Putin boasts of the benefits of Ukraine, says Russia is ready for a missile ‘duel’ with the West – National
President Vladimir Putin boasted that his military offensive in Ukraine had strengthened Russia and denied that the overthrow of Bashar Assad in Syria was damaging Moscow’s image, as he held his annual news conference and public hearing on Thursday.
He used the tightly-planned ceremony, which lasted more than four hours, to cement his authority and demonstrate sweeping command of everything from consumer prices to military supplies.
He said sending troops to Ukraine in 2022 increased Russia’s military and economic power.
“Russia has become very strong in the last two or three years because it has become a truly independent country,” he said. “We are standing strong economically, we are strengthening our defense and our military power is now the strongest in the world.”
Putin, who has been in power for nearly a century and was re-elected for another six-year term in February, said the military was “moving forward towards our goals” in what he called a special military operation in Ukraine.
Responding to a question about the new hypersonic ballistic missile that Russia used for the first time last month to strike Ukraine, Putin scoffed at claims by some Western experts that it could be intercepted by NATO’s air defenses.
He sarcastically challenged Ukraine’s allies in “high-tech life,” suggesting Moscow could give advance notice of a strike on Kyiv with an Oreshnik missile and see if the West could defend the city.
“Let them pick a target, possibly in Kyiv, put their air defense equipment there and we’ll hit it with Oreshnik,” he said with a dry smile. “Let’s see what happens.”
Russia is making strong, if slow, progress in Ukraine, but it has also faced embarrassing setbacks. On Tuesday, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed by a bomb planted outside his apartment building in Moscow – a massacre in Ukraine that sparked clashes on the streets of the Russian capital.
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Putin described Kirillov’s killing as a “big mistake” by Russia’s security agencies, saying they should learn from it and improve their performance.
Moscow’s military also clashed with Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, where they launched an offensive. Asked when they would evict the Ukrainians, Putin said “we will definitely evict them” but did not say how long it would take.
The program, which is broadcast live by state-run TV in all 11 time zones of Russia, is often dominated by local news, with journalists and ordinary people coming to ask about rising prices and mortgages, low pensions and a shortage of doctors. But the Russian leader is being watched for his responses to foreign affairs.
In a booming series of marathon news conferences, he asked the audience to unfurl a banner presented to him by marines fighting in Kursk as he spoke about Ukraine.
Putin said that he is open to possible negotiations with US President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to negotiate an agreement 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 is open to compromise in potential peace talks in Ukraine.
“Politics is the art of compromise,” he said. “We have always said that we are ready for both negotiations and compromises.” At the same time, Putin added that the talks should be based on a “ground state” referring to some of the conditions he had previously set.
Putin has previously demanded that Ukraine withdraw its bid to join NATO and accept Russian concessions. Kyiv and the West rejected those demands.
In his first words about the fall of Assad, Putin said that he had not yet met the former Syrian ruler, who gave him asylum in Moscow, but planned to meet him. He said he would ask him about Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago.
“We can also ask a question to the people who are controlling the situation in Syria,” Putin said, responding 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 ties with the rebels who ousted Assad in order to protect its diplomatic and military personnel in the country and has sought to extend leases on its air and naval bases in the country.
But it is unclear how much influence Russia will have in Syria. Assad’s fall was painful as Russia fought for nine years helping him in the civil wars in that country.
However, Putin denied that the developments had weakened Moscow, saying it had achieved the goal of destroying “terrorist” groups in Syria with an air campaign launched in support of Assad in 2015. He said that the rebel groups fighting against Assad have changed and the West is now ready to establish relations with them.
“That means our goals have been achieved,” Putin said.
He described Israel as “the biggest beneficiary” of Assad’s fall, noting the deployment of Israeli troops to southern Syria. He expressed his hope that Israel will eventually withdraw those forces but noted that they are still building them up.
He said Moscow would talk to the new authorities in Syria about extending the presence of Russian bases in the country.
“If we stay there, we will have to do something that will benefit our host country,” he said, adding that Moscow had promised to use its Hemeimeen air base and Tartus naval base to deliver humanitarian aid. “What those interests might be, what we can do for them is an issue that should be carefully considered by both parties.”
He also pointed out that the Syrian army could not withstand the opposition and said that Russia flew 4,000 soldiers to Iran from its Hemeimeem airbase to Tehran.
Putin began the session by saying that Russia’s economy is on track to grow by about 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 blocked the question of abortion and pornography in Russia, as well as the burial of the body of the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin, which has been displayed in the mausoleum in Red Square for almost a century.
The annual show is as much a spectacle as a news conference. Journalists in a hall near the Kremlin wave colorful signs and placards to get Putin’s attention.
Russian media reported that ordinary citizens submitted more than 2 million questions before the show.
