In fact, had Putin really needed to go toe-to-toe with a formidable opponent, the Kremlin wouldn’t have hand-picked Carlson for his first interview with a Western journalist since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Carlson, the famously Russia-friendly ex-Fox Information host, is understood extra for a penchant for cozying as much as autocrats than for probing reportage.
Putin, who famously enjoys trolling Western figures, smirked whereas describing Carlson’s passivity to Russian TV propagandist Pavel Zarubin: “He tried to interrupt me a number of occasions, however nonetheless, surprisingly for a Western journalist, he turned out to be affected person and listened to my prolonged dialogues, particularly these associated to historical past, and didn’t give me purpose to do what I used to be prepared for. So frankly, I didn’t get full satisfaction from this interview.”
In the course of the over two-hour-long Carlson interview, Putin delivered a 20-plus-minute soliloquy about Russian historical past and mocked Carlson over his failed try to hitch CIA.
Putin additionally took the chance to troll Joe Biden whereas talking with Zarubin, saying he would like to see the present president reelected than a return of Donald Trump following the November poll.