Useful information
Prime News delivers timely, accurate news and insights on global events, politics, business, and technology
President Vladimir Putin boasted that his military operation in Ukraine has strengthened Russia and denied that the overthrow of his key ally Bashar Assad in Syria has damaged Moscow’s prestige, as he hosted his annual news conference and call-in show on Thursday.
He used the carefully choreographed event, which lasted more than four hours, to reinforce his authority and demonstrate extensive command of everything from consumer prices to military equipment.
He claimed that sending troops to Ukraine in 2022 has boosted Russia’s military and economic power.
“Russia has become much stronger in the last two or three years because it has become a truly sovereign country,” he said. “We remain strong economically, we are strengthening our defense potential and our military capacity is now the strongest in the world.”
Putin, who has been in power for almost a quarter of a century and was re-elected for another six-year term in February, said the military was “moving towards achieving our goals” in what he calls the special military operation in Ukraine.
Responding to a question 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.
He mockingly challenged Ukraine’s allies to a “high-tech duel,” suggesting that Moscow could give advance warning of an attack on kyiv with the Oreshnik missile and see if the West could protect the city.
“Let them choose a target, possibly in kyiv, place their air defense means there and we will attack it with the Oreshnik,” he said with a dry smile. “Let’s see what happens.”
Russia is making steady, if slow, progress in Ukraine, but it has also suffered embarrassing setbacks. On Tuesday, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed by a bomb planted outside his apartment building in Moscow, a brazen assassination claimed by Ukraine that brought the conflict once again to the streets of the Russian capital.
Receive the latest national news
For news affecting Canada and around the world, sign up to receive breaking news alerts delivered directly to you as it happens.
Putin described Kirillov’s killing as a “big mistake” by Russian security agencies and said they should learn from it and improve their efficiency.
Moscow’s troops are also fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, where they have launched a raid. Asked when the Ukrainians would be expelled, Putin said “we will certainly expel them,” but did not say how long it would take.
The show, which airs live on state-controlled television in all 11 of Russia’s time zones, is generally dominated by domestic issues, with journalists and ordinary people calling in to ask about rising consumer prices and mortgages, pensions misery and a shortage of doctors. But the Russian leader is particularly watched for his responses on foreign affairs.
In a flourish typical of marathon news conferences, he asked audience members to unfurl a banner presented to him by Marines fighting in Kursk as he spoke about Ukraine.
Putin said he was open to possible talks with US President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to negotiate a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine.
“If we meet with Mr. Trump, we will have things to discuss,” he said, without elaborating.
Putin said Russia is willing to reach a compromise in possible peace talks over Ukraine.
“Politics is the art of compromise,” he said. “We have always said that we are prepared for both talks and compromises.” At the same time, Putin added that talks should be based on “the situation on the ground,” referring to some of the conditions he had previously laid out.
Putin has previously demanded that Ukraine give up its bid to join NATO and recognize Russia’s achievements. Kyiv and the West have rejected those demands.
In his first comments on Assad’s fall, Putin said he had not yet met with the former Syrian ruler, whom he had given asylum in Moscow, but planned to do so. He said he will ask him about Austin Tice, an American journalist who disappeared in Syria 12 years ago.
“We can also raise the question to 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 he said Tice’s mother wrote to the Russian leader asking for help.
Moscow has sought to establish contacts with the rebels who overthrew Assad to secure its diplomatic and military personnel in the country and try to extend the lease of its air and naval bases in the country.
But it is unclear how much influence Russia will have in Syria. Assad’s fall has dealt him a painful blow as Russia has fought for nine years to prop him up in the country’s civil war.
Still, Putin denied that the events had weakened Moscow, arguing that it had achieved the goal of destroying “terrorist” groups in Syria through an air campaign launched in support of Assad in 2015. He claimed that rebel groups fighting against Assad They have changed and the West is now ready to establish ties with them.
“That means we have achieved our goals,” Putin said.
He described Israel as the “main beneficiary” of Assad’s fall, highlighting the deployment of Israeli troops in southern Syria. He expressed hope that Israel would eventually withdraw those forces, but noted that it is still building them up.
He said Moscow will talk to the new authorities in Syria about the possibility of expanding the presence of Russian bases in the country.
“If we stay there, we will need to do something in the interests of the host country,” he said, adding that Moscow offered to use its Hemeimeen air base and a naval base in Tartus for humanitarian aid deliveries. “What those interests might be and what we might do for them is a question that both sides need to thoroughly examine.”
He noted that the Syrian army offered little resistance to the opposition offensive and said Russia sent 4,000 Iranian troops from its Hemeimeem air base to Tehran.
Putin began the session by saying that the Russian economy is on track to grow almost 4 percent this year. He acknowledged that consumer prices are high, with inflation at 9.3 percent, but insisted that the economic situation remains “stable.”
Putin avoided a question about abortion and pornography in Russia, as well as burying the body of Soviet Union founder Vladmir Lenin, which has been on display in a mausoleum on Red Square for nearly a century.
The annual fair is as much a spectacle as it is a press conference. Journalists in the room near the Kremlin wave colorful posters and banners to attract Putin’s attention.
Russian state media reported that ordinary citizens submitted more than 2 million questions ahead of the show.
