Reports of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson being seen in Moscow have led to widespread speculation about the purpose of his visit to the Russian capital. Carlson arrived in Moscow on February 1 and was spotted at the Bolshoi Theater, as reported by Russian outlet Mash. This sparked questions about his intentions, including whether he planned to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit.”Democrats and their propagandists in the media are spasming at the prospect of Tucker Carlson interviewing Putin,” Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Tucker Carlson on November 17, 2022, in Hollywood, Florida. Carlson arrived in Moscow on February 1 and was spotted attending the Bolshoi Theater in the capital, according to Russian outlet, Mash.
Tucker Carlson on November 17, 2022, in Hollywood, Florida. Carlson arrived in Moscow on February 1 and was spotted attending the Bolshoi Theater in the capital, according to Russian outlet, Mash.
Jason Koerner/Getty Images
“We have a free press in this country and its people like Tucker Carlson who we depend on to speak the truth!” she wrote.Referencing Greene’s comments on Sunday, Russia’s state-backed news agency, Tass, reported that Kremlin press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, had said in 2023 that the world would have to “wait and see” whether Putin would speak with Carlson.Carlson said in late September 2023 that he had attempted to interview the Russian leader, but that the U.S. government had blocked the move. “I tried to interview Vladimir Putin, and the U.S. government stopped me,” Carlson told Swiss magazine, Die Weltwoche.Newsweek has reached out to Carlson for comment via email.
Carlson suddenly left Fox News in April 2023, and has since established his own streaming service and hosted shows on social media.Carlson has gained popularity among Russian state media commentators, being accused of echoing Russian state propaganda. Following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, progressive outlet Mother Jones published what it claimed was a Kremlin memo urging state-linked outlets to use more footage of Carlson in their broadcasts.”It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally,” one Russian-language memo said, according to Mother Jones.Margarita Simonyan, a top Kremlin propagandist who heads up the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, said in August 2023 that Carlson had requested an interview with the Kremlin chief, adding the former Fox News host was “doing a great job.”Russian state television promoted Carlson’s new content in September 2023, although the anchor told the Financial Times that he “had never seen this,” adding: “I have no clue what it’s about.”
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