Russian TV Host Claims Tucker Carlson's Firing Tied to Nord Stream Blast

Russian state TV host Evgeny Popov recently claimed that Tucker Carlson's firing from Fox News is connected to statements he made about the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines last September.

The two Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that link Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea and provide Western Europe with natural gas were damaged in September due to detonations, according to a Swedish investigation. While neither pipeline, funded and constructed by the Russian government, was in operation at the time of the incident, they contained gas under pressure within them. That same month, during his show Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson suggested that the United States might be behind the blasts.

Reasons behind Carlson's exit have not been announced, with a statement from Fox News last week saying that Carlson and the network "agreed to part ways." However, Popov suggested that the Fox News host's firing is linked to the Nord Stream explosions, according to a clip of the TV segment posted to Twitter on Saturday by Julia Davis, a columnist at The Daily Beast and creator of the Russian Media Monitor.

"Sabotage of Nord Stream claimed yet another victim: free press in the U.S. TV host Tucker Carlson was fired because of Russia. While the democratic media is spreading fakes about the reasons for the TV star's departure, the real reason is known," Popov said, who added that Carlson said that he will "no longer justify the lies about the sabotage of Nord Stream."

Popov continued: "This explains the speed with which he was fired....When the truth is said on-air of the most popular political program in the country, someone will have to be held accountable."

The Russian TV host also said that freedom of speech in the U.S. has "died," and that propaganda replaced journalists.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden called the blasts a "deliberate act of sabotage" at the time, however, he didn't accuse Russia of being behind it. There has been speculation that the U.S. ordered the destruction of the pipelines, while The New York Times and The Washington Post have suggested a pro-Ukraine group may have been responsible, citing unnamed officials. Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. have all denied involvement.

Earlier this month during his show, Carlson asked former President Donald Trump who he thought was behind the destruction.

"I don't want to get our country in trouble, so I won't answer it. But I can tell you who it wasn't—Russia," Trump responded. "But when they blamed Russia, you know, they said Russia blew up their own pipeline. You got a kick out of that one, too. It wasn't Russia."

Carlson in September suggested that while Russia can't be behind the explosions, other countries would consider doing it.

"They would consider it and we know they have considered it because at least one of them has said so in public," he said in reference to a comment that Biden made a few weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine last February.

"If Russia invades, that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2," Biden told reporters at the time. "We will bring an end to it." The president didn't reveal any specifics about how this will be done, but said, "I promise you: We will be able to do it."

Carlson added in September: "Notice how he [Biden] phrased that and he is the president. He doesn't phrase things by accident, particularly when he is reading off cards. He didn't say, 'I will pause the delivery of gas from Russia to Germany.' He said, 'There won't be a Nord Stream 2. We'll put an end to it. We will take it out. We will blow it up.'"

Newsweek reached out by email to the Russian foreign affairs ministry for comment.