Dmitry Kiselev, the director general of the Rossiya Segodnya international media group and Sputnik's parent company, on Sunday sent a request to the White House for an interview with US President Joe Biden in order to continue the dialogue between the two nations after Russian President Vladimir Putin's interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson.
"We believe that our countries are now short of opportunities to listen to and hear each other and think that Russian President Vladimir Putin has set a worthy example by agreeing to an interview focused on an American audience. Our agency is ready, on its part, to provide the President of the United States an opportunity to reach the widest possible Russian audience," Kiselev said in the letter.
"I — Dmitry Kiselev, director general of Rossiya Segodnya and host of Vesti Nedeli, the most watched Sunday night analytical news show in Russia on the most popular TV channel, Rossiya-1 — intend to conduct the interview," he added.
In a separate statement, Kiselev said that the "best and most effective option for the White House would be a mirror interview with a Russian journalist" and Biden "should respond to this in a good way."
The interview will be translated into foreign languages and distributed via Sputnik's platforms.
Putin's interview with Carlson was held in Moscow and released online on February 9. A significant part of the two-hour conversation covers the Ukrainian conflict and Russia's relations with the United States, NATO and Western countries. The interview racked up over 200 million views on social network X.