Russian President Vladimir Putin said he has not yet met with exiled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad – although he personally made the decision to grant the dictator and his family asylum when the longtime Syrian dictator collapsed his regime fled the country.
He made the comment during an annual press conference and question-and-answer session in which he answered questions from both journalists in the audience and Russian citizens who had submitted their questions in advance.
Topics ranged from Syria, Ukraine, the Russian economy to Putin’s relationship with US President-elect Donald Trump, all part of a carefully choreographed spectacle that lasted more than four hours.
Putin, who said he had not spoken to Trump in four years, said he was open to meeting the new U.S. president, who has repeatedly vowed to end the war in Ukraine soon after taking office on Jan. 20 .
While many questions from the audience came from journalists affiliated with Russian state media, NBC correspondent Keir Simmons asked Putin whether he was willing to compromise on Ukraine – a question the Russian president did not fully answer.
“We are ready,” Putin said, without giving details. “We just need the other side to be ready too. For negotiations and for compromises.”
The Kremlin has repeatedly said it will not negotiate with Ukraine unless it renounces its ambitions to join NATO and withdraws soldiers from areas currently controlled by Russian troops.
Kursk
Putin was also asked about Russia’s fight to retake several hundred square kilometers of the Kursk region, which is still controlled by Ukraine after a lightning offensive in western Russia in August.
He said Russian troops would fight to recapture Kursk, but there was no set date for the “liberation” of Kursk.
“The situation (at the front) is changing dramatically. There is movement every day along the entire front line,” he said.
He noted that the campaign into Ukraine should have started before February 2022 and said Russia should have “systematically prepared for it.”
Although he continued to praise the heroic efforts of Russian soldiers, he did not mention the thousands of North Korean troops that Ukraine and the United States say are fighting alongside the Russians.
At least 100 of them were killed, according to a South Korean lawmaker, citing information from the country’s spy service on Thursday.
Russian state media reported that two million Russian citizens asked questions ahead of Putin’s news conference on topics ranging from the cost of living to mortgage interest rates to what Russia still calls its “special military operation.”
Business
The first question was about: Russia’s economygiven the rising inflation rate caused by the country pouring money into the war effort. There have been concerns across the country about rising food and grocery prices.
Putin admitted that the inflation rate, which is above 9 percent, was an “alarming” figure, but said government measures to cool the economy were having an effect. He said economic growth is expected to be about four percent this year and slow in 2025.
“I think the (growth rate) next year should be around two to 2.5 percent, a kind of soft landing to maintain macroeconomic indicators,” he said.
Syria
Putin was asked about Russia’s presence in Syria, where the country has two major military bases, the Hmeimim air base and a naval base in the port of Tartus.
Satellite images point out that Russia is in the process of transporting some military equipment, but Putin said that Russia had suggested to its “partners” that the air base be used for humanitarian purposes.
The future of the air base, which was used to launch attacks across Syria in support of Assad, is now in question as the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized control of Damascus and pushed the Assad government out of Russia. to support.
“On the whole, we achieved our goal,” Putin said of the bases. “We maintain relationships with all the groups that control the situation there,
He also condemned Israel’s occupation of areas in the country and said he believes Israel has no intention of withdrawing its troops from Syria.
US journalist Austin Tice
During the press conference, Simmons asked Putin whether he would speak to Assad about missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice, who was captured during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012.
Putin responded that Tice was someone who disappeared during a civil war 12 years ago, but then said he would ask Assad about the American when the two spoke.
Tice, a former U.S. Marine, was one of the first U.S. journalists to make it to Syria after the war began.
US President Joe Biden said earlier this month that the government believed Tice was still alive. There was hope of finding Tice among the thousands of people released from prisons in Damascus.
