Tucker Carlson defended Vladimir Putin this week amid accusations that the Russian leader had Alexei Navalny murdered, RadarOnline.com can report.
Carlson’s defense of Putin came just days after the Russian leader trashed the fired Fox News host over their “softball” interview in Moscow earlier this month.
In the latest development to come after Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was found dead on Friday in the Arctic penal colony where he was imprisoned, Carlson refuted the accusations that Putin had the dissident murdered.
According to Carlson, those who believe that Putin killed Navalny are “idiots.”
“Navalny’s death during the Munich Security Conference, in the midst of disputes about aid to Ukraine, is definitely not beneficial for Russia,” Carlson told fellow former Fox News host Glenn Beck on Tuesday. “People who say Putin killed him are idiots.”
Carlson’s remarks on Tuesday about Navalny’s sudden and mysterious death were quite different from his response immediately after the beloved opposition leader’s passing last week.
“I don't know anything about Navalny. I didn't know that he died. I didn't know anything,” Carlson told Daily Mail on Friday. “It's horrifying what happened to Navalny. The whole thing is barbaric and awful. No decent person would defend it.”
Meanwhile, Carlson also told Beck on Tuesday that he “wasn't worried for a single second” during his interview with Putin in Moscow earlier this month.
“I wasn't worried for a single second I was there,” the fired Fox News host said. “I wasn't worried going over there, not because I trust the Russian government, I don't, but because my kids are grown and I don't really care at this point.”
“I feel protected. I say my prayers,” Carlson continued. “I wasn't intimidated at all.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Carlson traveled to Moscow earlier this month to interview Putin about Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
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But while the former Fox News star spoke highly of his two-hour interview with Putin, the Russian leader complained about the exchange and trashed Carlson for not being more “aggressive” or asking more “sharp questions.”
“To be honest, I thought that he would behave aggressively and ask so-called sharp questions,” Putin said during a separate and subsequent interview last week.
“I was not just prepared for this, I wanted it, because it would give me the opportunity to respond in the same way,” the despot continued. “Frankly, I did not get full satisfaction from this interview.”
“He did not give me a reason to do what I had been prepared to do,” Putin noted. “To what degree it was meaningful at the end of the day, I cannot say.”