Putin's Tucker Carlson Interview Covers Ukraine War, NATO, Elon Musk, AI, Jailed WSJ Reporter

Tucker Carlson released his highly anticipated wide-ranging interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. In the over hours video published on Rumble, The former Fox News host and the Russian leader covered a variety of topics including the war in Ukraine, NATO expansion, Russia's relationship with the United States, and artificial intelligence and the next U.S. president.

The interview started on a somewhat contentious note, which saw Putin ask Carlson if they were "having a talk show or a serious conversation." Though the two men laughed off the remark later in the interview. The Russian leader wanted to-and-was able to give a 30-minute historical 'lecture' covering the origin of Ukraine and its ties to Soviet Union and Russia; Genghis Khan and the Roman Empire. Ukraine was part of the Soviet bloc before the communist union's collapse.

Addressing the ongoing war, Putin claimed that after Russian negotiators attempted to reach a peace deal with Ukraine during the early stages of the war that began in February 2022, Western countries persuaded President Volodymyr Zelensky to keep fighting. He also claimed that the Ukrainian leader had signed a decree that forbids negotiating with Russia.

"But how are we going to negotiate if he forbade himself and everyone to do this?" Putin said. "We know that he is putting forward some ideas about this settlement, but in order to agree on something, we need to have a dialogue."

On his opposition to NATO at length, Putin claimed he had once asked about Russia joining the alliance. He once spoke to then-President Bill Clinton about the prospect of his country becoming a member of the bloc. He claimed Clinton at first answered, "I think so," but later that night the American leader allegedly backtracked after talking to his team, telling Putin that Russia joining NATO wasn't possible at that time.

"If he had said yes, the process of rapprochement would have commenced, and eventually it might have happened if we had seen some sincere wish on the side of our partners," Putin told Carlson. "But it didn't happen. Well, no means no."

Putin in the interview, accused the US of “cheap provocation” over its continued military aid to Kyiv, and warned Washington against extending that support to deploying troops to Ukraine. 

“If somebody has the desire to send regular troops, that would certainly bring humanity to the brink of a very serious global conflict,” he told Carlson.

He continued that America should focus on its domestic issues. He said: “Don’t you have anything better to do? You have issues on the border. Issues with migration, issues with the national debt. More than $33 trillion. 

“Wouldn’t it be better to negotiate with Russia? Make an agreement. Already understanding the situation that is developing today, realising that Russia will fight for its interests to the end.”

Carlson asked Putin about reports that Ukraine was “prevented from negotiating a peace settlement by the former British Prime Minister acting on behalf of the Biden administration.”

Putin repeated his claims that Johnson sabotaged a peace deal with Ukraine that was being brokered with the assistance of Turkey in the spring of 2022.

“Prime Minister Johnson came to talk us out of it and we missed that chance," Putin said. "Well, you missed it.”

He added: “The fact that they obey the demand or persuasion of Mr Johnson, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, seems ridiculous. Where is Mr Johnson now? And the war continues.”

Carlson replied: “That’s a good question. Where do you think he is, and why did he do that?”

Putin said he “did not understand it... Because of arrogance, because of a pure heart, but not because of a great mind.”

Johnson later denounced Putin’s suggestion as “ludicrous.” “Nothing and no one could have stopped those lion-hearted Ukrainians from fighting for their country -- and nothing will,” Johnson wrote in the Daily Mail. The former prime minister attacked Carlson as a “stooge” who served as a medium “for the untreated slurry of Putin’s message,” comparing the interview to one Hitler gave to a sympathetic German-American journalist in June 1940.

Carlson and Putin spoke about how the U.S. and Russia seemed as though they would have good relations after the fall of the Soviet Union, but that hasn't been the case. The Tucker Carlson Network host brought up how Putin has said the West fears a strong Russia and asked why that is, and if the U.S. doesn't fear China.

"The West is afraid of strong China more than it fears a strong Russia, because Russia has 150 million people and China has 1.5 billion population," Putin answered. "And its economy is growing by leaps and bounds, or 5 percent a year."

He continued: "China's potential is enormous. It is the biggest economy in the world today in terms of purchasing power parity and the size of the economy. It is already overtaking the United States quite a long time ago, and it is growing at a rapid clip."

"Let's not talk about who is afraid of whom," Putin concluded. "Let's not reason in such terms."

Putin said that he doesn't remember the last time he spoke with US President Joe Biden. He also said he had a good relationship with former President Donald Trump when the Republican was in the White House.

He praised former President George W. Bush. "I had a very good relationship with Bush," Putin said. "I know that in the United States, he was portrayed as some kind of a country boy who does not understand much. I assure you that this is not the case."

After adding that Bush "made a lot of mistakes with regard to Russia," Putin said that he "had a very good relationship with him."

When asked by Carlson if relations with Russia would improve with a new administration after Biden, Putin said "it is not about the leader," but rather the decisions of the "ruling elites."

Elsewhere in the interview, Carlson made a case for releasing Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for Wall Street Journal, languishing in a Russian prison for almost a year.

Putin signalled his openness to releasing the journalist. He oblique made a reference to Vadim Krasikov, currently serving a life sentence for the murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin, Germany in 2019. The Russian leader described the prisoner -- dubbed the “bicycle assassin” who carried out an assassination-by-bicycle on Zelimkhan Khangoshvili -- as someone who “eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals” out of “patriotic sentiments.”

Putin signalled backchannel conversations were ongoing about Gershkovich, as he said: “special services are in contact with one another.”

“They are talking about the matter in question, he said, adding: “I believe an agreement can be reached.”

Carlson asked the Russian leader about AI and Tesla chief Elon Musk whose other company Neuralink recently implanted a human being with its chip for the first time.

“So when does the AI empire start do you think?” Carlson asked

Putin said he was no expert, but said: “Mankind is currently facing many threats due to the genetic researchers, it is now possible to create this superhuman. A specialised human being. A genetically engineered athlete, scientist, military man. There are reports that Elon Musk has already had the chip implanted in the human brain in the USA.”

Putin went on to say: “I think there’s no stopping Elon Musk. He will do as he sees fit.”

He added that “an international agreement on how to regulate these things” was needed to address the threat “from unbridled and uncontrolled development of AI or genetics or any other field”

In his remarks, Biden called it a “ridiculous interview” in which Putin told “a lot of lies about the history of this war” in Ukraine, calling the Russian President’s behaviour “imperialism.”

WATCH Tucker Carlson interview Putin.