Carlson Threatened in the U.S. Over Putin Interview

American journalist Tucker Carlson has claimed he was threatened with arrest over his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The information was reported by TASS.

"My lawyers told me that I would be arrested if I did this (conduct an interview with Putin) due to sanctions. And I responded that I do not accept the legality of that decision, as I am an American and should be able to talk to whomever I want. I also had a call with the chief legal officer, and he said that much would depend on the questions I would ask. I was told that if I behaved very well during the conversation, then I could be arrested upon my return to the U.S. I responded that they were describing a fascist country," he said in an interview with YouTube blogger Lex Fridman.

Carlson noted that such negotiations with his lawyers are shocking, but he decided not to back out of the interview with the Russian leader because he wanted to "exercise his freedom." The interview with Putin was published on February 8 and garnered over 200 million views. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the main goal of the interview was to break the information blockade in the West and to be heard.