Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiating with the U.S. over the war in Ukraine during a two-hour interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, but the Russian leader also spent much of the time expounding on history and repeating talking points in an attempt to justify his actions in Ukraine.

Putin told Carlson in an interview from Moscow that Russia has “never refused negotiations” and would welcome any efforts from Washington to discuss a peace agreement in Ukraine.

“We hear all the time, ‘Is Russia ready?’ Yes,” Putin said in the interview that aired Thursday. “We have not refused. It was them who publicly refused.”

Putin has claimed before that he is open to negotiating an end to the war, including after Russian forces suffered massive losses in 2022 following Ukrainian counteroffensives.

But U.S. officials have expressed wariness at the claims because Russia still demands Ukraine not be included in the Western security alliance NATO and Moscow wants to hold the roughly 18 percent of territory Russian forces occupy in eastern Ukraine.

Several reports suggested in recent weeks that Putin is quietly signaling to Washington that he is open to a cease-fire as the war shifts in his favor. Russian forces have entrenched themselves across the 600-mile front and repelled a Ukrainian counteroffensive last year, and the U.S. Congress is struggling to approve more aid to Ukraine.

The Kremlin said in December there was no basis for negotiations, but Putin signaled a major shift Thursday in some of his most expansive public comments yet on negotiating an end to the war with the West.

“Wouldn’t it be better to negotiate with Russia? Make an agreement,” Putin said after explaining the U.S. faces high costs to intervene in the war. “Already understanding the situation that is developing today, realizing that Russia will fight for its interests to the end.”

“And realizing this is actually a return to common sense, start respecting our country and its interests and look for certain solutions,” he added. “It seems to me that this is much smarter and more rational.”

In the interview, Putin also repeated a claim that Russia was prepared to sign an agreement with Ukraine in the spring of 2022, shortly after the Russian offensive failed, but that then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson killed the deal because the Ukrainians were winning.

Johnson has denied that account to the media and the failed negotiations at the time also came after alleged Russian war crimes were revealed in the town of Bucha upon a Russian retreat, which caused an uproar internationally.

Putin spent most of the interview reciting history about Ukraine and Russia and repeating that he invaded Ukraine to denazify the country and protect ethnic Russian speakers, while also accusing NATO of expanding eastward toward Russia.

Without evidence, he also accused Kyiv and the West of seeking to encourage a conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in the eastern region of the country, which broke out in 2014 after Moscow illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula following the ouster of a Russian-backed president.

But for most of the interview, Putin engaged in a tirade about the history of Russia and Ukraine in an attempt to justify that Ukraine is historically part of Russia, a claim that is denied by Ukrainians who point out Kyiv was founded before Moscow.

Putin’s history lessons even forced a reaction from Carlson.

“I’ll tell you, I’m coming for that,” Putin said to a skeptical Carlson. “This briefing is coming to an end. It might be boring, but it explains many things.”

“It’s not boring,” Carlson answered. “Just not sure how it’s relevant.”

Moscow confirms Putin interview with Tucker Carlson

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, granted an interview to the US television host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, claiming it was arranged because Carlson’s approach differs from the one-sided reporting of many traditional western news media.

The interview was likely to be aired on Thursday, according to Russia’s Tass news agency, citing reports by the Wall Street Journal.

Speculation had been growing for days that Carlson, who was dumped by Fox last year for “getting too big for his boots”, had traveled to the Russian capital to meet Putin, whose reasons for invading Ukraine he says should be heard by the American public.

But his visit, which reportedly has included visits to the Bolshoi ballet and dining in fine restaurants, has drawn accusations that he is acting as a propaganda tool for Putin, whom he has frequently defended. Russian media, meanwhile, have hailed Carlson as a celebrity “who speaks the truth”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed western media no longer tried to appear impartial in their reporting of Russia, and said the Kremlin had no appetite to communicate directly with primary media organisations.

“When it comes to the countries of the collective west, the large network media, TV channels, [and] large newspapers can in no way boast of even trying to at least look impartial in terms of coverage,” Peskov said.

“These are all media outlets that take an exceptionally one-sided position. Of course, there is no desire to communicate with such media, and it hardly makes sense, and it is unlikely that it will be useful.”

When asked directly why Putin granted an interview to Carlson, Peskov said of the former Fox News host: “His position is different from the others. It is in no way pro-Russian, it is not pro-Ukrainian – it is pro-American, but at least it contrasts with the position of the traditional Anglo-Saxon media,” Peskov said.

In a post to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday afternoon, Carlson portrayed the upcoming interview as a chance for the American public to see the “truth” of the Ukraine war, against a backdrop of what he claimed, without offering any evidence, were a succession of lies told by western media outlets.

He said the interview would be on his own website and posted “uncensored” by the X owner, Elon Musk.

“Most Americans have no idea why Putin invaded Ukraine or what his goals are now,” Carlson said in the four-minute video recorded in Moscow.

“You’ve never heard his voice. That’s wrong. Americans have a right to know all we can about a war they’re implicated in, and we have the right to tell them about it,” he continued.

“Western governments by contrast will certainly do their best to censor this video. They are afraid of information they can’t control.”

Carlson, whose downfall at Fox followed his on-air amplification of Donald Trump’s lies that his 2020 election defeat was fraudulent, untruths that ultimately cost Fox $787.5m in a defamation lawsuit brought by the Dominion Voting Systems company, also claimed Americans were “uninformed” about the effects of the war, and had “no real idea of what’s happening in this region”.

Since leaving Fox, Carlson has taken to broadcasting on X, where his shows – which have included speculation about UFOs among other topics – are often conspiracy-laced and have included segments on disgraced figures like Andrew Tate.

Even during his prime-time Fox News years, Carlson become notorious for extremist and bigoted language, especially around the issue of immigration.

In the post on X, Carlson attacked Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “The populations of the English-speaking countries seem mostly unaware. Their media outlets are corrupt. They lie to the readers and viewers,” he said. “The interviews [Zelenskiy has] done in the US are not traditional interviews, they are fawning pep sessions specifically designed to amplify Zelenskiy’s demands that the US enter more deeply into a war in eastern Europe and pay for it.

“That is not journalism. It is government propaganda of the ugliest kind,” he added.

Press freedoms have largely disappeared in Russia over the past two decades, as pressure has grown on independent media and the danger of arrest has increased for local and foreign journalists working in the country.

The arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich last year on espionage charges was a watershed attack on a foreign reporter in the post-cold war era.

But Russian journalists had already faced long prison sentences for their work and for angering Putin’s allies and friends.

More than 1,000 journalists have fled the country since the invasion of Ukraine, a number of high-profile criminal cases have been opened against reporters for discrediting the Russian army or spreading “fake news”, and legacy broadcast media such as Ekho Moskvy have been forced to close down, despite having powerful backers in the government.

Russia was one of the world’s top five jailers of journalists in 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, with 22 reporters in prison.

At a protest of military wives near the Kremlin this week, the police arrested more than 20 journalists in order to prevent them from reporting on the demonstration in an “unprecedented” move, according to Reporters without Borders.

Putin last gave an interview to a western outlet in 2021, when he spoke with a reporter for CNBC. He has largely ceased speaking with independent media, both Russian and international, since launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since 2021, he has only given interviews to Russian, Kazakh and Chinese media.

Putin’s press secretary, Peskov, said that “we’ve received numerous requests [from western media] for an interview with the president” but “all those media assume a lopsided position”.

“Of course, no one is happy about speaking to such media, and besides, there’s hardly any sense in doing this, it’s unlikely that it can do any good,” Peskov said.

Who is Tucker Carlson and why is he so controversial?

Former Fox News cable show host Tucker Carlson is set to release a controversial interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Thursday evening.

Mr Carlson is the first western journalist to secure an interview with Mr Putin since the Russian president’s forces invaded Ukraine almost two years ago.

Mr Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Mr Carlson had been chosen for the interview because “he has a position which differs” from other western media.

The interview, Mr Carlson said in his video, will be distributed for free on his website and on X, formerly Twitter.

Posting on X on Tuesday, with the Kremlin in the background, he said: “Here’s why we’re doing it. First, because it’s our job. We’re in journalism. Our duty is to inform people, two years into a war that’s reshaping the entire world.

“Most Americans are not informed. They have no real idea what’s happening in this region, here in Russia or 600 miles away in Ukraine, but they should know. They’re paying for much of it in ways they might not fully yet perceive.”

Who is he?

Mr Carlson was born on May 16, 1969 and was the eldest son of Lisa McNear and Dick Carlson. He grew up in San Francisco, California, before later moving to San Diego after his parents divorced.

His father remarried to Patricia Caroline Swanson, an heiress to Swanson Enterprises, a large US firm that developed canned foods and ready meals.

Mr Carlson attended St. George’s School, a boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island, before spending four years at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

However, he did not graduate and after encouragement from his father, decided to pursue a career in journalism.

Mr Carlson worked for a number of prominent news organisations such as CNN, PBS and MSNBC, before securing a role with Fox News, where he would become TV host of the most popular, and controversial show, in the US.

His most well-known stint prior to starting at Fox News was hosting political chat show Crossfire. In a later viral clip he was called a “d**k” by comedian Jon Stewart after they clashed in 2004 on the show.

He is married to Susan Thomson Carlson, who he met while at boarding school, and they have four children together.

Why is he so controversial?

Mr Carlson’s started as a contributor at Fox News in 2009 and rapidly ascended through the organisation to become the most famous voice of Conservative media in the United States.

His show attracted a loyal following, averaging almost 3.5 million viewers a night in 2022, but was dogged by allegations of racism, promoting anti-immigrant sentiment and peddling conspiracy theories.

Mr Carlson’s rhetorical style is akin to US radio shock jocks and his embrace of sacred Republican political ideals, such as his anti-abortion position and enthusiastic backingof gun rights, led to fevered speculation he could one day become a presidential candidate.

His show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, was involved in many scandals, on and off-screen controversies and cruel behaviour.

In 2018 a number of large sponsors, such as Land Rover and Samsung, boycotted the show after Mr Carlson said that immigrants make the US “poorer, dirtier, and more divided.”

He described Black Live Matter protesters as “criminal mobs”, described white supremacy as a “hoax” and claimed that the metric system was a conspiracy.

Mr Carlson conducted an unhinged attack on Mulsim congressman Illhan Omar, saying that she was “living proof that immigration has made the US more dangerous”.

Perhaps his most egregious offence however, was that Mr Carlson, alongside fellow hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, peddled former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being rigged.

Privately Mr Carlson mocked Mr Trump’s allies, said he hated him and described him as a “demonic force”.

This information was revealed in pre-court filings after Fox News was sued by Dominion Voting Systems, for its coverage of the 2020 presidential election.

Fox was forced into a humilitating settlement of $787.5m, and not long afterwards the network’s superstar presenter was relieved of his job.

What has he done since?

Mr Carlson spent very little time on the sidelines before launching a partnership with X, formerly known as Twitter, for a new show which was warmly received by the social media network’s owner Elon Musk.

He later launched his own subscription website and has interviewed a number of promiment people, such as UFC boss Dana White, Donald Trump and Argentinian president.

Mr Carlson has used his X account to rail against the corporate media spreading “thinly disguised propaganda”, despite regularly spreading false information, distorted facts and hateful content on his Fox News show.

Tucker Carlson Shares Controversial Two-Hour Vladimir Putin Interview

Tucker Carlson has shared his longform interview with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, discussing the political leader’s justifications for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The video, running more than two hours, represents the first time that the Russian leader has been interviewed by a Western journalist since the conflict started nearly two years ago.

“The interview, as you will see if you watch it, is primarily about the war in progress, the war in Ukraine — how it started, what’s happening and, most pressingly, how it might end,” Carlson said at the start of the video, speaking to the camera while standing in front of the Kremlin. “At the beginning of the interview, we asked the most obvious question, which is ‘Why did you do this? Did you feel a threat, an imminent physical threat, and that’s your justification?’ The answer we got shocked us. Putin went on for a very long time, probably half an hour, about the history of Russia going back to the eighth century. And honestly, we thought this was a filibustering technique and found it annoying and interrupted him several times.”

“But we concluded in the end, for what it’s worth, that it was not a filibustering technique. There was no time limit on the interview. We ended it after two hours. Instead what you’re about to see seemed, to us, sincere, whether you agree with it or not,” Carlson continued. “Vladimir Putin believes that Russia has a historic claim to parts of western Ukraine. So our opinion would be to view, in that light, as a sincere expression of what he thinks.”

Carlson announced the interview on Tuesday, the same day that the interview took place at the Kremlin in Moscow. At the time, the former Fox News anchor claimed that “not a single Western journalist had bothered to interview the president of the other country in this conflict.” The Kremlin denied the allegation, stating it has denied several publications’ requests to speak with Putin. Additionally, in March 2022, shortly following the invasion of Ukraine, Russia passed a law deeming it illegal to publish “false information” about the military — many news organizations extricated their staff members from the country.

During the interview, Carlson brings up the topic of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned for more than 250 days after being charged with espionage, which the U.S. government and the Journal deny. The anchor expressed his hope that Gershkovich would be released.

“We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them,” Putin said when asked about the possibility of releasing Gershkovich. “We have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner … I do not rule out that the person you refer to may return to his motherland. We want the U.S. Special Services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals our special services are pursuing.”

When asked to explain the blocks of alliances in the geopolitical situation, Putin became more vague.

“Listen, you have said that the world is breaking into two hemispheres. A human brain is divided into two hemispheres. One is responsible for one type of activities, the other one is more about creativity and so on. But it is still one in the same head,” Putin said. “The world should be a single whole. Security should be shared, rather than a demand for the golden billion. That is the only scenario where the world could be stable, sustainable and predictable. Until then, while the head is split in two parts it is an illness a serious adverse condition.”

Carlson shared the full interview for free viewing through the Tucker Carlson Network — a digital platform that he launched following his exit from Fox News last summer, touting it as “an alternative to legacy media.”