Russian President Vladimir Putin stated he hasn’t but met with exiled Syrian chief Bashar al-Assad — regardless that he personally made the choice to grant the dictator and his household asylum when Syria’s longtime dictator fled the nation after his regime crumbled.
He made the remark throughout an annual press convention and question-and-answer session, the place he fielded questions from each journalists within the viewers and Russian residents who submitted their queries forward of time.
The matters ranged from Syria, Ukraine, Russia’s economic system and Putin’s relationship with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, all a part of a fastidiously choreographed spectacle that has lasted for greater than 4 hours.
Putin, who stated he hasn’t spoken to Trump in 4 years, stated he’s open to assembly with the incoming U.S. president, who has repeatedly vowed to finish the battle in Ukraine quickly after taking workplace on Jan. 20.
Whereas many questions from the viewers got here from journalists affiliated with Russian state media, NBC correspondent Keir Simmons requested Putin if he was ready to compromise in relation to Ukraine — a query the Russian president did not totally reply.
“We’re prepared,” Putin stated with out providing any specifics. “We simply want the opposite facet to be prepared, too. For negotiations and for compromise.”
The Kremlin has stated repeatedly it won’t negotiate with Ukraine except it renounces its ambition to hitch NATO and withdraws troopers from territories now managed by Russian troops.
Kursk
Putin was additionally requested about Russia’s combat to recapture a number of hundred sq. kilometres of the Kursk area, which Ukraine nonetheless controls after a lightning offensive in western Russia in August.
He stated Russian troops are combating to take Kursk again, however there isn’t a agency date when they are going to “liberate” it.
“The state of affairs [at the front] is altering dramatically. There’s motion alongside all the entrance line day by day,” he stated.
He famous the marketing campaign into Ukraine ought to have begun earlier than February 2022, saying Russia ought to have “systematically ready for it.”
Although he went on to reward the heroic efforts of Russian troopers, there was no point out of the hundreds of North Korean troops that Ukraine and the U.S. say are combating alongside the Russians.
At the very least 100 of them have been killed in line with a South Korean lawmaker who cited data from the nation’s spy company on Thursday.
Russian state media reported that two million Russian residents submitted questions forward of Putin’s press convention on matters that ranged from the price of dwelling, mortgage charges and what Russia nonetheless calls its “particular army operation.”
Financial system
The primary query was about Russia’s economy, given the surging inflation price pushed by the nation funnelling cash into the battle effort. All through the nation, there have been considerations in regards to the rising value of meals and groceries.
Putin admitted that the inflation price, which sits above 9 per cent, is an “alarming” determine however stated authorities measures to chill the economic system are working. He stated financial progress is predicted to be about 4 per cent this 12 months and can sluggish in 2025.
“I feel the [growth rate] subsequent 12 months ought to be someplace round two to 2.5 per cent, a form of tender touchdown so as to preserve macroeconomic indicators,” he stated.
Syria
Putin was requested about Russia’s presence in Syria, the place it has two main army bases, the Hmeimim airbase and a naval base on the port of Tartous.
Satellite images point out that Russia is within the means of transferring a number of the army gear, however Putin stated that Russia has proposed that its “companions” use the airbase for humanitarian functions.
The way forward for the airbase, which was used to launch strikes throughout Syria in assist of Assad, is now in query, on condition that insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, has taken management of Damascus, pushing out the Assad authorities that Russia spent years backing.
“On the entire, we’ve got achieved our aim,” Putin claimed when talking in regards to the bases. “We preserve relations with all of the teams that management the state of affairs there,
He additionally condemned Israel’s seizure of territories within the nation, and he stated he believed Israel had no intention of withdrawing its troops from Syria.
U.S. journalist Austin Tice
Throughout the press convention, Simmons requested Putin if he would communicate to Assad about lacking U.S. journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive throughout a reporting journey to Syria in August 2012.
Putin replied that Tice was somebody who disappeared 12 years in the past throughout a civil battle however then stated he would ask Assad in regards to the American when the 2 communicate.
Tice, a former U.S. marine, was one of many first U.S. journalists to make it into Syria after the beginning of the battle.
U.S. President Joe Biden stated earlier this month the federal government believes Tice continues to be alive. There had been hope Tice can be discovered among the many hundreds of individuals launched from prisons in Damascus.
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