Russian President Vladimir Putin shared for the first time on Wednesday his thoughts on his interview with popular conservative journalist Tucker Carlson at the Kremlin, which took place last week.
“To be honest, I thought he would be more aggressive and ask tough questions,” Putin said of the two-hour interview. “I was just not prepared for that. I wanted that, because it would have given me the opportunity to respond sharply. Which, in my opinion, would have added certain specificity to the conversation,” he continued.
“But he chose a different tactic.”
Throughout the interview, Putin spoke at length about Russian history, providing Carlson with a lesson on all of Eastern European history dating back to the Middle Ages. The history lesson took more than 30 minutes for Putin to explain, much to the surprise of viewers.
The two also discussed current affairs in Ukraine, the fate of a detained Wall Street Journal reporter, the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline and former President Clinton’s unwillingness to allow Russia to join NATO.
“He attempted to interrupt me several times, yet surprisingly, for a Western journalist, he proved patient. Listening to my lengthy replies, especially about history,” Putin said of the chat,