‘Lack of sharp questions’: Putin trolls Carlson over interview

Vladimir Putin has mocked Tucker Carlson for the US broadcaster’s “unsatisfactory interview” and revealed he prefers Joe Biden over Donald Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has mercilessly trolled Tucker Carlson, making clear he was unimpressed with the controversial broadcaster’s softball questions during their recent interview in Moscow.

“To be honest, I thought that he would behave aggressively and ask so-called sharp questions,” Mr Putin said during an interview on Russian television when asked about Carlson.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin gives an interview to Tucker Carlson at the Kremlin in Moscow. Picture: AFP

“I was not just prepared for this, I wanted it, because it would give me the opportunity to respond in the same way,” he claimed of his expectations for a feisty exchange.

“Frankly, I did not get full satisfaction from this interview.”

Mr Putin agreed with critics who mocked the 54-year-old Carlson for effectively allowing the Russian leader to lecture him on the history of Russia and Ukraine rather than challenging him during Mr Putin’s first interview with a US journalist in the two years since he declared war.

Tucker Carlson described Moscowas “nicer than any American city”. Picture: AFP

Vladimir Putin said he was surprised by Tucker Carlson’s softball questioning. Picture: AFP

Mr Putin told pro-Kremlin Russian TV interviewer Pavel Zarubin that he was taken aback that Carlson had made only a few attempts to interject.

“Surprisingly for a Western journalist, he turned out to be patient, listened to my lengthy [monologues], especially those related to history. He did not give me a reason to do what I had been prepared to do,” Putin said of his hopes for an aggressive debate.

Mr Putin said that Carlson had a “plan” going into the interview and carried it through.

“But to what degree it was meaningful at the end of the day, I cannot say,” he added.

The two sat down at the Kremlin. Picture: AFP

The Kremlin said Mr Putin had agreed to be interviewed by Carlson because his approach differed from the “one-sided” reporting of the Ukraine conflict by many Western news outlets.

Meanwhile, Mr Putin said he would prefer a Joe Biden presidency to Donald Trump. Asked by a Russian state journalist on Wednesday to choose between Biden and Trump, Putin said without hesitation that the current US president was “more experienced, predictable, an old-school politician”, but added: “We will work with any US president who the American people have confidence in.”

Originally published as ‘Lack of sharp questions’: Putin trolls Carlson over interview