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5 highlights from Tucker Carlson's interview with Vladimir Putin

Carlson's interview with Putin spanned more than 2 hours

Putin's history lecture

After Carlson opened the interview by asking him why he invaded Ukraine two years ago, Putin launched into an overview of Russian and Ukrainian history for about 20 minutes, prompting Carlson to interrupt at points in an attempt to redirect for a specific answer to his question.

Putin traced the origin of the Russian people beginning in the ninth century, when Varangian Prince Rurik from Scandinavia was invited to reign in Novgorod in 862. Another Russian center of power emerged in Kiev when Oleg the Wise became its prince, Putin explained.

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As Putin continued to go on, Carlson eventually jumped in to ask what relevance events from the Dark Ages have regarding why Putin invaded Ukraine. The Russian leader then presented him with a folder containing copies of historical documents from centuries ago, and proceeded to continue talking about Russian borders in the 1600s before eventually making his way to the 20th century.

In a post-interview debrief, Carlson said he at first found Putin's longwinded history lecture annoying, but said he later realized that Russian history is intrinsic to Putin's worldview and his Ukraine policy.

"First of all, I'm an American," Carlson said. "When I ask you a specific question, I want a specific answer — let's go! And he wouldn't, and so I pushed him. He got annoyed, and I was annoyed. I thought he was filibustering, maybe he was to some extent."

"But I concluded, after watching all this, no, that was his answer, or that was the predicate to his answer. The history of the area, the formation of his country, and the connection to Ukraine is the basis, or part of the basis, for his Ukraine policy."

He added that Putin had given him some "nighttime reading."

Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com

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