Prominent Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan said she wishes Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke more about “conservative values” during his interview with Tucker Carlson.
Carlson, a former host at Fox News before getting ousted by the network in the spring, released a two-hour interview with Putin on Thursday, the first that the Kremlin leader has given to a Western journalist since launching his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The conversation has received heavy amounts of criticism, with some labeling the interview as a propaganda opportunity for Putin.
The conversation spanned from an in-depth Russian history lesson to Putin’s thoughts on the U.S. 2024 presidential election. But Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russian stated-owned broadcaster RT, lamented in a series of social media posts about one of the topics that was not mentioned during the interview—Russia’s views on “woke” ideologies.
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“It’s a shame Tucker didn’t bring up the conversation about conservative values,” Simonyan wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter, following the interview’s release. “This is his strong point—and the Chief’s first and foremost, of course.”
The “Chief” is in reference to Putin.
“This is the only thing on which Russia can and should now build an ideology externally,” she added. “Just as the [Soviet Union] once built it on the ideas of social equality.”
Simonyan went on to suggest that the “darkness in the West is waiting for someone to lead this agenda, waiting for a country that would become a safe haven for people who are not ready to send their children to be raised by LGBT* and other woke religions.” Russia’s Supreme Court banned the LGBTQ+ movement in November, labeling it as an extremist organization.
“We are such a country,” she concluded. “We must trumpet this.”
While hosting Fox News’ hit show Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson repeatedly made comments attacking “woke” policies and ideologies. The term woke, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, means to be “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” Conservatives often use it, however, as an umbrella term for progressive policies.
Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin’s press office via email for comment on Friday night.
Putin and Carlson’s broad interview did include questions about the war in Ukraine, which the Russian leader said he believed could still be brought to an end through peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Putin also claimed that Zelensky signed an agreement that forbids Kyiv from negotiating with Russia.
“We’re willing to negotiate,” Putin told Carlson. “It is the Western side, and Ukraine is obviously a satellite state of the U.S. … The current Ukrainian leadership [should] stop and come to a negotiating table, rescind this absurd decree. We did not refuse.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
