IN ABRAHAM ACCORD:

Russia's state TV propagandists express their delight in seemingly having the likes of Tucker Carlson in their corner, praising his coverage as the prime example of Russia's successful influence operations abroad. Carlson's talking points often sound identical to those pushed by the Kremlin's propagandists--or by Putin himself.

During one of his broadcasts on Fox News in December, Carlson argued that "NATO exists primarily to torment Vladimir Putin." He worried about the possibility of "a NATO takeover of Ukraine," and described the 2014 Maidan Revolution as a U.S.-organized "coup in Ukraine." He also baselessly accused Joe Biden of fomenting "a hot war with Russia." The very next day, translated quotes from Tucker Carlson's show were widely broadcast on Russia's state television. After watching Carlson's remarks during the live taping of 60 Minutes, Igor Korotchenko, member of the Russian Defense Ministry's Public Council and editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine said: "Excellent performance, with which we can only express solidarity."

Carlson's claims that the U.S. is pushing the world to the brink of a nuclear war with Russia fit squarely within the Kremlin's current propaganda offensive. During Tuesday's live broadcast of The Evening With Vladimir Soloviev, host Vladimir Soloviev expressed his concerns about convincing Americans that the fears of war are real: "Americans change their behavior only when there is an existential threat to their population... Their memory of WWI is much greater than that of WWII, because of the numbers of those who perished and the difficulty of that war. We often think of Americans as the mirror image of ourselves and our concerns. They only look like us. Their mentality is completely, absolutely different."

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