Russia describes the “root causes” as false pretexts under which it attacked Ukraine in February 2022, violating international law.
At the press conference, the Russian leader answered a question about the decision of EU leaders who decided to finance aid for Ukraine from loans instead of frozen Russian assets.
The conference presenters announced that the EU has not yet managed to “steal” these assets. Putin assessed that this would be a “plundering of other people's money”, which would result in, among other things, “weakening confidence in the euro zone”, in which other countries also keep reserves.
He also threatened that “one day we will have to pay back.” – We will defend our interests, first of all – in the courts, we will try to find a jurisdiction that will be independent of political decisions – he said.
The situation of Russian troops
Putin began the conference with assurances that Russian troops had taken the strategic initiative on the front in all directions. He announced that Sieversk and Konstantinivka in the Donetsk Oblast are 50 percent under Russian control, and Kupiansk is surrounded.
Earlier, Russia announced that Kupyansk, an important transport hub in the Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine, had been occupied by its troops in late November. However, the counter-offensive actions of the Ukrainian army led to the encirclement of Russian troops in the center and regained control of the northern and western parts of Kupiańsk. On December 12, the city and the Ukrainian troops fighting there were visited by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
