Putin’s interview with Carlson ‘mind-blowing’ – South African researcher

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson last week was “mind-blowing” and “explosive,” South African researcher Mikatekiso Kubayi has told RT.

Kubayi, who is a research fellow at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation, noted that people had a strong desire for an in-depth explanation of Putin’s decisions. 

“Many across the world would have wanted to have, to hear President Putin speak and explain the Russian thinking, the Russian position on the issue … people were essentially starved of a narrative from Russia, of information from Russia,” he said.

People were “thirsty for that kind of in-depth explanation,” the academic added. 

He explained that the lack of information had been related to sanctions and mentioned that South Africa did not have access to Russian television.

Africans have had a lot of Western narratives but people also need to have access to “other alternative views as well, other explanations, so that people can make up their own minds and generate their own perceptions of exactly what is happening,” said Kubayi. 

The interview, which was published on Thursday, was the first sit-down between a US media personality and the Russian president since the beginning of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in early 2022. It covered a wide range of topics, largely revolving around the ongoing hostilities.

The Russian president also offered a lengthy review of the centuries of shared history between Russia and Ukraine, arguing that the latter had long been used by the collective West to antagonize Moscow after the collapse of the USSR.

Meanwhile, Carlson has faced much criticism over his visit to Moscow, both ideological and professional.