Vladimir Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson was his first one-on-one interview with a Western journalist since Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Kremlin critic and anti-corruption campaigner Bill Browder said the interview was “a Putin idea”.
He said the Russian leader was at an “important crossroads right now” as the US Congress is trying to decide whether to release $63bn for Ukraine.
“Putin thought he would try to tip the scales by getting involved in this thing with Tucker Carlson – I think it failed miserably,” he said.
“I couldn’t even watch the whole thing; it was too boring.
“It was a monologue by Putin with an occasional word by Tucker Carlson.
“Putin was going into weird history lessons and it was almost like a fever dream of Putin’s.
“On a scale of 1-10 I think he accomplished a two in his objective of trying to influence US policy.”
Mr Browder added he was “terrified” about where Ukraine will be after the next US election “because Donald Trump has said he will cut off funding for Ukraine”.
Analysis: Carlson-Putin interview ‘read like a PR exercise’
Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin “read like a PR exercise” and was a “money-maker” for the journalist, says media expert Martha Kelner.
She says the tone of this conversation was “cosy” and Mr Putin was allowed to speak for 30 minutes about the history of eastern Europe.
The imprisonment of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in a Moscow jail for nearly a year, “produced the most combative part of the interview”, Kelner says.
But after two hours this “still read like a PR exercise for both men”, she adds.
“For Mr Carlson it was a money-maker and for Mr Putin a platform to deliver a monologue to America,” she says.
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