Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday held his end-of-year conference and for the first time combined with his Direct Line call-in show, Taarifa Political Desk brings you up-to-minute updates of the interactive conference.
The all-strong Russian leader who is also seeking re-election has said, his main task as President is to strengthen Russia’s sovereignty.
“Russia’s existence without sovereignty is simply impossible,” said President Vladimir Putin as he kicked off the marathon press conference that he will use to boast about his army’s success in the Ukraine war and set the tone for his presidential campaign in next year’s elections.
Putin adds that one of his main tasks as president is to “ensure security at Russia’s borders, defense capabilities and the rights of freedoms of citizens.”
Putin’s press conferences usually last for several hours, so he’s certain to cover a lot of ground, from the ongoing war in Ukraine and NATO enlargement, to economic troubles at home and, probably, a bit of Russian history.
The press conference also comes a week after Putin formally announced his plan to run for a fifth term in office in next year’s presidential election, a race he is certain to win.
Special Military Operation in Ukraine
Asked about when Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine might come to an end, Putin says “there will be peace when Russia meets its goals, which haven’t changed.”
The Russian leader says that Moscow’s goal is to “de-nazify” Ukraine, and he brings up the recent controversy surrounding the Canadian parliament’s honoring of a former member of Ukraine’s military unit that collaborated with Nazi Germany in World War II.
Putin blames Kyiv for what he calls its refusal to negotiate a ceasefire, saying “if Ukraine doesn’t want to negotiate demilitarization, Russia will take different measures.”
“The freebies will end one day,” Putin says of Western military aid to Ukraine.
Putin also claimed that military aid to Ukraine from the West was drying up and that the country would soon run out of foreign arms to resist the Russian invasion.
“Ukraine produces nearly nothing, everything is coming from the west, but the free things will run out some day, and it seems it is already happening,” he says.
Putin has said the Russian forces have destroyed hundreds of Ukrainian tanks and other military equipment supplied by Western countries in recent months.
More coming……
