Tucker Carlson fawns over ‘beautiful’ Moscow as he jokes about ‘betraying’ US

Tucker Carlson joked about feeling like he’s “betraying” the US as he was mobbed by journalists in Moscow during his trip to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Carlson’s interview with Mr Putin is set to be released at 6pm ET (11pm GMT) on Thursday on the former Fox News host’s website.

As he interacted with members of the Russian media in what appeared to be a Moscow parking garage this week, Mr Carlson said he liked the city, adding: “I really do like it, I’m not just saying that.”

He continued: “Why do I feel guilty, like I'm betraying my country for saying that, I'm not, I love America. This is a really nice city. And I don't care. It's true. So thank you.”

Carlson said he has “really enjoyed” being in Moscow. “I’ve never been here before. I think the city is really pretty – this is the only place I’ve been in Russia… I want to go to Siberia… I want to go to St Petersburg.

“I'm hardly an expert. I mean, culture is a complicated thing. And I don’t speak the language. So I know very limited amounts about the culture other than what I've read and experienced the past week.”

He once again repeated his newfound fondness for Moscow.

“But I think this is a beautiful city. I can say that. And I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. But it's just true. And again, I'm 54 – I'd never been here before. So I had no idea what to expect. And I expected it to be very different… I'm amazed by the amount of 19th-century architecture you have.”

Mr Carlson’s interview with Mr Putin comes after he spent years on Fox News and subsequently on X – following his firing from the network – denigrating the Ukrainian cause and pushing Kremlin talking points regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last summer, following his removal