Everything Tucker Carlson has said about Vladimir Putin
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Tucker Carlson frequently made sympathetic comments about Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when he was at Fox News.
Carlson’s remarks, which often reflected Putin’s claims about the war, were used by Russian state television to show the Russian president was right because the same was being said by “the most popular television presenter in America”.
Carlson’s comments included claims that the US should take Russia’s side in its war with Ukraine, along with remarks denouncing Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” and a “dangerous authoritarian”.
After Carlson was fired from Fox News last year in light of its $787 million (£625 million) defamation settlement, Russian media claimed he had been sacked because of his “fearless” reporting on Ukraine.
During a visit to the United Nations in 2023, Sergey Lavrov, the Russia foreign minister, said Carlson’s departure was “curious news”, asking: “What is this related to? One can only guess.”
Here is a rundown of Carlson’s previous comments about Putin and the Ukraine war:
2017
“Why is Vladimir Putin such a bad guy? He’s not Saddam Hussein, he’s not Adolf Hitler, he’s not a danger to the United States.”
“The Left sees Putin behind every problem, and they’re trying to convince us to see him too. They want to drum up a new Cold War, and you’re the target.”
2018
“There’s a lot of lying going on, and there’s a lot of propaganda, and there’s a lot of bad journalism, and there’s a lot of people with a vested interest in making us hate Russia. And so we should be sceptical.”
2019
“We should probably take the side of Russia if we have to choose between Russia and Ukraine.”
“Putin, for all his faults, does not hate America as much as many of these people (American liberals) do. They really dislike our country.”
“The Cold War ended a long time ago. The Soviet Union is gone. Russia is not our enemy. It’s just not.”
2022
“It may be worth asking yourself, since it is getting pretty serious, what is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much? Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? These are fair questions, and the answer to all of them is: ‘No.’ Vladimir Putin didn’t do any of that.”
“Democrats in Washington have told you it’s your patriotic duty to hate Vladimir Putin. It’s not a suggestion. It’s a mandate. Anything less than hatred for Putin is treason.”
“The Russians don’t want American missiles on their border. They don’t want a hostile government next door.”
“Whatever you think of the war in Ukraine, it is pretty clear Zelensky has no interest in freedom and democracy,” he said, as Time magazine named Zelensky its Person of the Year. “In fact, Zelensky is far closer to Lenin than to George Washington. He is a dictator. He is a dangerous authoritarian who has used a hundred billion in US tax dollars to erect a one-party police state in Ukraine.”
