Of course, had Putin actually wanted to go toe-to-toe with a formidable opponent, the Kremlin wouldn’t have hand-picked Carlson for his first interview with a Western journalist since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Carlson, the famously Russia-friendly ex-Fox News host, is known more for a penchant for cozying up to autocrats than for probing reportage.

Putin, who famously enjoys trolling Western figures, smirked while describing Carlson’s passivity to Russian TV propagandist Pavel Zarubin: “He tried to interrupt me several times, but still, surprisingly for a Western journalist, he turned out to be patient and listened to my lengthy dialogues, especially those related to history, and didn’t give me reason to do what I was ready for. So frankly, I didn’t get complete satisfaction from this interview.”

During the over two-hour-long Carlson interview, Putin delivered a 20-plus-minute soliloquy about Russian history and mocked Carlson over his failed attempt to join CIA.

Putin also took the opportunity to troll Joe Biden while speaking with Zarubin, saying he would prefer to see the current president reelected than a return of Donald Trump following the November ballot.