Tucker Carlson and his Russia obsession: A timeline
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said he will "soon" interview Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Carlson's announcement, on the social network X where he also hosts a new show, follows days of rumors in Russian state media. He was spotted at the Bolshoi ballet and other places in Russia's capital.
The Kremlin has not commented.
If the interview does happen Carlson would be the first American media figure to interview Russia's leader since the country invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Ukraine is running out of weapons: Is it also running low on the time-tested coping mechanism of humor?
Fox News and Carlson parted ways last year.
He drove ratings at the network with what his critics say was a particular formula: right-wing, populist, often xenophobic and racist; an appealer, his detractors say, to our worst instincts.
He also had a soft spot for Russia, a country Carlson often mentioned during his broadcasts and on which he expressed a variety of opinions. These opinions often ended up being used for propaganda purposes by Russian state media, which may account for why the anchor appeared to receive job offers from state-run Russian news channels in the wake of his ouster. He also received praise from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Tucker Carlson He breaks his silence after Fox News departure: 'See you soon'
Here's (almost) everything Tucker Carlson said about Russia
"Why is Vladimir Putin such a bad guy? He's not Saddam Hussein, he's not Adolf Hitler, he's not a danger to the United States." (2017)
"There's no reason to believe that Russia changed the course of American political history," he said, accusing NBC News of attempting to tip the scales in the 2016 election in Donald Trump's favor over Hillary Clinton by releasing an "Access Hollywood" tape to the Washington Post two days before the second presidential debate. The tape featured Trump boasting of his sexual aggressions toward women. "What do you think played a bigger role in the 2016 race: The Access Hollywood tape or the Russian government." (2017)
"The left sees Putin behind every problem, and they're trying to convince us to see him too. They want to drum up a new cold war, and you're the target." (2017)
"There's a lot of lying going on, and there's a lot of propaganda, and there's a lot of bad journalism, and there's a lot of people with a vested interest in making us hate Russia. And so we should be skeptical." (2018)
"We should probably take the side of Russia if we have to choose between Russia and Ukraine." (2019)
"(Russia President Vladimir) Putin, for all his faults, does not hate America as much as many of these people (American liberals) do. They really dislike our country. (2019)
"The Cold War ended a long time ago. The Soviet Union is gone. Russia is not our enemy. It's just not." (2019)
“It may be worth asking yourself, since it is getting pretty serious, what is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much?” he said as Russia's leader amassed troops on Ukraine's border, ready to invade. “Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? These are fair questions, and the answer to all of them is: ‘No.’ Vladimir Putin didn’t do any of that.” Carlson described Ukraine as a “a pure client state of the United States State Department” and the looming war as a "border issue." (2022)
"The Russians don't want American missiles on their border. They don't want a hostile government next door." (2022)
"Ideologues within the Biden administration did not want a negotiated peace in Ukraine. They wanted, all along, and it's very clear now, a regime-change war against Russia." (2022)
"Whatever you think of the war in Ukraine, it is pretty clear (Ukraine's Volodymyr) Zelenskyy has no interest in freedom and democracy," he said, as TIME magazine named Zelenskyy its 2022 Person of the Year. "In fact, Zelenskyy is far closer to Lenin than to George Washington. He is a dictator. He is a dangerous authoritarian who has used a hundred billion in U.S. tax dollars to erect a one-party police state in Ukraine." (2022)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tucker Carlson: What the Fox News anchor said about Russia
