By MOSCOW (Reuters) – Following are some of the key quotes from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual phone-in and news conference.
ON TRUMP
Well, first of all, I don’t know when we will meet because he doesn’t say anything about it. I haven’t spoken to him at all for more than four years. And I am ready for this, of course, at any time. And I will be ready for a meeting if he wants it.
(Addressing a reporter) – You said that this conversation will take place in a situation where I will be in some sort of weakened state. Dear colleague… you and those people who pay your salary in the United States would very much like Russia to be in a weakened position. I hold a different point of view. I believe that Russia has become much stronger over the past 2-3 years.
ON WILLINGNESS TO NEGOTIATE WITH UKRAINE
We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises, it’s just that the other side, both literally and figuratively, refused to negotiate…
Soon, those Ukrainians who want to fight will run out, in my opinion, soon there will be no one left who wants to fight. We are ready, but the other side needs to be ready for both negotiations and compromises.
ON RUSSIA’S NEW ORESHNIK HYPERSONIC MISSILE
There is no chance of shooting down these missiles…
Let Western experts propose to us, and let them propose to those in the West and the U.S. who pay them for their analysis, to conduct some kind of technological experiment, say, a high-tech duel of the 21st century. Let them determine some target for destruction, say in Kyiv, concentrate all their air defence and missile defence forces there, and we will strike there with Oreshnik and see what happens. We are ready for such an experiment, but is the other side ready?
ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE
I must say that the situation (at the front) is changing dramatically… There is movement along the entire front line. Every day…
And we are moving, as you said, towards solving our primary tasks, which we outlined at the beginning of the special military operation…
Everyone is fighting, literally heroically. And they are fighting right now. Let us wish them all, both those who are fighting in the Kursk region (of Russia) and those who are fighting along the entire front line, good luck, victory and to return home.
ON THE ECONOMY
In Russia, the situation is normal, stable, we are developing despite everything, despite external threats and attempts to influence us…
Of course, inflation is … an alarming signal…
There are some issues here, namely inflation, a certain overheating of the economy, and the government and the central bank are already tasked with bringing the tempo down…
There are subjective (reasons for rising prices), and there are shortcomings on our part. For example, some experts believe that the central bank could have started using certain tools that are not related to raising the key rate more effectively and earlier. Yes, the central bank started doing all this somewhere in the summer, but, I repeat, these experts believe that this could and should have been done earlier…
This is an unpleasant and bad thing, in fact, the rise in prices. But I hope that in general, while maintaining macroeconomic indicators, we will cope with this too.