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Vladimir Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson

Carlson says opposition from US authorities motivated him to interview Putin

"US government prevented me from doing it by spying on my text messages and leaking them to the New York Times, and that spooked the Russian government into canceling the interview," pointed journalist

DUBAI, February 13. /TASS/. US journalist Tucker Carlson has said that opposition from the Washington administration motivated him even more to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The US government prevented me from doing it by spying on my text messages and leaking them to the New York Times, and that spooked the Russian government into canceling the interview," he pointed out at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

"So once I discovered that that was happening, and I confirmed it was happening, and they admitted that they did it, then I was totally determined maniacally, dedicated to doing this interview, not simply because I want to know what Vladimir Putin is like and what he thinks about [the conflict in Ukraine] that is resetting the world and really gravely damaging my country's economy, but also because they told me I couldn't on the basis of illegitimate means, and for no really clearly stated justification," Carslon noted. "I want to live in a free country. I was born in one," the US journalist added.

Putin's interview with Carlson was published on the night of February 9. A significant part of the two-hour conversation was devoted to the Ukrainian conflict and Russia's relations with the US, NATO and the West in general. The journalist previously said that he had already tried to conduct an interview with the Russian leader last year, but was banned from doing so by the US authorities.

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