Professor Eshref Ymeri is a knowledgeable academic and former lecturer living in California, USA. He’s well-known for his work on Albanian and Russian language and history. Prof. Ymeri has written many books and dictionaries on these topics. He studied at St. Petersburg University and the University of Tirana and taught literature and history there. He’s very active in writing and publishing books and research papers about Russian history and politics. His work helps people understand more about these subjects.

Carlson vs. Putin

(The Ordeal of a Journalist in an Interview with a Rogue Dictator-in-Chief)

Prof. Dr. Eshref Ymeri

The renowned American journalist Tucker Carlson (born in 1969), founder of the video platform “Tucker Carlson Network,” embarked on a trip to Moscow in early February 2024 for an interview with the Russian dictator and the primary perpetrator of crimes against the Ukrainian people, Vladimir Putin. The interview took place on February 8, 2024, and lasted two hours, featuring 49 questions. It was published on the “Komsomolskaya Pravda” website on the same day. Considering that the interview occurred against the backdrop of Russia’s aggressive two-year war against Ukraine, a sovereign state, two aspects stand out in the journalist’s questions and Putin’s responses:

Firstly, the journalist in that interview blatantly revealed his deficient knowledge, not to say his ignorance, regarding the history of Ukraine’s relations with Russia.

Secondly, during his responses, Putin deceived in a highly scandalous manner. The journalist’s failure to react to those deceptions further highlighted his misery, portraying him as a representative of an American mass media outlet lacking intellectual training.

It is imperative that when a journalist interviews the highest-ranking politician of a foreign country, they must thoroughly understand the history of that nation, even in intricate detail. This ensures that, in defense of professional integrity, they can hold the prime politician accountable if they speak untruths. Therefore, the journalist should be recognized for possessing a broad cultural perspective and encyclopaedic knowledge across various fields. Furthermore, in that interview, the journalist displayed their ignorance regarding the history of Ukraine.

All of Putin’s confessions in that interview were nothing but pure deception, emblematic of Russia’s political elite, which has long been associated with perpetrating crimes against other nations. However, here we will focus solely on some of Putin’s most sensational deceptions, to which journalist Tucker Carlson failed to react at all.

Putin initiated the interview with a scandalous deception — denying the antiquity of Ukrainian ethnicity, and instead, propagating the antiquity of Russia.

However, historical facts paint a different picture. As the chief dictator of the Kremlin and the primary perpetrator of bloody Russian chauvinism, Putin consistently distorts history. Contrary to his claims, it was not Moscow but Kiev that has served as the heart of Eastern Slavic culture. Kiev was established in 482, while Moscow was founded 665 years later in 1147. Additionally, even Moscow owes its foundation to a Ukrainian prince, Yuri Dolgoruky (1090-1157), the grand prince of Kiev. A magnificent statue honouring him stands in front of the Moscow City Hall building. Therefore, the Kremlin’s criminals, led by Putin, aim to erase Ukraine from the map, desiring Moscow to be the sole cultural center. Shockingly, the journalist not only failed to challenge this deception but, on the contrary, greeted Putin with the phrase “your knowledge is encyclopaedic”!!!

The origins of the political tensions between Ukraine and Russia date back centuries. Ukrainian national hero Bogdan Khmelnytskyi (1595-1657) announced the union with Russia during the Assembly of Pereyaslav on January 18, 1654, based on the principle of equal rights within two common states. However, following Khmelnytsky’s death, Russian chauvinism destroyed the document he signed, which affirmed the full equality between the two states, aiming to subjugate Ukraine as its colony. This betrayal by Russian chauvinism compelled Bogdan Khmelnytskyi’s son, Yuri Khmelnytskyi (1641-1685), to sever ties with Russia. Ukraine later fell under the dominance of Russian tsarism, enduring until the October Revolution and worsening under Soviet Communist rule. The truth of this oppression is evident in the late 1920s when a strong nationalist movement emerged in Ukraine, seeking independence from Russia by any means necessary. In response, the Stalinist leadership in Moscow brutally punished the Ukrainian people through mass starvation caused by forced collectivization and the violent requisition of grain from 1928 to 1933, resulting in the deaths of 3 million 941 thousand people.

Putin perpetuates another fallacy: “In 1922, during the formation of the Soviet Union, the Bolsheviks established Soviet Ukraine, effectively creating it from scratch.” Putin’s assertion implies that Ukraine had no prior existence until Lenin and Stalin arbitrarily introduced it as a Soviet republic in 1922. Journalist Carlson, to his intellectual and professional detriment, responded inadequately to this falsehood with a dismissive “Everything is fine.”
Putin’s next fabrication is equally ludicrous: “…prior to World War II, Poland’s refusal to yield to Hitler’s demands, including the relinquishing of the Dancing Corridor, led to Hitler launching the war from Polish territory. Why did the conflict commence on September 1, 1939, specifically from Poland? This was a consequence of Poland’s defiance. Hitler had no other option but to initiate his plans from Polish soil. Moreover, the Soviet Union maintained, according to archival documents I’ve perused, a notably upright stance…” Putin blatantly deceives by portraying the Soviet Union’s actions as honourable, while deliberately sidestepping the true catalyst of World War II – the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, in which the Soviet Union played a significant role.

In the annals of World War II, its pivotal narrative revolves around the tumultuous clash between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, catalysed by the fateful surprise assault launched by German forces on June 22, 1941. The genesis of this offensive can be traced back to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, inked in Moscow on August 23, 1939, amidst the geopolitical turmoil of the time. This pact, ostensibly a non-aggression agreement, was underpinned by the opportunistic disloyalty of both signatories, particularly evidenced by the partitioning of Poland.

However, lurking beneath the surface of this accord lay a clandestine agenda orchestrated by Stalin, marked by a duplicitous strategy aimed not only at the Western democracies but also at Hitler’s Germany itself. Stalin’s Machiavellian intent was twofold: to carve out a shared border with Germany through the division of Poland, thereby bolstering Hitler’s eastern ambitions, while simultaneously plotting to ultimately betray him. The ultimate ambition? To expand Soviet dominance westward, culminating in an audacious assault aimed at seizing Gibraltar and subjecting all of Europe to the crimson flag of the proletariat.

The repercussions of this dual betrayal reverberated across the continent, exacting a staggering toll of millions in lives lost and infrastructure decimated, leaving in its wake a legacy of unprecedented devastation and suffering.
The disloyalty of Soviet policy towards Western democracies is openly revealed by Stalin himself. In a speech given just four days before the signing of the pact in question, on August 19, 1939, in the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he openly elaborates on the main idea of Peter I’s Testament for the conquest of Europe. In that speech he stated:

“Let the Second World War begin, let its participants tear each other apart, and then the Soviet Union will raise the flag of the proletarian revolution, and all Europe will fall at its feet.” (Quoted according to: “Vtoruju mirovuju vojnu načali Germanjija i Sovetskij Soyuz” (The Second World War was started by Germany and the Soviet Union). Website “sokrytoe.net”. 23 July 2009).

Former Soviet intelligence officer Viktor Suvorov testifies about the attack that the Soviet Union would undertake against Germany. He declares:

“There are quite a few instructions indicating that the deadline for the start of the Soviet operation ‘Strength’ was set for July 6, 1941… Zhukov (as well as Stalin) liked to launch his strikes on Sunday mornings. July 6, 1941, was the last Sunday before the full concentration of Soviet troops on the western borders of the Soviet Union. Army General S.P. Ivanov mentions this date bluntly: ‘…the German troops managed to seize the initiative from us two weeks prior.'” (Quoted according to: Viktor Suvorov. “Ledokoll. Kto načall Vtoruju Mirovuju Vojnu” (Icebreaker. Who Started World War II). Publishing house “Novoje vremja”, Moscow, 1993, p. 333).

In the odyssey of his deceptions before journalist Carlson, Putin also spoke about the events in Yugoslavia at the end of the ’90s. He slandered without blushing: “… we could not help but raise our voice for the Serbs, for their protection… Russia could not help but raise our voice for the Serbs because the Serbs are also a special nation, close to us; they are of Orthodox culture, etc. They are a long-suffering people for generations.”

And for the protection of the Serbs, the Kremlin took concrete measures. Shaqir Vukaj, the former ambassador of Albania in Moscow from 1999 to 2002, writes:

“On the eve of the start of the NATO bombings against Yugoslavia, Russian public opinion was so incited in favour of the Serbs and against the Albanians that within the first four days after the bombings began, 70,000 people were registered in Russia as volunteers, ready to go to Kosovo and fight alongside the Serbs against the Albanians and against NATO.” (Quoted from: Shaqir Vukaj. “How 70 thousand volunteers were registered in Russia to fight alongside the Serbs against the Albanians.” Website “My Kosovo”. December 24, 2019).

Putin, as a passionate representative of the chauvinism that promotes Great Russia, the traditional enemy of the Albanian nation since the Berlin Congress of 1878 and up to the present day, would certainly express himself this way about the Serbian criminals, the “cousins” of the Russians. Putin describes them as a “long-suffering people,” although historical truth contradicts this: the Serbian people have not only not suffered long but have also been strong supporters of all the aggressive wars that Serbian chauvinism has fought in the Illyrian Peninsula. Of course, in that interview, Putin would not mention the 78-day bombing of NATO against Serbia in the spring of 1999 as a response to the crimes, destruction, and heavy massacres that Serbia had committed against the Albanian people of Kosovo.

But how is it possible that not even the interviewing journalist Tucker Carlson asked Putin about those bombings? He did not ask Putin either about these bombings or about the reason for carrying them out.

We will explain below why he did not ask. Following the interview, Tucker Carlson addressed Putin with the following question: “Do you think that Zelenski has the freedom to hold talks on the settlement of this conflict?” In the answer he gave, Putin uttered such a gem that it might make you laugh so much you’ll need to hold your hips with your hands. Here is his gem: “I do not know. Here it is a matter of details, I, of course, find it difficult to judge. But I think there is, however, it was a case. Because precisely his father fought against the fascists, against the Nazis during World War II, I once talked to him about such a thing. I told him: ‘Vollodia, what are you doing like this? Why are you supporting neo-Nazis in Ukraine today, while your father fought fascists? He was a soldier on the front line’.”

According to Putin, Zelensky’s father was a veteran of the war against German troops in World War II. However, Vladimir Zelensky’s father, Alexander Zelensky, was born two years after the end of that war, in 1947. He is a scientist in the field of geology, earning a doctorate in technical sciences in 2003 and holding the title of “Professor” since 2005.

Putin, apparently, may have suffered a concussion due to the colossal losses of the Russian army during the war, which as of today, March 1, 2024, has resulted in the deaths of 414,680 soldiers and officers. Therefore, he falsely presents the father of the President of Ukraine as a war veteran to this American journalist.

Putin, attempting to convince the American journalist that Ukrainian ethnicity does not exist, and that Ukrainians are Russians, continues his deception. Putin begins to recount an incident from the fighting in Ukraine, an incident fabricated by his own imagination:

“On the battlefield, an armed clash occurs. Here is a specific example: Ukrainian soldiers found themselves surrounded by Russian soldiers – this is a concrete case, a matter of combat actions. Our Russian soldiers appeal to them: ‘You have no chance to escape, surrender! Come out, your life will be assured, surrender!’ And so, the call comes in Russian, in pure Russian: ‘The Russians do not surrender!’ – and they were all killed. They still identify themselves as Russian.”

This unscrupulous deception of Putin reminded me of the above-mentioned book by Viktor Suvorov, in which he points out that before the start of the war, which Stalin ordered, the entire defensive line on the western borders was completely dismantled. This was accompanied by the claim that the Soviet Union never fights defensive wars, only offensive ones. However, what actually happened to Putin’s ‘brave’ Russians who ‘do not know how to surrender’ when the German attack began on June 22, 1941?

The answer to this question is provided by Julia Llewellyn (1966), a Russian opposition journalist, writer, radio, and television presenter. On September 9, 2017, she announced on the airwaves of the “Echo of Moscow” radio station that she had left Russia after unidentified individuals set fire to her car. She appeared on air via Skype and revealed that she was abroad with her parents. Since August 2016, the journalist had been attacked by an unknown assailant not far from the aforementioned radio station’s office, who threw feces in her face. At that time, she believed that the cause of that humiliating incident was her analytical articles published in the newspaper “Novaja Gazeta”.

She writes: “On June 22 (of 1941), the Russian people turned into frightened crowds… How can we explain the unprecedented fear of the Russian people, despite possessing weapons that surpassed the Germans in both quantity and quality? The Russians abandoned their weapons and side with the Germans.” (Cited from: “Quotes and aphorisms about Russia and for Russians”, by Julia Llewellyn. “Adskije novosti” website, February 19, 2015).

In another piece of information about the time of the war, it is stated:

“From June 22, 1941, to May 9, 1945, 5.7 million Soviet soldiers and officers were taken prisoner by the German army” (Quoted according to: “Soviet prisoners: the most massive genocide of World War II”. Website “RAPSI (Agency Russian Legal and Judicial Information Agency)”. July 16, 2021).

Regarding Russia, as a “peaceful” country that “has never attacked other countries,” Putin conveyed an even more scandalous deception to the American journalist. Here’s what he said: “We don’t attack anyone.”

Russian politics has elevated the craft of deception to an art. Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov (born in 1967), a few days before the attack on Ukraine, stated on the state television channel “Russia 1”:

“Russia, throughout its history, has never attacked anyone. Russia, which has experienced so many wars, is the last country in Europe that would want to mention the word ‘war'” (Quoted from: “Peskov: Russia, throughout its history, has never attacked anyone.” Website “Fontanka.ru”. February 20, 2022).

Even the Russian Orthodox Church supports the propaganda and lies of the Kremlin’s criminal gang. The leader of this church, Kirill (born 1946), declared: “We don’t want to fight with anyone. Russia has never attacked anyone” (Quoted in: “Head of the Russian Orthodox Church: Russia has never attacked anyone,” The Moscow Times website, 03 May 2022).

However, in the face of these high-profile frauds, historical truth proves the opposite of these lies: Russian General Alexei Kuropatkin (1848-1925), in a memorandum he sent to the Tsar in 1900, wrote: “During the past 200 years, Russia has been in a state of war for 128 years and in a state of peace for 72 years. Out of 128 years of war, 5 years have been wars of defense and 123 years wars of conquest” (Quoted in: “How many times has Russia fought,” Livejournal website, 07 April 2013).

Another document reveals even more of the aggressive hysteria of bloody Russian chauvinism over the past 500 years. It says:

“Russia has fought wars for 489 years with 25 countries, that is, practically almost every year… It is not for nothing that in Russia the most positive popular hero is the soldier” (Quoted according to: “And eternal struggle… How many times has Russia fought during the last 500 years”. Website ” Novye Izvestia”. 03 December 2017).

Russia has waged aggressive wars even after 1900. On September 17, 1939, it attacked Poland; on November 30, 1939, it attacked Finland; on October 21, 1956, it attacked Hungary; on August 21, 1968, it attacked Czechoslovakia; on December 24, 1979, it attacked Afghanistan.

The question arises: what prompted Tucker Carlson to go to Moscow to interview Putin?

In August 2023, the editor-in-chief of the “Russia Today” media group, Margarita Simonyan, a member of the circle of devoted followers serving Putin on the Russian state television channel “Russia 1”, stated that Tucker Carlson wanted to conduct an interview with Putin. There was nothing surprising about this, as Carlson is known as a sympathizer of Donald Trump. Some time ago, Trump had mentioned that if he were re-elected president, Tucker Carlson could be his vice president. This announcement was published on November 19, 2023, with great enthusiasm by the Russian-language website “Kommersant”.

Despite American policy being oriented against Russia’s aggressive actions, Tucker Carlson holds a different attitude. In his previous television shows, he has not concealed his sympathy for the Russian president. Following Russia’s fascist aggression against Ukraine, Carlson declared that ‘Russia had strong reasons for this attack!’ (Quoted from: ‘Who is this Tucker Carlson?’ Lenta.ru website, February 6, 2024). This statement is shameful, aligning this American journalist with Putin’s criminal regime. Thus, Tucker Carlson, with his sympathy for Putin and Russia, follows in the footsteps of his soulmate – Donald Trump.

Here is what an English journalist and writer wrote almost eight years ago:

“In December 2015, a few months before Trump was nominated by the Republican Party as a presidential candidate, Putin called him “a bright, talented man, without the slightest doubt…”. Trump, for his part, spoke of Putin with sympathy, calling him a “strong leader” with whom he would like to have very good relations… The Russian mass media are mainly in support of Trump, who, in financing his own real estate businesses, traditionally continues to pin his hopes on Russian money” (Quoted according to: Julian Borger. “There is no doubt that Putin supports Trump”. The website of the newspaper “The Guardian”, 26 July 2016).

Above was mentioned the sympathy that Putin, during the interview, expressed to Tucker Carlson for the Serbs, calling them a “long-suffering people”. It is certain that this journalist with “big fame” ignores, like Putin, the massacres of Serbian criminals in Kosovo. Tucker Carlson supports Trump in his stance against Albanians and especially against the Republic of Kosovo.

At the opening of the electoral campaign in December 2015 for the November 2016 presidential elections, Trump declared the following:

‘For me personally, the bombing of the Serbs is a real shame. Meanwhile, the Clintons evaluate these bombings as a great success. I apologize to the Serbian people for all the mistakes of American policy. If I come to lead America, then the foreign policy course must be changed, as it has often been wrong.’

(Quoted according to “Trump Apologizes to Serbia… for the Clintons,” Stihiya.org website, 25 December 2015).

This information was also broadcast by the ‘Voice of America’ radio station on October 13, 2016.”

Also, CBS News published an article on January 20, 2017, titled “Champagne Corks Pop in Moscow for President Trump’s Inauguration.” In the article, it was stated that: “About 100 Trump sympathizers, nationalists, and spin doctors gathered at a trendy loft just a few hundred meters away from the Kremlin to celebrate the start of Mr. Trump’s presidency Friday, with a triptych of Mr. Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and French nationalist politician Marine Le Pen in the center of the hall. The party was co-sponsored by the conservative Tsargrad TV channel, led by ultra-right ideologue Alexander Dugin. “It’s weird, but it’s great, and for the first time ever, Russians are applauding the victory of a U.S. presidential candidate,” political analyst Stanislav Byshok said”. (Quoted from CBS News website January 20, 2017.)

Before Tucker Carlson began his interview with Putin, we hoped he would ask him questions about the war in Ukraine. We thought he would inquire about the crimes of the Russian army against the Ukrainian people, including massacres against civilians. We anticipated questions about the barbaric events in Buca, where the Russian army reportedly killed 410 children, women, and the elderly, burying them in a mass grave. We hoped the journalist would ask Putin about the reasons behind the heavy artillery, rocket, and aerial assaults on Ukrainian towns and villages, which have resulted in the destruction of vital infrastructure such as apartment buildings, nurseries, kindergartens, hospitals, schools, and culturally significant buildings. However, ironically, our hopes were in vain.

Tucker Carlson apparently went to Moscow for another purpose, with three main objectives:

First, to record an encyclopaedia of Putin’s deceptions and sell these falsehoods as true facts to the American public opinion.

Second, to boost Putin’s credibility, despite his global reputation as a symbol of Russian crime and brutal barbarism throughout centuries of aggression against other nations, in the eyes of the American public opinion.

Third, to influence Russian public opinion on the eve of the presidential elections this month (March 2024), encouraging them to vote for Putin and support his continuation as president for life.

During his interview with Putin, journalist Tucker Carlson evoked a proverb:

“Journalism is the kingdom of extraordinary patience to discover the truth as well as the lie.”

For a fraudulent American journalist like Tucker Carlson, it would be very accurate to use a famous aphorism from the Irish writer and poet Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), who once remarked:

“In America, the president reigns for four years, and journalism governs forever and ever.”

Written by:
Prof. Dr. Eshref Ymeri
California, USA
March 1st, 2024

Translated by:
Ndrek Gjini, MA
University of Galway
Ireland.