This is on the media's midweek podcast. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

Last week we learned that Tucker Carlson, late of Fox News, had gone to Russia.

He was spotted eating fake McDonald's and watching a ballet at the Bolshoy.

But Tucker was there for more important things than fast food and culture.

We're in Moscow tonight. We're here to interview the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.

On Thursday the interview went live on Carlson's own site,

as well as one of Russia's main state television channels,

and the Kremlin's website. We see Carlson and Putin seated in the middle of a large echoy room

empty except for the spindly white chairs they're sitting in and a low matching coffee table. Putin is in full

professor dictator pose, relaxed in his chair and settled in for a nice long chat

about Russian history.

So if you don't mind, I will take only 30 seconds or one minute to give you a short reference to history

for giving you a little historical background.

Please.

Let's look where our relationship with Ukraine started from. That one minute turned into 10 minutes, then 20, then 30.

Tucker tried to interrupt, but to no avail.

I understand that my long speech is probably fall outside of the genre of the interview.

That is why I asked you at the beginning, are we going to have a serious talk or a show?

You said a serious talk.

So bear with me please.

Putin Watchers can attest that nothing in his history lesson is new.

He's been delivering versions of this speech about how Ukraine belongs to Russia for years

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