Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson addressed accusations he is fond of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a lengthy conversation with Glenn Beck on Tuesday.
Carlson denied he is a fan of Putin but pointed out that even if he was, any positive feelings toward Russia’s president do not constitute a crime.
The comments came on Beck’s BlazeTV radio show and were shared across the host’s social media pages.
During one segment of the two-hour interview, Beck noted Carlson had just returned from Russia where he interviewed Putin.
Carlson also made stops around Moscow and shared his thoughts on the city on his X page in several video clips.
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The interview and clips led to accusations Carlson was squarely in the corner of Russians while this country remains divided over supporting Ukraine militarily as it begins its third year of war with its former Soviet neighbor.
Beck probed Carlson about comments Putin made during their interview in which the former KGB agent said parts of Ukraine are traditionally Russian and belong to its people.
“I thought it was a silly argument to make,” Carlson said of Putin’s claims that Russia has an ancestral right to lands inside Ukraine.
Carlson referred to Putin’s perspective on the war as “silly” and noted, “There’s a lot about that interview that I don’t really understand.”
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“I don’t think he was very effective if his goal was to win over a Western audience,” Carlson added. “It didn’t make me more pro-Putin — not that I was.”
Carlson then said he refused to accept any notion he could be told which world leaders he could or could not speak to by people in Washington.
“And by the way I should just say at the outset, I’ve been accused of being pro-Putin, and I’m not, but if I was, that’s OK, too. I’m an adult man, an American citizen, I can like or dislike anyone I want. I can have any opinion I want.
“I’m not ashamed of it,” he said. “I reserve the right to like anybody. Period.”
The conservative commentator took flak from both sides of the political aisle for his interview with Putin while many of his staunchest critics ignored the fact that reporters have interviewed controversial world leaders for decades.
For example, far-left former CBS News anchor Dan Rather interviewed former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003 amid years of his regime’s genocide against Iraqi Kurds and other groups.
Meanwhile, Barbara Walters interviewed Putin in 2001, while former CBS News reporter Mike Wallace interviewed Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini just months after the country’s violent revolution in 1979.
