The interview of the Russian president Vladimir Putin to the controversial American TV presenter Tucker Carlson, who is widely believed to be close to Donald Trump, will be broadcast this afternoon (local time) via his website, the former Fox News vendetta announced via Instagram.

It will start airing at 18:00 (Washington time; 01:00 Friday Greek time), he clarified in his — black and white — post, in which the faces of the two men can be seen.

Mr. Carlson, who often echoes the views of Republican former President Trump, longtime Fox News star, he went to Moscow a few days ago to take the first interview that Mr. Putin has agreed to grant to a Western journalist since the invasion of the territory of Ukraine by the Russian army on February 24, 2022.

The 54-year-old conservative commentator, who has repeatedly criticized American support for Kiev in recent months, is currently the host of a show broadcast on X.

The visit of the former star of the American right-wing favorite network, who not infrequently spreads conspiracy theories, received wide coverage in Russian media.

The Kremlin, however, disputed Mr. Carlson’s claim that he was the only one to seek an interview with the Russian president, asserting that several interview requests had been received from Western media outlets. However, Mr. Carlson has received “contradictory position with that of the traditional Anglo-Saxon media”, explained yesterday the representative of the Russian presidency Dmitry Peskov.

The unfettered access afforded to Mr. Carlson stands in stark contrast to the treatment of other foreign journalists in Russia. Two American journalists, Mr Evan Gerskovich and Alsou Kurmaseva, were arrested by Russian authorities last year and remain in prison.