Tucker Carlson: SNP MP urges UK Government to consider sanctions over Vladimir Putin interview

The social media personality interviewed the Russian President in Moscow.

The UK Government must consider sanctions against Tucker Carson over his interview with Vladimir Putin, an SNP MP has claimed.

Carried out in Moscow, the interview saw the former Fox News anchor Mr Carlson speak with the Russian president on issues ranging from Russian history to negotiations with Ukraine.

However, given Mr Carlson has previously spoken out in support of Mr Putin and labelled Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky a “liar”, the conversation has been dubbed propaganda by the majority of spectators.

Now SNP MP Stewart McDonald has written to UK foreign secretary Lord Cameron, urging him to look at sanctioning Mr Carlson.

Mr McDonald said: “Since taking place yesterday, clips and quotes from the conversation – which cannot be described as an interview in any meaningful sense – have appeared across the internet, posted approvingly by Russian embassies and accounts whose interests and world view closely align with those of the Russian government.

“In March last year, the UK government announced a raft of sanctions ‘on Russian propagandists … who spread lies and deceit about Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine’. Carlson’s conversation with Putin fits this description exactly – it was an exercise in Kremlin propaganda that abets Russian aggression, undermines the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and washes over the crimes for which Putin is indicted by the ICC [International Criminal Court]. It was war propaganda produced for the benefit of a hostile state.

“There can be no place for such propagandists in the United Kingdom. I am therefore writing to ask that you assess the possibility of sanctioning Tucker Carlson for his role in abetting the Russian government’s war in Ukraine, and to ask that you set out guidance clarifying the sanctions that a UK national would face if they were to produce propaganda for a hostile foreign state.2

Russia's president Vladimir Putin gives an interview to US talk show host Tucker Carlson at the Kremlin in Moscow. Picture: Gavriil Grigorov/AFP via Getty Images

The sit-down with Mr Carlson marked the first time the Russian leader had agreed to an interview with a Western media outlet since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.

Mr Carlson left Fox in 2023, less than a week after the network settled a defamation lawsuit by an election technology company for more than £671,830 million. He had repeatedly promoted false claims that election fraud cheated Donald Trump of victory in 2020.