Journalists hit back at Tucker Carlson’s mistaken claim that he’s the only one to ask Putin for an interview – and even Moscow confirms Russian leader just says no to everyone else: ‘He’s wrong, but he couldn’t have known’

Journalists lined up to refute Tucker Carlson’s false claim that Western journalists are not interested in interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin, explaining that the Kremlin has instead regularly rejected their requests in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov also made it clear that Carlson’s claim was wrong. He told Russian news agency TASS that the Kremlin regularly says no to other Western journalists because they would not benefit from it.

Peskov said, “Mr. Carlson is wrong. But he couldn’t know. When it comes to the countries of the collective West, we are talking about large online media, traditional television channels, large newspapers, which cannot boast of attempts to at least appear impartial in terms of reporting.”

‘These are all media channels that adopt a very one-sided attitude. Of course, there is no need to communicate with such media, and there is hardly any point, and it is unlikely to be useful.’

This morning the Kremlin confirmed that Carlson’s controversial interview with Putin had already taken place and TASS said the piece will likely air on Thursday.

When asked directly why Putin gave Carlson an interview, Peskov said the American’s position contrasted with much of the Western media.

‘His position is different from that of the others. It is not pro-Russian in any way, it is not pro-Ukrainian – it is pro-American, but in any case it contrasts with the position of the traditional Anglo-Saxon media,” Peskov said.

“Does Tucker really think that we journalists haven’t tried to interview President Putin every day since his massive invasion of Ukraine? It’s absurd – we will continue to ask for an interview, just as we have done for years,” said CNN’s Christine Amanpour. said in response to Carlson.

According to CNN, reporters asked Carlson via text message Tuesday “why he would smear the press by falsely claiming that journalists are not interested in interviewing Putin or reporting on Russia?”

The network also asked whether Carlson would ask Putin about the capture of The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich. According to CNN, those questions remained unanswered.

Meanwhile, the BBC’s Russian editor Steve Rosenberg said his office has made numerous requests for interviews to the Kremlin over the past 18 months. “Always a ‘no’ for us,” he says said.

Max Sneddon of the Financial Times in Moscow noted in his response to Carlson that two American reporters, Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva of Radio Free Europe, are being held in pre-trial detention in Russia for reporting on the Russian side of the invasion.

Ian Bbraker of Time Magazine simply posted a photo of Evan Gershkovich in a cell during a hearing in a Moscow court with the caption: “Real journalist in Russia.”

Russian reporter Yevgenia Albats noted that she and other colleagues had to go into exile in their home country for covering the war, while Carlson shot videos “from the $1,000 Ritz suite in Moscow.”

Politico’s Heidi Przybyla argued that Carlson’s interview “isn’t journalism… Tucker brings together authoritarian strongmen who want to undermine Western democracy.”

The media in Russia are prohibited from calling the invasion a “war” and most refer to it as a “special military operation.”

Hillel Neuer, a human rights lawyer, suggests that instead of talking to Putin, Carlson should try talking to Vladimir Kara-Murza, a British-Russian citizen who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for criticizing the invasion.

‘It is very striking to see Carlson justifying his interview with Putin and his trip to Russia as the work of a journalist – at a time when Western journalists are literally in prison for doing nothing but trying to report independently in Putin’s Russia. Not to mention the many Russian journalists who risk imprisonment or exile in the effort to continue their work,” Susan Glasser of The Washington Post, a former bureau chief in the Russian capital, told CNN.

‘Real journalism is unfortunately a crime in Putin’s Russia. Will his report from there acknowledge this?,” Glasser continued.

X owner Elon Musk had promised to broadcast the interview in full on his platform. The Tesla founder posted Carlson’s video, which includes his baseless claim about Western journalists trying to interview Putin, at the top of his profile.

And while Putin is known for avoiding interviews with Western media, interviews do happen from time to time.

In 2017, Putin spoke to Megyn Kelly for NBC News, and again the following year; Chris Wallace won Fox News its first Emmy nomination for his Putin interview in 2018. In June 2021, Putin spoke with NBC’s Keir Simmons.

He has not given interviews with Western media since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Carlson has made no secret of his desire to interview Putin, whom he has regularly praised as a strong leader.

In July 2021, Carlson said he was trying to arrange an interview with Putin when he “was spied on by the NSA.”

The then-Fox News host said his communications were intercepted by the National Security Agency and his identity — which by law should have been kept secret — was “exposed” by top intelligence officials. Carlson claimed that the contents of his emails and text messages were then disseminated in an attempt to discredit him.

“Late this spring, I contacted some people who I thought might be able to help get an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Carlson told his viewers.

“I didn’t tell anyone I was doing this other than my executive producer, Justin Wells,” Carlson said.

“But the Biden administration found out anyway by reading my emails.”

The NSA took the highly unusual step of denying his accusation, but Carlson has maintained that his emails were intercepted.

On Tuesday night, Carlson promised that his interview with Putin would be revealing.

He said he did it because “Americans are not aware” of the war Ukraine.

“Two years after a war that is reshaping the entire world, most Americans are unaware,” the conservative commentator said of the conflict in Ukraine.

‘They have no real idea what’s happening in this region. But they need to know that they are paying for a lot of it in ways they may not fully understand.”