The Kremlin thinks Tucker Carlson’s comments on Ukraine and Russia are so valuable that it told the country’s media organizations to use clips of him “as much as possible," memos obtained by Mother Jones reveal.
From Mother Jones:
“It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally,” advises the 12-page document written in Russian. It sums up Carlson’s position: “Russia is only protecting its interests and security.” The memo includes a quote from Carlson: “And how would the US behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?”
The document—titled “For Media and Commentators (recommendations for coverage of events as of 03.03)”—was produced, according to its metadata, at a Russian government agency called the Department of Information and Telecommunications Support, which is part of the Russian security apparatus. It was provided to Mother Jones by a contributor to a national Russian media outlet who asked not to be identified. The source said memos like this one have been regularly sent by Putin’s administration to media organizations during the war. Independent media outlets in Russia have been forced to shut down since the start of the conflict.
As we’ve previously noted, Carlson was already a Russian media hero. So Mother Jones notes it’s not clear if that was the reason that “on Friday, Komsomolskaya Pravda ran a splashy story headlined 'Well-known American TV journalist Carlson was outraged by the ‘lies of the United States.'" It was about Carlson’s promotion of the phony biolab story, now an official part of Russian disinformation.
No other Western journalist was cited in the memos, Mother Jones reported. Neither Fox nor Carlson responded to its requests for comment.
(#TraitorTucker Carlson image via screengrab)
