Putin boasts of Ukraine’s gains and says Russia is ready for a missile duel with the West – National
president Vladimir Putin bragged that his military operation in Ukraine has strengthened Russia He denied that the fall of key ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria had damaged Moscow’s reputation as he held his annual news conference and conference call on Thursday.
He used the tightly choreographed event, which lasted over four hours, to assert his authority and demonstrate his comprehensive command of everything from consumer prices to military equipment.
He claimed that sending troops to Ukraine in 2022 increased 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 economically resilient, we are strengthening our defense potential and our military capability is now the strongest in the world.”
Putin, who has been in power for nearly a quarter-century and was re-elected to another six-year term in February, said the military was “on the path to achieving our goals” in what he called a special military operation in the Ukraine.
Responding to a question about a new hypersonic ballistic missile that Russia used for the first time to attack Ukraine last month, 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” and suggested that Moscow could announce an attack on Kiev with the Oreshnik missile in advance and see whether the West could protect the city.
“Let them choose a target, possibly in Kiev, place their air defense forces 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 was Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov killed by a bomb planted in front of his home in Moscow – a brazen attack claimed by Ukraine that brought the conflict back to the streets of the Russian capital.
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Putin called Kirillov’s assassination a “big mistake” by Russian security agencies and noted that 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 an incursion. Asked when they would expel the Ukrainians, Putin said: “We will definitely kick them out,” but declined to say how long that would take.
The show, which is broadcast live on state-controlled television in all of Russia’s 11 time zones, typically focuses on domestic issues, with journalists and ordinary citizens calling to ask questions about rising consumer prices and mortgages, meager pensions and doctor shortages. But the Russian head of state is primarily being watched for his answers on foreign policy.
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 promised to negotiate a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine.
“When we meet with Mr. Trump, we will have things to discuss,” he said, without elaborating.
Putin said Russia was open to compromise in possible peace talks in Ukraine.
“Politics is the art of compromise,” he said. “We have always said that we are ready for both talks and compromises.” At the same time, Putin added that the talks should be based on “the situation on the ground,” referring to some of the conditions he set out earlier had.
Putin has previously demanded that Ukraine renounce its membership in NATO and recognize Russia’s achievements. Kyiv and the West have rejected these demands.
In his first comments on Assad’s ouster, Putin said he had not yet met the former Syrian leader, to whom he granted asylum in Moscow, but planned to do so. He said he would ask about Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago.
“We can also direct the question to 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 in which Tice’s mother had asked the Russian leader for help.
Moscow has sought to forge contacts with the rebels who toppled Assad to secure its diplomatic and military personnel in the country and to extend the lease of its air and naval bases in the country.
However, it is unclear how much influence Russia will have in Syria. The fall of Assad has dealt a painful blow to the country as Russia has struggled 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 2015 in support of Assad. He claimed that the rebel groups fighting against Assad have changed and the West is now ready to establish relations with them.
“This means that our goals have been achieved,” Putin said.
He described Israel as the “main beneficiary” of Assad’s ouster and pointed to the stationing 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 a possible expansion of the presence of Russian bases in the country.
“If we stay there, we have to do something in the interests of the host country,” he said, adding that Moscow had 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 requires careful consideration by both parties.”
Noting that the Syrian army offered little resistance to the opposition’s offensive, he said Russia had flown 4,000 Iranian troops to Tehran from its Hemeimeem air base.
Putin began the session by saying that the Russian economy was on track to grow by almost 4 percent this year. He acknowledged that consumer prices were high and inflation was at 9.3 percent, but insisted that the economic situation remained “stable.”
Putin dodged a question about abortion and pornography in Russia and buried the body of the Soviet Union’s founder, Vladimir Lenin, which has been on display in a mausoleum in Red Square for nearly a century.
The annual show is as much a spectacle as it is a press conference. Journalists in the hall near the Kremlin wave colorful signs and posters to attract Putin’s attention.
Russian state media reported that ordinary citizens asked more than two million questions in the lead-up to the show.
