the focus audience for the putin interview was probably not the west.

putin is up for re-election, and the more genuine support he can garner and the bigger his base is without needing to resorting to election fraud, the stronger his hand will be post-election. it thus makes more sense to view this interview as tucker carlsen being used by putin to showcase putins legitimacy - all the while spouting as much russian propaganda, historical revisionism, and soviet-style disinformation to his own population as he can.

now he can point towards a "famous western journalist doing a serious interview" as legitimizing his claims; whether they're true or not isn't relevant.