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What Putin and Carlson talked about

American pro-Russian journalist Tucker Carlson published an interview with Vladimir Putin in X. The result of the collaboration between the Russian war criminal and the American propagandist was expected to be one of the most vile information products either of them has ever created. But, by and large, from the point of view of Russian narratives, Putin said nothing new. has prepared an overview of the propaganda conversation.

A history lecture

putin spent 23 minutes of his two-hour interview on a history lesson, in which he traditionally argued that Ukraine has always been part of Russia, that Ukrainians, like the Ukrainian language, have never existed and never will. One of the novelties was that, according to Putin, even the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was Russian. Before the interview, Carlson even warned the audience that he was strictly forbidden to interrupt Putin in this part, so they had to listen to the historical speech in its entirety.

In this block of the “conversation”, Putin also took a swipe at Poland, which he mentioned in a negative context 36 times. Putin said that the Poles collaborated with Hitler and that Poland was responsible for the outbreak of World War II.

Carlson did allow himself to intervene a little in Putin’s monologue, usually to emphasise his thesis that Ukraine never existed. For example, the American propagandist asked Putin if he had told Hungarians that they could “also go and take back Hungarian territories”.

Denazification

In Putin’s reality, Russia, of course, did not start the war. It is trying to end it. It blames NATO, the CIA, the “Maidan coup”, etc. There were also narratives about the threat to the Russian-speaking population of Crimea and Donbas. There was also the traditional “deceived and cheated” narrative. The trigger for Russia was allegedly Ukraine’s refusal to implement the Minsk agreements.

Here, Putin skilfully twisted the Ukrainian thesis: “If Russia stops fighting, the war will end. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine will end.” In Putin’s version, it sounds like this: “If the West stops supplying Ukraine with weapons, the war will end in two weeks.” The American propagandist did not ask clarifying questions such as what would happen to Ukrainians in this case.

The goals of Russia’s war against Ukraine have not yet been achieved, Putin said, as one of the goals is to denazify Ukraine. And Nazism in Ukraine, he claims, is still alive and well.

Putin also reiterated that he is ready to negotiate with Ukraine, but it was Zelenskyy who issued the decree banning negotiations [the decree actually states that negotiations are impossible, not with Russia, but with Putin – ed. Let Zelenskyy cancel the decree and negotiations can begin, Putin said.

In the end, he directly addressed the United States, repeating and copying Carlson’s own rhetoric. Putin reminded them that America has so many problems of its own – why should it get involved in a conflict tens of thousands of miles away? Wouldn’t it be better to reach an agreement with Russia and start respecting it and its interests?

Throughout the interview, the American propagandist did not ask Putin a single uncomfortable question.