In this photo released by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a defense meeting on December 16, 2024 in Moscow (POOL / Grigory SYSOYEV)
Vladimir Putin said Thursday during his annual televised question-and-answer session that he was ready to meet “at any time” with US President-elect Donald Trump, who recently called for a ceasefire and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
“I am ready to do it, of course. At any time,” said the Russian president, saying he had not spoken with Trump “for more than four years”.
This long live question-and-answer session from journalists or Russian citizens, although carefully staged, constitutes one of the rare opportunities to ask delicate questions of the Russian president.
This time, the show took place one month before the unpredictable Donald Trump returned to the White House. He has repeatedly promised to bring peace to Ukraine “within 24 hours” and has already called for an “immediate ceasefire” as well as talks.
But the vagueness surrounding his plan arouses concern in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin, on the contrary, estimated that Russia had become “much stronger over the last two to three years”, the assault in Ukraine having been launched in February 2022.
“If we ever meet President-elect Trump, I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about,” he said.
– Progress in Ukraine –
Vladimir Putin assured that Russia was ready for a “dialogue” with Ukraine, but only on the basis of “ground realities”, a way of saying in particular that Russia will not return the territories it has conquered.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, long firmly opposed to talks, recently qualified his position but is asking the West for solid security guarantees.
Vladimir Putin showed his confidence in him on Thursday, believing that the situation was “changing radically” on the front in Ukraine.
Its troops are progressing at an unprecedented pace since the first months of 2022. They are at the gates of several cities of military importance, such as Pokrovsk, Kurakhové and Koupiansk.
President Putin, on the other hand, admitted that he did not know when his army would succeed in driving Ukrainian forces out of the Russian region of Kursk.
They launched a surprise offensive there in August and still control hundreds of square kilometers in the region, despite attempts by Russian troops, supported according to kyiv by North Korean soldiers, to dislodge them.
“We will absolutely defeat them,” the Russian president nevertheless assured.
This offensive, the largest on Russian territory since the Second World War, is a source of embarrassment for the Kremlin, which wants to persuade that the assault in Ukraine has no impact on the daily lives of Russians.
– “Duel” with the West –
Vladimir Putin also praised his new “Orechnik” missile, a “modern weapon” which can carry a nuclear charge and strike thousands of kilometers away.
The Russian military first used the missile on November 21 against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, presenting it as a response to recent Ukrainian strikes against Russian soil using American and British missiles.
Russian soldiers stand guard during the inauguration of an exhibition of Western military equipment taken by Russian forces in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine, on November 4, 2024 in Saint Petersburg in Russia (AFP / Olga MALTSEVA)
The Russian president threatened to strike kyiv, and even directly the Western countries which arm Ukraine.
On Thursday, Vladimir Putin proposed to the West a “high-tech duel of the 21st century” between the Russian Orechnik and their anti-aircraft defense assets.
“Let them determine a target, say kyiv,” he said. “We’ll throw a strike there, and see what happens.”
– Syria, not a “defeat” –
Another important international subject, Mr. Putin assured that the fall in Syria of Bashar al-Assad, a close ally of Moscow, was not a “defeat” for Russia, which avoided the creation of an “enclave terrorist”.
In this photo broadcast by the Syrian agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (right) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin visit the Umayyad Mosque on January 7, 2020 in Damascus (SANA / -)
The fate of the two Russian military bases in Syria, crucial for Russian operations in the Mediterranean, is however up in the air.
Vladimir Putin said he had not yet seen Bashar al-Assad, who has found refuge in Russia with his family, but that he “intends” to do so.
He also called on Israel to withdraw its troops from “Syrian territory”, which had been deployed in a UN-controlled buffer zone separating the two countries on the Golan Heights.
Domestically, the Russian leader criticized his special services, which were unable to prevent the assassination on Tuesday of Russian general Igor Kirillov, killed Tuesday in an explosion in Moscow claimed by kyiv.
“We must not allow such flaws,” he insisted.
A rare admission, the leader also admitted that galloping inflation in Russia, at 8.9% in November, was a “worrying signal”.
The Russian economy, after having resisted over the past three years, is showing signs of running out of steam, notably with a surge in interest rates which is handicapping businesses, the weakening of the ruble and a gloomy outlook for 2025.
The economic situation is “stable”, however, Vladimir Putin tried to convince in this show watched by millions of Russians.
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