Tucker Carlson Releases Video From Moscow Explaining Why He is Interviewing President Putin

US journalist Tucker Carlson said on Tuesday that he decided to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as a journalistic duty, as well as to inform Americans about the realities of the conflict in Ukraine.

“We’re in Moscow tonight. We’re here to interview the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin,” Carlson said in a video posted to 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, Carlson said.

The conflict in Ukraine is a “human disaster” that has killed an entire generation of Ukrainians, Carlson said. The conflict has also reshaped global military and trade alliances, Carlson said.

Why I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/hqvXUZqvHX

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 6, 2024

Carlson highlighted that his team independently paid for a 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 said 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, Carlson said. Carlson said that he also requested an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which he hopes the Ukrainian president will accept.

Over the weekend it was reported that Carlson arrived in Moscow on Thursday and was spotted attending a ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre on Saturday.

Carlson said in an interview with the Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche in September 2023 that he planned to interview Putin but was stopped by the US authorities.

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.