While promoting an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the American journalist made the assertion.
Tucker Carlson, an American journalist, alleges the US government has blocked his attempts to interview Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky for over a year.
Carlson previewed his upcoming interview with Lavrov in a Wednesday X video.
He explained the interview aimed to illuminate the potential for direct conflict between Washington and Moscow following the Biden administration’s authorization for Ukraine to use US-made long-range weapons deep within Russian territory.
In the video, filmed in Moscow’s Manezhnaya Square, the former Fox News host stated that his team had been trying to arrange an interview with Zelensky for over a year.
Carlson claimed his team “have attacked that from a bunch of different angles. We have spoken to a lot of different people around him, had dinner with them. We have been in talks continuously.”
“And those efforts have been thwarted by the US government. The American Embassy in Kiev, which our tax dollars pay for, told the Zelensky government: No, you may not do the interview. You can talk to CNN. You cannot talk to us,” Carlson alleged.
Carlson previously claimed in June to have secured an interview with Zelensky. However, Zelensky’s press secretary, Sergey Nikiforov, denied this, suggesting Carlson check his sources and stating Zelensky had a different schedule.
This is Carlson’s second trip to Moscow since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in early 2022. In February, his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin garnered 14 million YouTube views and 185 million X views within three days of its release.