In a much-anticipated interview, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson ended his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin by asking if he would release Evan Gershkovich, the imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter.
Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 after being accused of serving as a spy against the Russian government. He has remained in prison since he was first apprehended.
While interviewing Putin, Carlson — who received widespread criticism for his decision to interview the leader — put the President on the spot by asking for Gershkovich’s release.
“I’m going to ask you one last question and that’s about someone who’s very famous in the United States, probably not here. Evan Gershkovich, who’s The Wall Street Journal reporter, he’s 32 and he’s been in prison for almost a year,” said Carlson. “This is a huge story in the United States. And I just want to ask you directly — without getting into the details of it or your version of what happened — if, as a sign of your decency, you will be willing to release him to us and we’ll bring him back to the United States.”
“We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them,” Putin responded. “We have never seen anyone that reciprocated to us in a similar manner. However, in theory, we can say that we do not rule out that we can do that.”
The conversation then shifted to a discussion about what does and does not constitute a spy, with Putin arguing that Gershkovich was receiving classified information. Tucker Carlson argued it is clear the reporter isn’t a spy.
“What makes this different is the guy’s obviously not a spy,” Carlson said. “He’s a kid. And maybe he was breaking your law in some way, but he’s not a super spy and everyone knows that.”
Tucker Carlson concluded by saying “I hope you let him out, Mr. President.”
The interview between Carlson and Vladimir Putin has garnered 110 million views according to X’s publicly available metrics.
