Tucker Carlson interviews Vladimir Putin as it happened: Russian President claims West is afraid of strong China

So after two hours, what’s the reaction in the US to that interview?

The Washington Post says it should have been a big win for Putin and Carlson. A chance for the Russian president to justify his invasion and for Carlson to once again be relevant after being fired from Fox News. But the interview got too bogged down in a “tedious recounting of Russian and Ukrainian history” by Putin, and Carlson “a master of combative interviews” when he was on Fox News was much of a “bystander for much of his own interview”. He also failed to ask the Russian leader about several “challenging topics, from Russian atrocities in Ukraine to Putin’s attacks on internal dissent.”

The New York Times analysis says that the two-hour interview “was not exactly gripping video”. “Putin rolled right over Mr Carlson’s opening questions to deliver a nearly half-hour lecture on the history of Russia and Ukraine going back to the year 832, followed by his typical litany of grievances about the West,” Peter Baker writes for the Times. “Mr Carlson pressed Mr Putin to release Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia a year ago on espionage charges that he and his employer have vehemently denied, but barely challenged the Russian leader and let him talk at length uninterrupted.

That concludes our coverage of the Carlson interview of Putin. Thank you for reading.

Tucker Carlson.

The Wall Street Journal has issued a statement following Putin’s comments to Carlson that he is open to a prisoner exchange.

The WSJ says any portrayal that Gershkovich is a criminal is wrong, that he is a journalist and that “journalism is not a crime”.

“We’re encouraged to see Russia’s desire for a deal that brings Evan home, and we hope this will lead to a rapid release and return to his family and our newsroom.”

Carlson asks if, “as a sign of decency”, Putin would release a detained American journalist.

We told you earlier Putin was singing the praises of honest journalism (likely he was referring to Carlson here), but the president continues to lock up Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges.

“We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them. We have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner,” Putin says.

“However, in theory, we can say that we do not rule out that we can do that if our partners take reciprocal steps.”

It’s one of the few moments in the two-hour interview that Carlson pushes back against Putin. He challenges him on why a “kid” who is obviously not a spy should be locked up just for receiving information Russia doesn’t want him to have.

Putin still says he was committing espionage, but admits it “doesn’t make sense” to keep him in Russia. It seems like a prisoner swap would be the only option for Putin.

Carlson asks Putin about the AI revolution, getting a laugh from the Russian president who says the American’s questions are getting more and more complicated.

He says as the science progresses there need to be rules in place. One person he wants to keep on side is Elon Musk.

Elon Musk. Credit: Bloomberg

“Well, I think there’s no stopping Elon Musk, he will do as he sees fit. Nonetheless, you need to find some common ground with him,” Putin says.

“I think he’s a smart person. I truly believe he is. So you’ll need to reach an agreement with him because this process [of AI] needs to be formalised and subjected to certain rules.”

Putin refers to Musk’s Neuralink brain chip, which Musk claims has been implanted in a real human’s head for testing, as an example of Musk’s intelligence.

We are now three-quarters through the interview and it feels like the invasion of Ukraine is the elephant in the room rather than the topic of discussion.

Putin is giving his opinion on former presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump (he got on well with him) and how the US elects presidents (he says he doesn’t understand it).

When we finally get questions about the invasion of Ukraine, Carlson focuses on the role of the US, especially its support of Ukraine joining NATO.

The Russian leader says Boris Johnson urged Ukraine not to sign a peace deal with Russia.Credit: Bloomberg

“Do you think that was an effort to provoke you into military action?” Carlson asks.

“I repeat once again, we have repeatedly proposed to seek a solution to the problems that arose in Ukraine after the 2014 coup d’etat through peaceful means,” Putin says.

In 2014 the Ukrainian president was ousted amid the Russian annexation of Crimea, igniting the tensions preceding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Putin says he was never refused negotiations.

Talking about former UK prime minister Boris Johnson, Putin says he had a “pure heart” but “not a great mind”.

He also says Johnson urged Ukraine not to sign a peace deal with Russia. “And it’s very sad to me because... we could have stopped those hostilities with war a year and a half ago already.”

So far, we’ve heard no questions about Russia’s military tactics or the significant loss of life since the invasion.

Back to President Joe Biden’s chaotic snap press conference for a moment.

Biden defended his memory after a damning investigation found he mishandled classified documents and suggested he was too mentally impaired to face trial, but in the hectic press conference he became muddled.

President Joe Biden fiercely defended accusations of mishandling classified documents in his address to the American people.Credit: AP Photo

The president misspoke, saying he spoke with the leader of Mexico about the conflict in Gaza when, in fact, he meant the leader of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

“I am of the view, as you know, the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top,” Biden said.

“As you know, initially the President of Mexico Sissi did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. “I talked to him; I convinced him to open the gate.”

It was a tough moment for Biden, who at one point looked like he was walking away from the press conference only to come back and answer more questions.

Read the story here.

While we are all recovering from that chaotic Joe Biden press conference, let’s check back in with Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin.

Carlson puts to Putin his theory that the world is split into two hemispheres now: one with cheap energy, and one without.

Putin responds: “A human brain is divided into two hemispheres -, one is responsible for one type of activity, the other one is more about creativity and so on but it is still one and the same head.

Vladimir Putin and Tucker Carlson sit down for their two-hour interview.

“The world should be a single whole and security should be shared … but until then, while the head is split into two parts it is an illness.”

I’m not sure what he’s getting at here, but Putin then gives journalists a fun shoutout.

“It is a period of severe disease that the world is going through now, but I think that thanks to honest journalism, and this work is akin to doctors, this could be remedied,” Putin says.

This blogger is flattered.

It’s worth noting that while Putin sings the praises of honest journalists, the Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich remains in a Russian prison where he has been languishing since March 2023 on espionage charges.

While the Putin interview has been going on, US President Joe Biden has made a snap announcement that he will shortly address the nation.

No reason for the address has been given by the White House, but it follows the US Department of Justice report into his mishandling of classified documents that was released earlier today.

The report said Biden would not be charged over the document case but has publicly raised questions about his age and his memory.

You can watch the live stream below.

Apologies if you, like this blogger, are watching the two-hour long interview. It’s been a fairly dry affair so far, but we are starting to get to the juice now.

While Putin says he can’t remember the last time he spoke with Biden, he does say he warned the US president that his support of Ukraine would be a historic mistake.

“I believe that you are making a huge mistake of historic proportions by supporting everything that is happening there, in Ukraine, by pushing Russia away,” he says he told Biden.

Carlson asks why Putin doesn’t call Biden and work this all out? If only it were that easy.

“I will tell you what we are saying on this matter and what we are conveying to the US leadership,” Putin says.

“If you really want to stop fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons, it will be over in a few weeks, that’s it.”

By over, he means Russia would be successful in its invasion.

It didn’t take long for the chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times, Gideon Rachman, to share his view on how the interview has gone so far.