The Kremlin has been urging Moscow-friendly media outlets to use more material from No. 1 Fox News host Tucker Carlson to defend the Russia's actions in Ukraine.
Politico, citing an investigation by left-wing publication Mother Jones, reports that the Kremlin sent out a 12-page memo pushing the idea.
"It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally," the document says.
It goes on to describe Carlson's position on the invasion as "Russia is only protecting its interests and security."
The memo also quotes the Fox News host as saying, "And how would the U.S. behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?"
Carlson is the only Western journalist mentioned in the memo, according to Mother Jones, which said it did not release the full text of the document in order to protect its source.
Carlson has not been an advocate of Putin's invasion, nor has he condoned Russia's atrocities in Ukraine. But he seemingly has blamed the United States and NATO for causing the war.
"It's obvious that permanent Washington has been fixated on war with Russia for a very long time." Carlson said on his Fox News show last week.
He added later in his monologue, "They wanted a war and now they have one."
Carlson has offered justification for Russia's war, saying, "Russia didn't want American missiles on their border, and they didn't want a hostile government next door."
The Fox host has blamed NATO for fomenting the crisis as it has added states close to Russia to its membership.
Carlson has made this claim though NATO had never formally offered membership to Ukraine. Ukraine has sought membership in NATO to protect itself against predatory Russia, but there was no immediate plan or possibility for them to join the alliance.
Mother Jones says metadata information from the document it obtained indicates that it was created by the Russian Department of Information and Telecommunications Support, which is a part of the country's security apparatus.
The publication said the document was provided by an anonymous contributor to an unnamed national media outlet in Russia.
In the lead-up to the Russia invasion, state media notably had been using clips of Carlson on his Fox News program in support of Moscow's position.
The alleged Kremlin document also details the main talking points that Moscow wants Russian media outlets to focus on, including the idea that the invasion is "preventing the possibility of nuclear strikes on its territory."
It also suggests that Europe "is facing more and more problems" due to the sanctions it has imposed on Russia, and also a claim that that "hysteria of the West had reached the inexplicable level" that people "call for the killing of animals from Russia."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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