Russia is considering making February 9th Tucker Carlson Day due to his interview with Putin yesterday and is now considered a Russian 'hero.'

It's not - Thank Goodness - been broadcast in Britain apart perhaps from odd excerpts in the News, but the [i]Today[/i] programme yesterday (Friday) asked the BBC's Russian news editor Stephen Rosenberg (sp?) and the former MI6 head about the interview.

The consensus seemed to be that the interview was very boring, because Putin took charge from the outset, and Carlson did not challenge Putin on anything, least of all the "special military operation". If Carlson is some sort of "hero" in Russia it is because Putin made it a Putin self-glorifying exercise.

To be fair, Carlson was probably being very cautious. Putin is very dangerous, making calling it a "war" or "invasion", and voicing criticism or critical questions of it or him, a very serious offence. He is perfectly prepared to jail even foreign reporters on false charges for doing so.

Had Tucker Carlson overstepped some vague mark he'd as likely be now in prison, awaiting mysterious "national security" or "spy" charges to be concocted. At best the interview would have been terminated immediately, not shown on Russian TV, and the TV presenter would have been evicted from the country.


We already knew Carlson was being disingenuous, to put it politely, to say he was the first Western journalist to seek an interview with President Putin. He must have known that many have asked over the years, but Putin normally refuses them.


President Putin recently held a big glossy Press presentation - a "look at me" event. He was careful though to bar any questions from journalists who might ask awkward ones, including Stephen Rosenberg, who was invited or at least allowed to attend and report generally on the event.