Moscow, December 19 (TASR) – Russia wants a stable peace in Ukraine, not just a ceasefire, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared before the end of Thursday’s annual press conference in Moscow, which lasted four and a half hours. TASR informs about it according to the reports of TASS and AFP agencies.
“We don’t want a ceasefire, we want peace: long-term, lasting and with guarantees for Russia and its citizens. How to get these guarantees? That’s a difficult question. But in general, we can try to get them,” said the Russian president. He added that Russia is ready for negotiations and compromises, but Ukraine refuses to negotiate.
“Politics is the art of compromise. And we’ve always said that we are ready to negotiate and make compromises. It’s just that the other side – in the literal and figurative sense of the word – refused to negotiate, while we are always ready for it” answered Putin to a question from one of the American journalists about Russia’s willingness to reach a compromise in the context of the conflict in Ukraine.
According to TASS, Putin also stated that Ukraine “people who are willing to fight will soon pass”. He stressed that Russia could have invaded Ukraine “much earlier”.
According to him, Russia is willing sign a peace agreement with any legitimate representatives of Ukrainehowever, does not consider its current leadership to be legitimate. Moscow is ready to negotiate on Ukraine without preconditions, but on the basis of previous agreements and the current situation, he added.
Putin also admitted failures of the Russian security forces in connection with Tuesday’s assassination of the commander of the radiation, chemical and biological defense units of the Russian Armed Forces, Igor Kirillov, who died together with his assistant in an explosion in Moscow. According to a source from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the assassination was carried out by Ukrainian agents. The SBU itself called Kirillov a war criminal.
At the same time, Putin noted that Russia allows American media to work freely on the territory of the country, but Russian journalists are, on the contrary, persecuted in the USA.
He also expressed the belief that Russia’s demands against Google and other Western platforms that “they do not comply with Russian laws and use their capacities for political purposes, they are fair”.
According to the head of the Kremlin, Russia and China stand side by side, which is “a key pillar of stability” in global affairs. He called Chinese President Xi Jinping his friend. According to Putin, Russia did not suffer any defeat in Syriabecause it was “fighting terrorism” there, the German newspaper Bild quotes him.
According to Putin, after the recent overthrow of the regime there, along with President Bashar Assad and his family, 4,000 Iranian fighters were reportedly evacuated from Syria. Both Russia and Iran supported the Assad regime several decades.
At the same time, Putin stated that he did not know whether Assad knows something about the American journalist Austin Ticewho went missing in Syria 12 years ago, but promised that Assad would ask about him. At the same time, he expressed his intention to keep Russian military bases on the territory of Syria.
According to Putin, Israel has the biggest profit from the events in Syria. The highest Russian representative in this regard condemned any occupation of Syrian territory, including the Golan Heightswrites TASS.
During the annual press conference, Putin answered questions from citizens as well as representatives of regional and foreign media. Among them were representatives of the Chinese news agency Xinhua and the American station CNN. Citizens’ questions they mainly related to price increases and social policy. Journalists more often asked about the course of the conflict in Ukraine, defense and international affairs, adds TASS.
