The economy is holding up and the objectives that Russia she placed herself in Ukraine they are getting closer. These are the two messages that Vladimir Putin was delivered to the whole world during the usual river press conference (4 hours and 27 minutes) at the end of the year. The head of the Kremlin, after praising the record achievements of his army during 2024 in recent days, declared that the situation on the battlefield is changing “drastically” and Russia is getting closer to achieving its “priority objectives“. Thus it opens up a détente with others United States saying he is ready to meet Donald Trump. But as regards the negotiations with Ukraine the position remains that of firmness. Zelensky has no legitimacy, for the head of the Kremlin, who says he is willing to negotiate with the Kiev government only after elections: “We will talk to anyone, including Zelensky, if he were to go to the polls and gain legitimacy.”
Ukraine: “We should have attacked first”
No regrets, obviously, about the invasion (called a “special military operation” in the latitudes of Moscow) which, Putin adds, should have been leave much earlier of 24 February 2022. Despite this, after three years, he maintains that Moscow does not need a ceasefire with Ukraine, but “a long-term, lasting peace with guarantees for the Russian Federation and its citizens”, while a truce could allow Ukrainian soldiers to “rest, obtain the necessary equipment and ammunition” and “engage in training, retraining and strengthening of personnel”. Words that perfectly mirror those of Zelensky who used the same terms as he left the EU Council. But the Russian president then added that the aaccords of peace they can only be done with “legitimate” Ukrainian authorities, meaning that Zelensky should undergo new elections, given that his mandate has already expired several months ago.
Putin: “Russian economy first in Europe. Sanctions won’t kill us”
Far from being a crisis, the President of the Russian Federation claims, his country’s economy currently remains the first in Europe and can therefore afford to support the war effort which has been going on for almost three years now. But this is not a good reason to “sit down” on this position, he specified: “The international financial and economic institutions have positioned Russia in first place in Europe in terms of economic volume and in fourth place globally in terms of equal power. purchase – he declared – They are in front of us China, United States e India. We have passed the Germania already last year and this year we left the Japan behind us. However, this is not an indicator to ‘fall asleep’ or settle down. Everything is developing, everything is moving forward actively.”
He certainly cannot deny, however, that inflation is sending worrying signals. “Just yesterday, while I was preparing for today’s event, I spoke with the president of the Central Bank who told me that it is around 9.2-9.3%,” he said, maintaining however that the salary according to him, they would “have grown by 9% in real terms” and therefore, according to him, “the situation overall” would be “stable”. Putin also stated that sanctions also have a certain impact on inflation, although in his opinion “not of fundamental importance” because “they make the logistics chain more expensive”.
As for sanctions: “They are an unfair tool to fight competition. They interfere and create problems, but they will not be able to kill us completely.”
Détente with America?
The president has once again reiterated, as has happened in recent months, that Russia is ready for “negotiations” and “compromises”, but the Ukrainian government has so far refused to do so. “Politics is the art of compromise and we have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises. It’s just that the other side refused to negotiate, but we are always ready.” And it then opens up to a meeting with Trump who in January will once again become president of Moscow’s great global adversary, not only on the Ukrainian scene: the United States. “I haven’t seen him in four years,” she said to herself available for a meeting. For Biden, however, Putin only has words of understanding regarding the choice to pardon his son Hunter Biden: “It is always important which part of you is stronger: the politician or the human being. In Biden, the human side prevailed. And I don’t blame him for this,” said the leader of Moscow without hiding his low esteem for the former US president.
Then he challenges the US on hypersonic missiles
During the conference, Putin also found time to launch a purely military challenge to the United States. And to do so he brought up the race to develop new and increasingly powerful ones hypersonic missiles by both countries. “They can designate a target in Kiev and see if they can shoot it down, we would really like to do this experiment – said the Kremlin head – There is no possibility of shooting down theOreshnik. If (Western) experts believe that it is possible, I propose to do an experiment, a technological duel. Let them determine a target in Kiev, concentrate all their missile defense systems there and we launch the Oreshnik. We are ready for such an experiment and we will see what happens. It will be interesting for us. Such a technological duel will be useful for both us and them.”
No date for the reconquest of Kursk
The thorn in the president’s side is undoubtedly the loss of Russian territory in Kurskafter the successful advance of Kiev. The Moscow army, also supported by soldiers from the North Koreahas already started operations to retake the region on the border with Zelensky’s country, but the head of the Kremlin is not yet able to say when the reconquest will be completed: “I don’t want to indicate an exact date because in that case the troops will they would feel forced to accelerate operations, at the risk of greater losses,” Putin said to justify the lack of response. What he wanted to add to try to convey optimism is that more Ukrainian armored vehicles have been destroyed in the region than in any other war zone in the last year.
Attack in Kirillov: “Serious mistake by the police”
The Russian president also spoke about the murder of General Igor Kirillov, killed in a bomb attack claimed by Kiev on Tuesday. Russian law enforcement and special services must improve their work to prevent situations like these, Putin said. What happened “means that our law enforcement agencies and our special services must improve their work and not allow such serious errors.”
An affectionate memory for Berlusconi. “In Italy sympathy for Russia”
In another passage of the speech Putin also mentioned Silvio Berlusconi as one of the past leaders he would “have a cup of tea with”, if he had the chance. In addition to the former Italian Prime Minister, Putin also mentioned the names of the former German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl and the former French president, Jacques Chirac. Not Angela Merkel’s. Berlusconi was a person “very warm in relations, very industrious, very tenacious”, explained Putin, and “he did a lot for the development of relations between Italy and Russia”. Relations which, according to Putin, remain solid: “Despite what is happening now, we perceive a certain certainty in Italian society sympathy for Russiajust as we have it for Italy”. A comment that certainly will not please the current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has aligned Italy on the most extremist axis of Western countries regarding the conflict in Ukraine.
The “tsar’s” confessions: “In these three years I have almost stopped laughing”
In Putin’s speech there is also room for a psychological fresco of the leader. The three years of conflict with Ukraine have been “a serious test for everyone”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, adding that he himself has “almost stopped laughing”. “I started joking less and almost stopped laughing. And I began to improve my ability to focus on key problems and how to solve them,” Putin said during the year-end river press conference.
