KEY POINTS
- Putin expresses Russia’s openness to talks over Ukraine conflict.
- He vows to achieve the goals of the “special military operation.”
- Putin challenges the West to test missile defences against Russia’s Oreshnik missile.
- Acknowledges challenges in retaking the Kursk region.
- Says relations between Russia and China are closer than ever before.
- Addressed Syria developments, denying defeat after Assad’s ouster.
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he was ready for talks “anytime” with US President-elect Donald Trump, who has touted his ability to strike a Ukraine peace deal within hours of coming to office.
Trump, who will return to the White House in January, has stoked fears in Kyiv that he could force Ukraine to accept peace on terms favourable to Moscow.
Holding his annual end-of-year press conference and answering questions, Putin said his troops held the upper hand across the battlefield.
Asked about Trump’s overtures regarding a possible peace deal, Putin said he would welcome a meeting with the incoming Republican.
“I don’t know when I’m going to see him. He isn’t saying anything about it. I haven’t talked to him in more than four years. I am ready for it, of course. Any time,” Putin said.
“If we ever have a meeting with President-elect Trump, I am sure we’ll have a lot to talk about,” he said, adding that Russia was ready for “negotiations and compromises”.
The Kremlin recently welcomed Trump’s sharp criticism of President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Kyiv to use US-supplied missiles to strike Russian territory — a major escalation in the nearly three-year conflict.
Russia’s troops have been advancing in eastern Ukraine for months, with Putin repeatedly touting their prowess on the battlefield.
“We are moving towards resolving the primary aims that we set at the start of the special military operation,” Putin said.
“Our guys are fighting heroically. The capabilities of the armed forces are growing.”
Challenges West to Try to Intercept Oreshnik
Putin appeared to repeat his threat to strike Kyiv with Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile Oreshnik.
He challenged the West to a duel, suggesting it choose a target in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, amass defence systems and try to repel a Russian attack.
“Let them call us and those in the West and the US who pay for their analysis out to conduct sort of a technological experiment and have a 21st century-style high-tech duel. Let them choose a target, say, in Kyiv, and amass their air and missile defence systems there, while we will launch an Oreshnik missile at the target. We’ll see what happens. We are ready for such an experiment,” Putin said.
Kursk Offensive
Moscow’s army in November advanced at its fastest pace in east Ukraine since the first month of its 2022 attack.
But asked when residents will be able to return to their homes there, after thousands were evacuated from frontline areas amid the Ukrainian assault, Putin said he could not name a date.
“We will absolutely kick them out. Absolutely. It can’t be any other way. But the question of a specific date, I’m sorry, I cannot say right now,” he admitted.
Russia-China Relations
Putin said relations between Russia and China are closer than ever before.
Russia and China are coordinating their actions on the international stage and will continue to do so, he said as reported by Al Jazeera.
Putin, 72, was also pressed on economic headwinds facing Russia. He said that the situation is “stable, despite external threats”, citing low unemployment and industrial growth.
Citizens’ questions were mainly about price rises and social policies. Journalists more often asked about the course of the special military operation, defence and international issues, TASS news agency reported.
Asked about soaring inflation, Putin said that “inflation is a worrying signal,” and that price rises for foods such as butter and meat are “unpleasant”.
He acknowledged that Western sanctions were also a factor — “while they do not have key significance” — and criticised the central bank saying it should have taken measures beyond raising rates to lower inflation.
Fall of Syria’s al-Assad
Putin said that Russia has evacuated 4,000 Iranian fighters from Syria and that it has relations with “all groups” in the country.
He rejected a reporter’s suggestion that Russia had been defeated there, in light of the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. “We have reached our goals in Syria,” Putin said.
He also said that Russian officials will have to think about whether to maintain their air and naval bases in Syria and said that Russian officials suggested to “partners” in the region to use them as humanitarian hubs.
Putin says he plans to speak to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Moscow after opposition forces ended his 24-year rule.
“I will tell you frankly, I have not yet seen President Assad since he came to Moscow. But I plan to do so. I will definitely talk to him,” Putin said, denying to reporters that the fall of al-Assad represented a defeat for Russia.
“You want to portray everything that is happening in Syria as some kind of failure, a defeat for Russia. I assure you, it is not. And I’ll tell you why. We came to Syria 10 years ago to prevent a terrorist enclave from being created there,” Putin said as quoted by Al Jazeera.
“On the whole, we have achieved our goal. It is not for nothing that today many European countries and the United States want to establish relations with them (Syria’s new rulers). If they are terrorist organisations, why are you (the West) going there? So that means they have changed,” he added.
Killing of Russian Army General
Putin also called the killing of a senior Russian army general in a brazen assassination in Moscow two days earlier “terrorism”.
Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian military’s chemical weapons unit, was killed by a bomb planted in a scooter outside a residential block in Moscow, the assassination claimed by Kyiv since the start of the conflict.
Putin accused Ukraine of having repeatedly committed acts of terror against his country’s citizens.
“This murder was committed in a way that is dangerous to the lives of many,” Putin said. “The regime in Kyiv has repeatedly committed such crimes, terrorist crimes, terrorist attacks against many citizens of the Russian Federation.”
Russia said on Wednesday it had detained an Uzbek man who had confessed to planting and detonating the bomb which killed Kirillov in Moscow on the instructions of Ukraine’s SBU security service.
