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Monday December 23, 2024
(LONDON) -- Russia's war on Ukraine dominated the opening stages of President Vladimir Putin's annual marathon press conference on Thursday, with the Russian leader also addressing issues including future relations with President-elect Donald Trump and the situation in Syria.
Among the questions was how Moscow would deal with the incoming Trump administration given Russia was in a "weaker position."
In response, Putin said he had not spoken to Trump for four years but was ready for a meeting. "You would very much like Russia to be in a weakened position, but I hold a different point of view," he said.
"If I ever meet with the newly-elected president, Mr. Trump, I am sure we'll have something to talk about," Putin said.
Discussing the ongoing war in Ukraine, Putin claimed that the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile recently used to strike the Ukrainian city of Dnipro cannot be intercepted by Western air defense systems.
Western technology, he said, "stands no chance" against the missile.
Putin even suggested arranging "an experiment or a duel" in which Russia would select a target for an Oreshnik strike in Kyiv and Ukraine would set up its Western-supplied air defenses to intercept the missile.
"It will be interesting for us," Putin said.
The president repeated his threat to target "decision-making centers" in Ukraine. Moscow's "list of priority targets includes military facilities and military-industrial complex facilities," Putin said.
The president also said that Russian forces are making progress on the battlefield and that Ukrainian troops would be ejected from positions in Russia's western Kursk region, though did not offer an estimate of how long that would take.
The Tuesday assassination of Russian Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov in Moscow, Putin said, was a "terrorist" attack. "This murder was perpetrated by a method that is dangerous to the life of many people," he said.
"The Kyiv regime has repeatedly committed such terrorist crimes against a large number of citizens of the Russian Federation," Putin said. "And it is now doing so in the Kursk region, where they are shooting at civilians and are killing journalists in other Russian territories."
Nonetheless, Putin said Russia is ready to negotiate an end to the war "without preconditions."
"Politics is the art of compromise, Russia has always been ready for negotiations," Putin added, repeating past allegations that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson undermined a possible peace deal early in the war.
Asked if Russia would grant political asylum to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Putin suggested "the West will take him in." But, he added, "if he suddenly appeared out of nowhere… no one is refused in Russia."
Putin was also asked about missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice -- who disappeared in Syria 12 years ago. Putin said he would raise the issue with former Syrian President Bashar Assad, now living in exile in Russia having been toppled by a rebel offensive earlier this month.
Tice's mother has reportedly written to Putin asking for help in finding Tice, who is now the subject of a major search effort by the U.S. with assistance from regional allies and the new rebel-led authorities in Syria.
Putin said he has not seen Assad in Moscow since he was granted asylum there, but he will raise the issue of Tice's whereabouts.
"I promise that I will definitely ask this question," he said. "I can also ask questions to people who control the situation."
The president also said that Assad's fall was not a defeat for Moscow, which through 14 years of civil war was a key backer of the toppled president's regime. Putin suggested that the "overwhelming majority" of regional nations support Russia's retention of military bases in the country.
Israel, he said, is the prime benefactor of recent developments. "We hope that Israel will leave Syria someday, but now it is bringing additional troops there, there is a feeling that it is going to strengthen there," Putin said.
"There will be many problems, Russia is on the side of international law and on the side of Syria," he added.
ABC News' Anastasia Bagaeva, Tanya Stukalova and Fidel Pavlenko contributed to this report.
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