Carlson, a former Fox News star, released a two-hour interview with Putin in Moscow last Thursday, just ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
In it, the Russian president said the West needed to understand that it was “impossible” for Russia to be defeated in Ukraine.
Carlson came in for criticism from Western media for the lack of tough questions in the interview, in which Putin lectured him on his views of Russian history, portraying the country as a victim of Western betrayals.
On Wednesday, Putin told a Russian TV interviewer, Pavel Zarubin, that he had wanted Carlson to behave more aggressively, which would have given him the right to reply just as pointedly.
“To be honest, I thought that he would behave aggressively and ask so-called sharp questions. I was not just prepared for this, I wanted it, because it would give me the opportunity to respond in the same way,” Putin said in comments broadcast on Wednesday.
He told Zarubin he was surprised that Carlson had not interrupted him more.
“Frankly, I did not get full satisfaction from this interview,” Putin said.
Putin acknowledged that Carlson had “tried to interrupt me several times” but praised the conservative journalist, who is close to former US president Donald Trump, for his “patience.”
Carlson didn’t ask Putin about war crimes Russian troops have been accused of in Ukraine, or about his relentless crackdown on dissent.
“He didn’t allow me to do what I was ready for,” Putin said, describing Carlson as a “dangerous man.”
Nonethless, Putin said he was grateful to controversial right-wing US talk show host for his “intermediary” role with the West.
“Since we are not able to have direct dialogue (with the West) today... we have to be grateful to Mr.Carlson to be able to do it by his intermediary” role, Putin told journalists in quotes distributed by the Kremlin.
The Kremlin said Putin had agreed to the Carlson interview because the approach of the former Fox News host differed from the “one-sided” reporting of the Ukraine conflict by many Western news outlets.
President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released Thursday with controversial right-wing US talk show host Tucker Carlson that the West should understand it is “impossible” to defeat Russia in Ukraine.
In a two-hour interview with the former Fox News host — coming just ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — Putin also said a deal “can be reached” on imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
“There are certain terms being discussed via special services channels,” he said, while insisting that the reporter is a spy — something the Journal and US government vehemently deny.
It was the first one-on-one interview of Putin by someone from the Western media since 2019.
However Carlson, who is close to White House candidate and former president Donald Trump, asked few tough questions and largely listened while the Kremlin leader lectured him on his views of Russian history, portraying the country as a victim of Western betrayals.
Putin defended his decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022. And he said the West now realizes that Russia will not be defeated, despite US, European and NATO help to Ukraine.
“Up until now, there has been the uproar and screaming about inflicting a strategic defeat to Russia on the battlefield. But now they are apparently coming to realize that it is difficult to achieve, if possible, at all. In my opinion, it is impossible by definition,” he said.
He also aimed a message at the US Congress, where Trump-dominated Republicans are increasingly reluctant to keep backing Ukraine with weapons and other military aid.
“I will tell you what we are saying on this matter and what we are conveying to the US leadership. If you really want to stop fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons,” he said.
When asked if Moscow would consider invading other countries in the region — NATO members Poland and Latvia — or generally across the European continent, Putin said that was “out of the question.”
“We have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don’t have any interest. It’s just threat mongering,” Putin said.
A war with Poland, he said, would happen “only in one case: if Poland attacks Russia.”
Asked about a possible change in leadership after the US election, where Biden is expected to face off against Trump in a rematch of their 2020 contest, Putin indicated he would see little change.
“You just asked me if another leader comes and changes something? It is not about the leader. It is not about the personality of a particular person.”
Facing Putin in matching white chairs with a small table between them, Carlson rarely pushed back in his interview in an ornate room at the Kremlin — recorded Tuesday and posted on Carlson’s own website — and did not challenge Putin over his relationship with Trump.
While president and since being defeated by Biden, Trump has repeatedly praised Putin and failed to condemn the invasion of Ukraine — saying that if he was reelected he would be able to solve the war in “24 hours,” though not saying how.
By contrast, Biden has branded Putin a “war criminal” and has made backing for Ukraine’s elected, pro-Western government one of the key priorities of his presidency.
Putin's first interview with American journalist since before Moscow's February 2022 Ukraine invasion, Putin says West coming to see Russia cannot be defeated strategically
Russian leader says he believes it's possible to reach a deal to free US journalist
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview that aired on Thursday that Russia will fight for its interests "to the end" but has no interest in expanding its war in Ukraine to other countries such as Poland and Latvia.
In his first interview with an American journalist since before Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, Putin said Western leaders had come to realize it was impossible to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia and were wondering what to do next.
"We are ready for this dialogue," he said.
Putin also said he believed it was possible to reach an agreement to free U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal, who has been detained in Russia for nearly a year and is awaiting trial on spying charges.
Putin made the comments in a more than two-hour interview with conservative talk-show host Tucker Carlson that was conducted in Moscow on Tuesday and aired on tuckercarlson.com.
