Tucker Carlson launches show on Russian state TV

A show from former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson has reportedly appeared on a Russian state television channel for the first time.

Carlson is presenting the program Tucker, which is broadcast on Russia 24. The first episode and other clips from previous months are now available online, Russian state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.

On the website Smotrim.ru, where programs shown on Russian state channels can be viewed, is an episode introduced by Carlson dated May 18 and dubbed into Russian. The website also hosts other clips from previous months of interviews that Carlson had conducted.

Independent news outlet Astra said that the program features Russian-language dubbing of Carlson’s American shows and is not original content for Russian viewers. In September 2023, Rossiya 24 aired a trailer for a show featuring Carlson without clarifying when it would be broadcast, the BBC reported.

“The TUCKER program, a joint project of (Russian state-owned channel) VGTRK and the Tucker Carlson Network YouTube channel, has now aired on the Russia 24 TV channel,” Astra said, “The first episode is dedicated to ticks and Lyme disease.”

Rossiyskaya Gazeta said that the show is part of a joint project with the Tucker Carlson Network (TCN) in which he will interview figures and politicians who have “alternative views to the mainstream.”

Newsweek reached out to TCN, VGTRK and Smotrim.ru for comment.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Carlson used a March 2022 episode of his primetime show on Fox News to fuel a conspiracy theory pushed by Russia about the supposed development of U.S. bioweapons in Ukraine.

When at Fox News, Carlson was praised on Russian state television for his positions on the war in Ukraine which were interpreted as sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin. After he was fired by Fox News, one Kremlin mouthpiece described Carlson as a “voice of reason” who was “welcome in Russia.”

Carlson was the highest-rated cable TV host before he left Fox News in April 2023. He launched a new show on Twitter called Tucker on Twitter, which later changed to Tucker on X with the social media network’s rebranding.

In February this year, Carlson made a high-profile visit to Russia, where his interview with Putin at the Kremlin was criticized by many observers for allowing the Russian president to push his narrative on the war he started in Ukraine.

During the two-hour interview, Putin spoke extensively about Russian history and Kremlin talking points and was rarely challenged. Putin later appeared to criticize Carlson’s interview approach, telling state television channel Russia-1 that he thought he would “behave aggressively and ask so-called sharp questions.”

Carlson was also criticized on social media for his interview with the Russian ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, which was recorded in Moscow but was not broadcast until April 29.

Update 05/21/24, 12:30 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.