The Kremlin reacts to reports Tucker Carlson will interview Vladimir Putin in Moscow

The former Fox News host, 54, reportedly arrived in Russia on February 1

The Kremlin has declined to say whether or not Russian President Vladimir Putin would grant an interview to Tucker Carlson.

The news comes after Russian media published photos appearing to show Tucker Carlson in Moscow amid claims he will interview Vladimir Putin on his X (formerly Twitter) hosted show.

The former Fox News host, 54, reportedly arrived in Russia on February 1.

“Many foreign journalists come to Russia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday when asked about reports that Carlson was in Russia. “We have nothing to announce in terms of the president’s interviews to foreign media.

On X, former advisor to the internal affairs ministry in Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko wrote: “Putin doesn’t sit down with journalists one on one too often. The last time it happened in 2021, when Putin talked to NBC’s Keir Simmons.

“The goals that the Kremlin pursues are obvious. We will see what comes out of this. Will new narratives be voiced loud and clear? I doubt it.

“Putin has ramped up the propaganda machine to full speed before the ‘elections’.”

Russia faces the prospect of Mr Putin extending his two-decade stranglehold on power until at least 2030, with an election in March.

Another Telegram channel belonging to the RIA state news agency in Russia posted that “it is said the TV host, who openly sympathizes with Russia, has come here in the hope of talking to Putin”.

It is not the first time Carlson has been linked to Russian media.

In April 2023, within hours of Fox News announcing that the network agreed to “part ways” with the pundit, Russian state media personalities and propaganda outlets opened their doors.

RT – the Russian state broadcaster formerly known as Russia Today, which is banned in dozens of countries – offered him a platform. “Hey @TuckerCarlson, you can always question more with @RT_com,” the outlet wrote on Twitter.

Vladimir Solovyov, a propagandist whose channels were blocked by YouTube last year for violating the platform’s policies against inciting violence, said he sent an email to Carlson, calling him “the last remaining voice of reason.”