'We're Agents of Putin Too!': Tucker Carlson Mocks His Critics Over Ukraine

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson has taken aim at his critics who say he is arguing the case for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and mocked how the media have framed the crisis by the Ukraine border.

With tensions high over Russia's military buildup by its neighbor, Carlson accused President Joe Biden of whipping Americans into a "frenzy" about the prospect of war.

In a segment on Friday, Carlson referred to a report that Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskiy appealed to Biden to ease his message that a war was inevitable.

"What can we infer from this? It's simple. If you're not terrified about the prospect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the question is whose side are you on here?" Carlson said sarcastically, "You're on Vladimir Putin's side," he said, suggesting the media was presenting the fallacy of a false dilemma over the crisis.

Carlson then stretched this argument to suggest that if Zelenskiy were trying to calm the crisis down, then he has also "been compromised by Russian misinformation."

"The Ukrainian president is what we on cable news refer to as an agent of Putin," he said, which means the Russians "are so diabolically effective, they have recruited the guy they're preparing war against."

"We can relate, we can empathize—because you know if you watch the media, we're agents of Putin too."

Carlson then introduced clips from outlets such as CNN and MSNBC in which pundits suggest that he was helping Putin's cause.

The Fox anchor went on to say that in the U.S. anyone who questions "the wisdom of siding in a war in eastern Europe with one country over another," is an agent of "the single greatest threat to democracy on this globe, mister Vladimir Putin himself."

Carlson has been vocal in his questioning of Washington's backing of Kyiv through NATO as Biden has warned that a Moscow-led invasion of Ukraine was imminent.

The anchor has also backed Russia's argument that enlargement of the alliance was behind the current Ukraine crisis.

In an op-ed for Fox News, Carlson accused "neocons in Washington" of "recklessly stoking conflict" in the Eastern European region for years.

New Jersey Democratic Representative Tom Malinowski said this week he had received calls from viewers of Carlson's show to tell him the U.S. should be "siding with Russia."

As world leaders seek a diplomatic resolution to the crisis, top U.S. General Mark Milley warned on Friday that a Russian invasion of Ukraine "would result in a significant amount of casualties."