The article is being updated.
The annual conference is underway, during which Vladimir Putin answers questions from journalists and ordinary Russians. The issue of the war in Ukraine dominates among the topics discussed.
Vladimir Putin's annual conferencePAP/EPA/SERGEI ILNITSKY
The Russian leader announced that Russia is ready to “end by peaceful means” the war in Ukraine, but “the root causes that led to this crisis” should be removed. Russia describes as the “root causes” the false pretexts under which it attacked Ukraine in February 2022, violating international law.
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What does Putin say about the situation on the front in Ukraine?
Vladimir Putin on frozen Russian assets
Putin also answered a question about the decision of EU leaders to finance aid for Ukraine from loans instead of frozen Russian assets. It's about the decision providing financial support to Ukraine in the form of a loan in the amount of EUR 90 billion for the next two years.
After the conference presenters announced that the EU has not yet managed to “steal” Russian assets, Putin said it would be a “looting of other people's money”which would result in, among others, “weakening confidence in the euro zone”, in which other countries also keep reserves. He also threatened that “someday you will have to pay back.”
Vladimir Putin's annual conferencePAP/EPA/SERGEI ILNITSKY
– 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.
Putin on the situation on the front
Putin also assured that Russian troops have 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.
On December 12, Volodymyr Zelensky visited the city and the Ukrainian troops fighting there. The Russian president responded to a question suggesting that photos from the Ukrainian president's visit to the front may be a “fake.”
— I don't follow it. He is an artist, and a talented artist at that, I say this without a trace of irony — Putin said, emphasizing that Zelensky's photo was taken at a news post about a kilometer from the city itself. — Why stand on the threshold? Come inside, he added.
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.
