscow tonight. We’re here to interview the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin,” Carlson said in a video posted to the renowned social media platform X (formerly Twitter). “Here’s why we’re doing it. First, because it’s our job. We’re in journalism. Our duty is to inform people.”
Most people in the United States are not informed about the conflict in Ukraine and have no idea what is happening in the region, the veteran news commentator said.
The conflict in Ukraine is a “human disaster” that has killed off an entire generation of Ukrainians, Carlson added, pointing out that it has also reshaped global military and trade alliances.
The long-time US news anchor emphasized that his team paid out of their own pockets for the trip to Russia to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We paid for this trip ourselves. We took no money from any government or group," Carlson stressed in the video.
The interview with Putin will be freely available online, Carlson said, adding that Elon Musk vowed not to suppress the interview on X.
Western journalists have not bothered to interview Putin, the high-profile journalist pointed out. Carlson noted that he also had requested an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which he hopes the Ukrainian president will agree to.
Over the weekend, it was reported that Carlson had arrived in Moscow on Thursday and was spotted attending a ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre on Saturday.
The former Fox News host said in an interview with the Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche in September 2023 that he planned to interview Putin, but the US authorities prevented him from doing so.
Carson gained fame as a host of the nightly political talk show Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News, broadcast from 2016 to 2023. After Fox News abruptly terminated his contract, Carlson begun running the Tucker on Twitter show. During his career, Carlson has done interviews with former US President Donald Trump, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Argentine President Javier Milei and other politicians, as well as with world-renowned celebrities.