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By Aleks Phillips
U.S. News Reporter
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Tucker Carlson denied any knowledge of, or involvement in, Russian state media rebroadcasting segments of a new show that he has been producing on X, formerly Twitter.
After seeing clips of Rossiya-24 airing promotional spots appearing to suggest that the former Fox News anchor was starting a regular show on the channel, he described the claims as "absurd" and "more Russia-related bulls**t."
It has since emerged that the Russian state TV channel has begun airing clips from Carlson's social media show, which the commentator said had been done without his "knowledge or approval."
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However, Kremlin propagandists have repeatedly used clips of Carlson's comments—particularly regarding the ongoing invasion of Ukraine—when his views appear to align with their message to viewers.
In late August, Russian state TV host Vladimir Solovyov told his Russia-1 audience that Carlson was a "dead man walking" for saying that the U.S. and Russia would go to war in the next year—a war Carlson predicted America would lose.
Dmitry Kiselyov, an appointee of Putin who in 2014 said Russia could turn the U.S. "into radioactive dust," repeated Carlson's comments again, visibly taking glee in the former Fox anchor's claims that Ukraine "would crumble" without NATO support.
It remains unclear whether Carlson intends to take any legal action against Rossiya-24 over the apparently pirated intellectual property.
Newsweek approached Carlson and VGTRK, the state-run broadcasting corporation that owns Rossiya-24, via direct message and email, respectively, for comment on Monday.
Roger Macdonald, founder of the TV News Archive at the Internet Archive, told Newsweek that five supercuts of Carlson repeatedly saying "Russia" appeared on Rossiya-24 over a 24-hour period on Wednesday, purporting to promote the new show.
The adverts promised that "the high-profile American presenter is moving to another level. Here." They also carried a logo which stated: "TUCKER ROSSIYA 24."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Carlson told the Financial Times, when approached about the promos. "I've never heard of this, or the channel. Of course I'm not hosting a show on Russian television. That's absurd."
He added: "I've never seen this. I have no clue what it's about."
On Saturday, Rossiya-24 aired what turned out to be a 10-minute compilation of clips taken from a recent interview Carlson had conducted on his own social media channel, dubbed into Russian.
Responding to the news, Carlson told FT journalist Max Seddon that the broadcast was being done "without my knowledge or approval" and that he found it "kind of funny actually."
Since leaving Fox News to set up his own show on X, Carlson has been described as playing the role of the "useful idiot" for Kremlin propagandists by disinformation experts.
Joanna Szostek, a lecturer in political communication at the University of Glasgow in the U.K., who specializes in Russian propaganda, previously told Newsweek that it was common practice for Russian state media to use sympathetic views from Western commentators "in an attempt to make the Russian propaganda appear more persuasive."
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