Putin brags about Ukraine gains, says Russia ready for missile 'showdown' with West – National

President Vladimir Putin boasted that his military operation in Ukraine strengthened Russia and denied that ousting key ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria would damage Moscow's prestige as he held his annual news conference and call-in show on Thursday.

He used the tightly-rehearsed event, which lasted over four hours, to reinforce his authority and demonstrate his extensive control over everything from consumer prices to military equipment.

He argued that sending troops to Ukraine in 2022 boosted Russia's military and economic power.

"Russia has become much stronger in the last two or three years because it has become a truly sovereign country," he said. "Economically, we are strong, we are strengthening our defense potential, and our military capacity is now the strongest in the world."

Click to play video: 'Putin Says Russia's 'Oreshnik' Missile Would Turn Everything 'To Dust''

Putin says Russia's 'Oreshnik' missile would turn everything 'to dust'

Putin, who has held on to power for nearly a quarter of a century and was re-elected in February for another six-year term, said the military was "advancing to achieve our goals" in what he called a special military operation in Ukraine.

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Asked about a new hypersonic ballistic missile that Russia first used to strike Ukraine last month, Putin scoffed at claims by some Western experts that it could be intercepted by NATO air defenses.

He taunted Ukraine's allies for a "high-tech duel" and suggested that Moscow could give advance notice of an Oreshnik missile attack on Kiev and see if the West could protect the city.

"Let them choose a target, maybe in Kiev, they will place their air defense assets there and we will attack it with Orešnik," he said with a dry smile. “We'll see what happens.

Russia is making steady, albeit slow, progress in Ukraine, but it has also suffered embarrassing setbacks. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was on Tuesday killed by a bomb planted outside his apartment building in Moscow - a brazen assassination claimed by Ukraine that brought the conflict back to the streets of the Russian capital.

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Putin described Kirillov's killing as a "big mistake" by Russian security agencies, saying they should learn from it and improve their effectiveness.

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Moscow troops are also fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region, where they launched the invasion. Asked when they would expel the Ukrainians, Putin said: "We will definitely kick them out," but did not say how long it would take.

Broadcast live on state-controlled television in 11 Russian time zones, the program is usually dominated by domestic topics, with journalists and ordinary people calling to ask questions about soaring consumer prices and mortgages, paltry pensions and a shortage of doctors. However, the Russian leader is under particular scrutiny for his responses to foreign affairs.

In a flourish typical of marathon news conferences, he asked audience members to unfurl a banner presented to him by Marines fighting in Kursk as he spoke about Ukraine.

Putin said he was open to possible talks with US President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to negotiate a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine.

"If we meet with Mr. Trump, we will have something to discuss," he said, without elaborating.

Putin said that Russia is open to compromises in possible peace talks on Ukraine.

"Politics is the art of compromise," he said. "We have always said that we are ready for both talks and compromises." At the same time, Putin added that the talks should be based on the "situation on the ground," referring to some of the conditions he had previously set.

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Putin has previously demanded that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO and recognize Russia's gains. Kyiv and the West rejected these demands.

In his first comments on Assad's fall, Putin said he had not yet met the former Syrian ruler, whom he had given asylum in Moscow, but planned to. He said he would ask him about Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago.

"We can also ask the people who are monitoring the situation on the ground in Syria," Putin said in response to a question from NBC's Keir Simmons, who cited a letter he said Tice's mother wrote to the Russian leader asking for help.

Moscow has sought to establish contacts with the rebels who toppled Assad to secure its diplomatic and military personnel in the country and to try to extend the lease of its air and naval bases in the country.

Click to play video:

Putin said Russia fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at Ukraine as a warning to the West

But it is not clear how much influence Russia will have in Syria. Assad's fall has dealt him a painful blow, as Russia fought for nine years to support him in the country's civil war.

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Still, Putin denied that the events had weakened Moscow, claiming it had achieved the goal of destroying "terrorist" groups in Syria through an air campaign launched in support of Assad in 2015. He argued that the rebel groups that fought against Assad had changed and the West was now ready establish contacts with them.

"This means that our goals have been achieved," Putin said.

He described Israel as the "main beneficiary" of Assad's fall and drew attention to the deployment of Israeli troops in southern Syria. He expressed hope that Israel would eventually withdraw these forces, but noted that it was still building them up.

He said Moscow would negotiate with the new authorities in Syria about possibly expanding the presence of Russian bases in the country.

"If we stay there, we will have to do something in the interest of the host country," he said, adding that Moscow had offered to use its Hemeimeen air base and Tartus naval base for humanitarian aid deliveries. "What those interests might be, what we might do for them, is a question that needs to be thoroughly explored by both sides."

He noted that the Syrian army had offered little resistance to the opposition offensive and said that Russia had flown 4,000 Iranian troops from its Hemeimeem airbase to Tehran.

Putin opened the session by saying the Russian economy is on track to grow by nearly 4 percent this year. He admitted that consumer prices were high with inflation at 9.3 per cent, but insisted that the economic situation remained "stable".

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Putin sidestepped the issue of abortion and pornography in Russia and also buried the body of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin, which has been on display in a mausoleum in Red Square for nearly a century.

The annual show is as much a spectacle as a press conference. Journalists in a hall near the Kremlin wave colorful signs and banners to attract Putin's attention.

Russian state media reported that ordinary citizens submitted more than 2 million questions before the performance.



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