Putin’s TV show: the most interesting statements at a glance

Lights, camera, the president is live!

It is the television event in Russia. In “The Direct Line,” Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin answers questions from journalists and citizens in a mix of annual press conference and TV consultation. All handpicked, of course.

It is a format that Putin uses to present himself. In his “Putin TV” the Kremlin boss portrays himself as a caretaker and problem solver. The Russian channels, which practically all broadcast the question time, have planned around three hours for it. This year it took around four and a half hours.

More than a million questions were received for the head of state, according to the state news agency Tass. And of course they revolve around the war in Ukraine, Assad’s fall in Syria, the USA before Donald Trump’s move into the Oval Office. But poverty, social hardship, health problems and a lack of infrastructure are also common topics in these question rounds.

An overview of Putin’s most important and notable statements:

From Putin’s point of view, the war in Ukraine – which in Russia is not allowed to be called that, only “special operation” – will soon be over. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the situation there is changing “dramatically” in his country’s favor. Russia is in the process of achieving its priority goals.

At the same time, he offered to negotiate with Ukraine, which also had to be willing to do so. Putin had already said several times that he was ready to negotiate, but always linked this to Russia’s territorial claims on the neighboring country. But he was also prepared to make admissions, he emphasized in response to a question from the US broadcaster NBC.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has since occupied large areas of land in the south and east of the country. For weeks, Russian troops have increased attacks and also gained ground.

According to the Kremlin chief, Russia should have started the war against Ukraine before 2022.

The decision to invade Ukraine was made at the time because it became clear that Russia had been cheated and that Ukraine did not want to adhere to the Minsk agreements for peace.

In this context, the Kremlin chief indirectly admitted that he had underestimated the Ukrainians’ defense capabilities. Russia should have prepared for war much earlier, Putin said.

When asked if the past three years of war had changed him, he said:

Russia and Syria have long been close partners and the Assad regime has been an important pillar of Russia in the Middle East. Since Assad’s fall and his escape to Moscow, observers have seen Putin hit a sensitive spot. But the Kremlin boss doesn’t want to pay any attention to this. The Russian troops stationed in Syria were not defeated by the overthrow of the Assad regime.

Russia “went to Syria ten years ago to prevent the creation of a terrorist enclave like in Afghanistan,” Putin said. “On the whole,” this goal has been achieved, even if it remains a “difficult” situation.

To demonstrate supposed Russian military superiority, Putin challenged the US to a “missile duel” to show that the new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile cannot be defeated by any US missile defense system.

He suggested that both states agree on a specific target that would then be protected by US missiles. Russia first fired the Oreshnik on November 21 at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

It is no longer a secret that the US President-elect has a thing for the Kremlin boss. Despite the current icy atmosphere between Washington and Moscow, Putin is open to a meeting. But Trump doesn’t seem to want to. Not yet anyway.

“I don’t know when I’ll see him. He doesn’t say anything about it,” Putin said.

He is also ready to meet Trump – if he agrees. But Putin also said:

Trump announced talks with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine on Monday to explore ways to end the war in Ukraine. Trump, who takes office on January 20th, announced during the election campaign that he would quickly end the Ukraine conflict.

According to President Putin, the Russian economy is stable despite high inflation. The economy could have grown by four percent in 2024, but inflation is a worrying signal.

He put the expected growth of the Russian economy in 2025 at “somewhere between 2 and 2.25 percent.” Putin spoke of a “soft landing”. Since the Russian attack on Ukraine, the West has imposed numerous sanctions on Russia, which the country can at least partially circumvent – for example when selling oil and gas.

The ruble currency recently fell, losing around 15 percent of its value against the dollar in November. Many analysts blamed panic buying of foreign currencies.

Putin highlighted the role of Germany’s former Chancellor Helmut Kohl as a statesman – but could not resist commenting on his appearance.

The conversations with Kohl were always very interesting and instructive. He didn’t speak to Kohl often, but Kohl was one of the great politicians in modern history who did a lot for Germany, Putin praised. Kohl’s term ended before Putin’s presidency.