Vladimir Putin backs Donald Trump over $10 billion BBC lawsuit as he insists US President ‘is right’ to sue broadcaster over Panorama edit

The Russian President has completed his annual end-of-year press conference answering questions from journalists and citizens for four hours and 27 minutes.

Here’s five key takeaways from the event:

• Putin said the ball was in the court of the West and Kyiv in talks to end the war in Ukraine, while hailing Moscow’s recent battlefield gains and threatening more
• The Russian leader warned of ‘severe’ consequences if the EU used Russia’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine’s recovery and defence, after Brussels failed to approve a plan to tap the funds
• Praising Donald Trump for his ‘sincere’ and ‘serious’ efforts to resolve the conflict, Putin also backed the US President’s $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC over a Panorama documentary
• In another message to the West, Putin said that Russia would not attack other countries – as long as it was treated ‘with respect’ – without clarifying what he meant
• Putin also said he did not feel personally responsible for the tens of thousands of people killed since Moscow launched its offensive, which has become Europe’s worst conflict since World War II

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Moscow would attack Poland if Russia’s invasion of his country was not stopped.

Zelensky urged unity between Ukraine and its ally Warsaw during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki in the capital.

‘Without our independence, Moscow will inevitably come for Poland.

‘That’s why it’s important that we exist, it’s important that you exist, it’s very important that Ukraine and Poland exist, and it’s important that we stand together,’ Zelensky said at a press conference.

Vladimir Putin has now ended his annual end-of-year news conference which lasted four hours and 27 minutes, according to reports.

Russian media state the President answered 83 questions in total from journalists and members of the public.

Ukraine was the most talked about topic with Putin insisting he is ‘ready and willing’ for peace talks while talking up his army’s gains on the battlefield.

He was also asked a series of offbeat questions including aliens and the occult.

Russian soldiers could be ordered to halt long-range missile and drone strikes on Ukraine on voting day, if Kyiv holds a presidential election that Moscow and Washington are pushing for.

Vladimir Putin said he would be prepared to make the directive.

‘We are ready to consider ensuring security during elections in Ukraine. At least refraining from strikes deep into Ukraine on election day,’ Putin said during a televised press conference.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky’s five-year term as president was due to end in May last year but elections have been suspended in the country since martial law was declared after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

One Russian took the opportunity during his question to Vladimir Putin to propose to his partner.

Kirill Bazhanov, a 23-year-old student wearing a red bow ​tie and a flower in his buttonhole, proposed live on air to his girlfriend Olga, who he said was watching on TV.

He invited Putin to the wedding, before asking a question about financial support for young families.

Vladimir Putin uses his major annual press conference to cement his power and air his views on domestic and global affairs.

This year, the news conference took place against the backdrop of a peace plan in Ukraine put forward by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Despite the extensive diplomatic push, Washington’s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.

Let’s remind ourselves what Putin is calling for:

• He wants all the areas in four key regions captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognised as Russian territory.
• Putin has also insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured yet. Kyiv has publicly rejected this demand.
• The Kremlin has also insisted that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO and warned that it wouldn’t accept the deployment of any troops from members of the military alliance members and would view them as ‘legitimate target.’
• Putin also has repeatedly said Ukraine must limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language – demands he has made from the outset of the conflict.

Ukraine has struck a Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker with drones in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, Kyiv revealed today.

The cargo ship was sailing in an undisclosed location around 1,243 miles from Ukraine’s borders when it was hit in a ‘new, unprecedented special operation’, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine said.

The source claimed that the tanker, called the Qendil, had ‘sustained critical damage and cannot be used for its intended purpose’.

The explosive attack on the empty vessel was the first of its kind in the Mediterranean – representing a dangerous development in the near four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.

Ukrainian news agency RBC-Ukraine published dramatic footage, purportedly showing the tanker being struck with explosives.

Estimated to include up to 1,000 ships, which frequently change their flags and whose ownership is unclear, Russia’s shadow fleet has enabled Moscow to keep exporting its crude oil for much-needed revenue despite curbs on exports.

Putin commented on a Ukrainian strike on a Russian tanker on Friday morning, stating that Moscow will retaliate.

The strike was the first time Ukrainian drones hit a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean Sea, some 1,000 miles away from Ukraine.

Putin said that Russia usually responds with ‘much stronger strikes’ against Ukraine and warned that a threat to blockade Russia’s city of Kaliningrad would ‘lead to unseen escalation of the conflict’.

Sarcastic messages briefly flashed up on the big screen ‌in the hall where Vladimir Putin was holding his annual press conference and phone-in earlier today.

‘Not ​a direct line, but a ​circus,’ said one such ​comment.

Another, using Putin’s first name and patronymic, read: ‘Vladimir Vladimirovich, it’s ⁠Friday already, can we break out the booze?’

The ​rogue comments appeared ‍on screens showing ​incoming text messages intended for Putin at the marathon annual event, for which ordinary Russians are encouraged to submit ‍questions.

The ‍Kremlin did not immediately comment on their appearance at what is a meticulously planned and choreographed press conference watched by millions of Russians. ⁠Putin did not refer to them.

One message, alluding to the state of Russia’s economy, asked ⁠why ordinary Russians were worse off than people in Papua New Guinea.

Another, referring to Putin’s governing United Russia party, said: ‘Looking at life ‍in the country, ⁠it is strange that (it) wins a majority in elections! Maybe elections are a fiction?’

Europe will have to re-engage in direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin if the latest US-led efforts to broker a Ukraine peace deal founder, French President Emmanuel Macron said today.

European leaders wary of Putin’s future military ambitions have smarted at their exclusion from peace talks led ​by President Donald Trump’s administration, compelled instead to shore up Ukraine’s negotiating positions from the ​sidelines.

‘Either a robust and lasting peace is reached, ​with the required (security) guarantees,’ Macron told reporters in Brussels, ‘or we will need in the weeks ahead to find ways for Europeans to re-engage in a fulsome dialogue with Russia, and in complete ⁠transparency.’

The Russian president said Russia would be ​ready to stop ​the war ​in Ukraine immediately if ⁠it received guarantees of ​its ‍security ​and that Moscow had no intention of attacking ‍Europe.

Putin also told his annual end-of-year press conference that Russia ⁠was open for cooperation “on equal ⁠terms” with the West.

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