Russia's President Vladimir Putin has said there will be no more wars after Ukraine if Russia is treated with respect - and claims that Moscow is planning to attack European countries are nonsense. In a marathon televised event lasting almost four and a half hours, he was asked by the BBC's Steve Rosenberg whether there would be new special military operations - Putin's term for the full-scale war. There won't be any operations if you treat us with respect, if you respect our interests just as we've always tried to respect yours, he asserted. His remarks were in line with a recent comment in which he said Russia was not planning to go to war, but was ready right now if Europe wanted to. He also added the condition, if you don't cheat us like you cheated us with Nato's eastward expansion. He has long accused NATO of going back on an alleged 1990 Western promise to then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev before the fall of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev later denied the remark had been made.
The Direct Line marathon combined questions from the public at large and journalists from across Russia in a Moscow hall, with Putin sitting beneath an enormous map of Russia that encompassed occupied areas of Ukraine, including Crimea. Russian state TV claimed more than three million questions had been submitted. Although it was largely choreographed, some critical comments from the public appeared on a big screen, including one that referred to the event as a circus, another bemoaning internet outages and one that highlighted poor-quality tap water. Mobile internet outages have been blamed by authorities on Ukrainian drone attacks.
Putin also addressed Russia's faltering economy, with prices rising, growth on the slide, and VAT going up from 20 to 22% on 1 January. One message to the president read: Stop the crazy rise in prices on everything! The Kremlin regularly uses the end-of-year event to highlight the resilience of the economy and, as Putin spoke, Russia's central bank announced it was lowering interest rates to 16%.
Foreign policy issues were mixed with musings about the motherland, praise for local businesses, fish prices, and the importance of looking after veterans. But the issue of almost four years of full-scale war in Ukraine was never far away, often in the background of many questions. Putin again claimed to be ready and willing to end the war in Ukraine peacefully but offered little sign of compromise, repeating demands outlined in a June 2024 speech requiring Ukrainian forces to leave occupied regions.
He argued Russian forces were making advances across the front line in Ukraine, ridiculing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the front line amid claims of territorial control. Seeking to navigate peace proposals, Putin demanded that new elections be included in Ukraine, even suggesting a ceasefire during voting. This comes as discussions occur in Miami involving U.S. officials, Ukrainian representatives, and a Kremlin envoy. While largely evading questions that challenged his policies, Putin did express readiness for dialogue framed by mutual respect, but he emphasized the necessity of Western acknowledgment of Russia's security concerns.
The Direct Line marathon combined questions from the public at large and journalists from across Russia in a Moscow hall, with Putin sitting beneath an enormous map of Russia that encompassed occupied areas of Ukraine, including Crimea. Russian state TV claimed more than three million questions had been submitted. Although it was largely choreographed, some critical comments from the public appeared on a big screen, including one that referred to the event as a circus, another bemoaning internet outages and one that highlighted poor-quality tap water. Mobile internet outages have been blamed by authorities on Ukrainian drone attacks.
Putin also addressed Russia's faltering economy, with prices rising, growth on the slide, and VAT going up from 20 to 22% on 1 January. One message to the president read: Stop the crazy rise in prices on everything! The Kremlin regularly uses the end-of-year event to highlight the resilience of the economy and, as Putin spoke, Russia's central bank announced it was lowering interest rates to 16%.
Foreign policy issues were mixed with musings about the motherland, praise for local businesses, fish prices, and the importance of looking after veterans. But the issue of almost four years of full-scale war in Ukraine was never far away, often in the background of many questions. Putin again claimed to be ready and willing to end the war in Ukraine peacefully but offered little sign of compromise, repeating demands outlined in a June 2024 speech requiring Ukrainian forces to leave occupied regions.
He argued Russian forces were making advances across the front line in Ukraine, ridiculing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the front line amid claims of territorial control. Seeking to navigate peace proposals, Putin demanded that new elections be included in Ukraine, even suggesting a ceasefire during voting. This comes as discussions occur in Miami involving U.S. officials, Ukrainian representatives, and a Kremlin envoy. While largely evading questions that challenged his policies, Putin did express readiness for dialogue framed by mutual respect, but he emphasized the necessity of Western acknowledgment of Russia's security concerns.
