The Kremlin, asked on Tuesday whether US pundit Tucker Carlson had visited the Russian presidential administration in Moscow this week, declined to comment.
Russian media showed pictures of Carlson at several spots around Moscow on Monday during a visit which has fueled speculation that the former Fox News host may become the first Western journalist to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin during the war in Ukraine.
When asked if Carlson had visited the Russian administration building in central Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "I am not commenting in any way on the movements of an American journalist."
Carlson has been a major voice against American support for Ukraine
Carlson, who was the top-rated cable TV host in the US until his ouster from Fox News last year, has been a vocal critic of American support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and has called Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, “sweaty and rat-like, a comedian turned oligarch, a persecutor of Christians," in comments widely condemned as antisemitic dog-whistles.
Following his firing from Fox News amid fallout from the network's loss in court against Dominion Voting Systems over claims of fraud in the 2020 election and a separate lawsuit against Carlson by a Jewish producer who alleged a toxic and antisemitic work environment, the conservative pundit began broadcasting on X— then Twitter— and in December 2023 launched his own 'Tucker Carlson Network' online.