President Vladimir Putin I was proud of his military operations. Ukraine What is strong? Russia And denied that the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, a key ally in Syria, has hurt Moscow's prestige, as it held its annual news conference and call-in show on Thursday.
He used the tightly choreographed ceremony, which lasted four hours, to reinforce his authority and demonstrate a vast command over everything from consumer prices to military hardware.
He claimed that sending troops to Ukraine in 2022 has increased Russia's military and economic power.
He said that Russia has become much stronger in the last two or three years because it has become a truly independent country. “We are standing strong economically, we are strengthening our defense capability and our military capability is now the strongest in the world.”
Putin, who has been in power for nearly a quarter of a century and was re-elected in February for another six-year term, said the military was “making progress towards achieving our goals” that he had in Ukraine. Special military operations.
Asked about a new hypersonic ballistic missile that Russia used for the first time last month to attack Ukraine, Putin scoffed at claims by some Western experts that it could be intercepted by NATO air defenses. can
He mockingly challenged Ukraine's allies to a “high-tech duel”, suggesting that Moscow could preempt an Orshank missile attack on Kiev and see if the West could defend the city. .
“Let them pick a target, possibly in Kiev, put their air defense assets there and we'll hit it with Orshank,” he said with a wry smile. “Let's see what happens.”
Russia is making slow, if slow advances in Ukraine, but it has also suffered an embarrassing setback. On Tuesday was Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov. Killed by a bomb. Mounted outside his apartment building in Moscow – a brazen killing claimed by Ukraine has brought the conflict once again onto the streets of the Russian capital.
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Putin called Kirillov's killing a “big mistake” by Russia's security agencies, saying they should learn from it and improve their performance.
Moscow's troops are also fighting Ukrainian forces in the Russian region of Kursk, where they have begun infiltrating. Asked when he would expel the Ukrainians, Putin said “we will certainly expel them” but did not say how long it would take.
The show, which is broadcast live in Russia's 11 time zones by state-controlled TV, is usually dominated by domestic issues, with journalists and ordinary people discussing rising consumer prices and mortgages, meager pensions. And ask about the shortage of doctors. But Russian leaders are watching his answers, especially on foreign affairs.
In a flourish of marathon news conferences, he asked audience members to wave a banner presented by Marines who fought in Kursk while talking about Ukraine.
Putin said he was open to possible talks with US President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to negotiate a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine.
“If we meet with Mr. Trump, we will have things to talk about,” he said without elaborating.
Putin said that Russia is ready to compromise in possible peace talks on Ukraine.
He said that politics is the art of compromise. We have always said that we are ready for both negotiation and compromise. At the same time, Putin added that talks should be based on the “situation on the ground” in addition to some of the conditions he had previously laid out.
Putin has previously demanded that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO and recognize Russia's achievements. Kyiv and the West have rejected these demands.
In his first comments on the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, Putin said he had not yet met the former Syrian ruler, whom he has sheltered in Moscow, but intended to. He said he would ask them about Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago.
“We can also question the people who control the situation on the ground in Syria,” Putin said, in response to a question from NBC's Keir Simmons, who cited a letter that said Tice's The mother wrote to the Russian leader for help.
Moscow has sought to forge ties with the rebels who ousted Assad in order to secure diplomatic and military personnel in the country and to extend its air and naval base leases in the country.
But it is unclear how much influence Russia will have in Syria. The fall of Bashar al-Assad has dealt him a painful blow as Russia has fought for nine years to support him in the country's civil war.
Still, Putin denied that the events had weakened Moscow, arguing that it had achieved its goal of destroying “terrorist” groups in Syria through an air campaign launched in support of Assad in 2015. is The West is now ready to establish relations with them.
“This means that our goals have been achieved,” Putin said.
He called Israel the “primary beneficiary” of Assad's fall, noting the deployment of Israeli troops in southern Syria. He expressed hope that Israel would eventually withdraw these forces but noted that it was still building them up.
He said Moscow would talk to the new authorities in Syria about possibly expanding the presence of Russian bases in the country.
“If we stay there, we will need to do something in the interest of the host country,” he said, adding that Moscow used its Hemimen air base and a naval base in Tartus to deliver humanitarian aid. Offered. “What those interests might be, what we can do for them, that's an issue that needs to be carefully examined by both sides.”
He noted that the Syrian army had put up little resistance to the opposition's offensive and said that Russia had flown 4,000 Iranian troops to Tehran from its Hememeem air base.
Putin opened the session by saying that Russia's economy is on track to grow by about 4 percent this year. He acknowledged that consumer prices were high, with inflation at 9.3 percent, but insisted that the economic situation was “stable.”
Putin dodged a question about abortion and pornography in Russia, as well as burying the body of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin, which has been displayed in a mausoleum on Red Square for nearly a century.
The annual show is as much a spectacle as a news conference. In the hall near the Kremlin, journalists wave colorful signs and placards to attract Putin's attention.
Russian state media reported that ordinary citizens had submitted more than two million questions before the show.