In February 2024, messages circulated explaining why the American TV presenter did not ask the Russian President questions about Butch during an interview. Carlson allegedly replied that he did not work for the BBC, and “Butch is their project.” We checked to see if this quote is real.

Interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin was published on the website of American publicist Tucker Carlson on February 8, 2024. Conversation lasted just over two hours, and during this time the presenter did not ask a single question about mass murder civilians in Bucha in March 2022, when the city was controlled by Russian troops.

February 12 in the Telegram channel of political scientist Sergei Markov (46,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) appeared post with explanation: “Tucker Carlson slapped the Air Force. When asked why he didn’t ask a question about Bucha, Carlson responded with a joke that he did not work for the Air Force, and Bucha was their project. Yes. Bucha is a joint project of the British intelligence services, the SBU and the Air Force. The point is simple: the SBU killed about a hundred residents of Bucha because they took humanitarian aid from the Russian army. Then the bodies of the dead were scattered picturesquely. Then the Air Force promoted this mass murder of civilians by the SBU as an alleged war crime of the Russian army. In Buchi’s case, Air Force managers are accomplices of the SBU war crime and in the future should sit in the dock of an international tribunal. This is what Carlson is hinting at.”

Markov’s comment was soon spread by Telegram channels “Ukraine.ru"(172,000 views), "Tucker Carlson"(80,000), "Mriya" (48,000), "Nikolai Dulsky. Official channel" (14,000), "Kryminforum 🇿 🇴 🇻"(13,000) and many others. February 13 post by a political scientist in English published social network user X under the nickname Victor vicktop55, his tweet received more than 300,000 views. In addition, similar posts are posted publics And users "VKontakte", also the alleged quote from Carlson appears on some news websites And forums.

Photo: screenshots of posts from the TGStat service

Markov did not specify where or when Carlson made such a comment about the interview with Putin, and Verified was unable to find a similar quote in any reputable English-language media. On the evening of February 12, the TV presenter published on his website and in social networks X 26-minute video of his performance at World Governments Summit in Dubai. “Tucker discusses interview with Vladimir Putin for the first time,” the caption for the video read. “Verified” studied this entry and also did not find any mention of Buchi and the BBC there. In terms of meaning, the closest thing to the quote being verified is Carlson’s answer to the question of Egyptian journalist Emad Eldin Adib about why during the interview with the President of the Russian Federation there were no questions about freedom of speech in Russia, about Alexei Navalny, about political murders, as well as about restrictions on the opposition before the upcoming elections:

I didn't talk about the topics that everyone else in the American media is talking about. Because all these things are covered and because all my life I have communicated with people who lead different countries, and I came to the following conclusion: every leader kills people, including my leader. Every leader kills people. Some kill more than others. Leadership requires killing people, sorry. That's why I wouldn't like to be a leader. In the United States, such restrictions on the press apply everywhere. I know this because I went through it myself. Ask my former [boss]. I've had a lot of jobs, I've been doing this for 34 years and I know how everything works. And there is more censorship in Russia than in the USA. But in the United States this is a special matter. So at a certain point, people can decide for themselves which countries they think are better. Which systems do they think are better? I just want to know what he (Putin - editor's note) thinks. That was the whole point.

The original source of the quote about Butch and the BBC “Verified” was found in the Telegram channel “The Empire is very evil“, where the corresponding post appeared on February 12 at 20:32 Moscow time (seven minutes before Markov’s recording) and received more than 25,000 views. ““I don’t work for the BBC, this is their project” - Tucker Carlson explained the lack of questions about Bucha in an interview with Putin,” the publication said.

“The Empire is Very Evil” is a satirical blog about which said in its description: “Caution, possible fake and harsh satire. What is written is a work of fiction, all coincidences are accidental.” This is not the first time that this channel’s fiction has appeared in social networks and the media. issue for real news.