Ukraine, NATO and Navalny: what Putin spoke about at the annual press conference

On December 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin held the traditional annual press conference, where he summed up the results of the outgoing year, and also spoke about the main goals of the coming year. The most important topics this time were the situation on the border with Ukraine, relations with the United States and NATO, new restrictions in connection with COVID-19 and the state of the Russian economy. Edition with the BBC led a text broadcast of what was happening.

Photo: Shutterstock

All journalists at the entrance were treated with a spray with silver ions, and they were also given special "silver masks", which, according to the manufacturers, kill 99,9% of viruses and bacteria, although experts do not really believe in this.

For those who got hungry while waiting, there was even a buffet table with various goodies, including handmade sweets.

Typically, Putin's press conference lasts about 3-4 hours, and the president is late. This time, the head of the Kremlin was only 13 minutes late, which pleasantly surprised all the participants in the event.

What Putin was talking about

The main topic of the day was the “conflict with the West”, more specifically the situation with Ukraine. The intelligence services of the United States and Ukraine have repeatedly stated that Russia is preparing a full-scale attack on Ukraine. The basis for this was the increased presence of the Russian military in the border areas with Ukraine.

Putin did not directly answer the question of whether a Russian invasion of Ukraine is possible. However, he said that Russia does not intend to constantly look back at what weapons the West is supplying to Ukraine and how radical groups behave there. According to him, NATO should not move eastward. Putin said that talks with the US and NATO are planned soon, and he hopes they will be constructive.

“One gets the impression that a military operation is being prepared, and perhaps we need to prepare for this. The second option is the creation of “anti-Russia” in Ukraine by pumping weapons and brainwashing the population. How can our country continue to live? With caution? And then “the radicals will be pushed to resolve the issue of Donbass,” he said. “But we must think about the prospects for our security in the near future.” Wait until they fuck you up? This is a serious question".

On the subject: 'To protect Mother Russia': the Kremlin tries to force social networks to remove posts about Navalny and criticism of Putin

Putin said that Moscow’s actions “will depend not on the progress of the negotiations, but on the unconditional provision of Russia’s security - today and for the historical future,” and that it is the West that should immediately provide Moscow with security guarantees, rather than demand them from it.

According to DW, “We have made it clear that further eastward expansion of NATO is unacceptable. It was not us who came to the States with missiles. It is they who place missiles on the threshold of our house,” Putin said.

Very often in his speeches, the President of the Russian Federation cites certain events as an example, which, I must say, are not always true. Not without them this time. Speaking about the annexation of Crimea, he recalled that California and Texas once belonged not to the United States.

“Nobody remembers this now; the same will happen with Crimea,” he said.

The very same military operation to incorporate the peninsula into Russia, Putin explained by the fact that Moscow was actually forced to do this: “How could we refuse Sevastopol and Crimea? We were put in a situation where we could not do otherwise. "

He did not forget to mention that Ukrainians and Russians, in his opinion, are one people, and Ukraine was created by Vladimir Lenin.

Gas supplies and prices

There were also questions about gas supplies to Europe, in particular to Ukraine, as well as about its shortage and price increases.

But Putin said that Gazprom did nothing of the kind, and if anyone is to blame, it is not Russia. He noted that Gazprom not only carries out supplies to its customers under existing contracts, but even increased gas supplies, in particular to Germany and Italy.

“They lie all the time, casting a shadow over the fence,” the president said, blaming Europeans for the rise in prices on spot markets.

Back in mid-December, the German magazine Der Spiegel wrote that although Gazprom promised to increase gas supplies, reserves in its gas storage facility in Germany were lower than in early November. The storage facility of Gazprom's subsidiary Astora was then only about 18% full, compared with 22% a month earlier.

As a result, on December 21, spot prices for natural gas in Europe reached an all-time high, for the first time exceeding $ 2000 per thousand cubic meters. Many attribute this to the fact that Gazprom has stopped pumping blue fuel through the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline.

Pandemic COVID-19

Answering questions about COVID-19, Putin noted that Russian scientists are now studying a new strain of omicron, and also stressed that the Russian economy was "more prepared for such shocks" than many of the world's leading economies.

According to him, the Russian economy recovered faster after the quarantine, and its decline was only 3%.

And when asked to punish those who oppose vaccinations and infect others, Putin replied that the only way to cope with the coronavirus is to spread vaccines around the world.

“The force of action is equal to the force of reaction. As soon as you start putting pressure, and our people are inventive, there will be a way to suppress this desire. We must treat people with respect and patiently explain the need to take certain measures,” Putin commented on approaches to those who are afraid of vaccination.

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He said that among the leaders of anti-vaxxers there are those who earn their popularity. “There’s no need to wag your tail,” Putin said. - This is an unfair position against of the people. "

At a press conference, the Russian president also spoke about mortality from coronavirus infection. He said that the number of victims is difficult to calculate, and directly linked mortality with low herd immunity, that is, with poor vaccination.

“It is not difficult to calculate deaths from coronavirus. But in order to smoothly “reset” Putin’s terms, push through the vote on amendments to the Constitution and hold a parade last year, the mortality statistics from COVID-19 were deliberately very underestimated and distorted. And starting from March-April 2020, the operational headquarters generally drew statistics as they wanted, creatively processing, improving, to put it mildly, embellishing reality. Since then, people don’t believe any statistics at all, even if they are quite plausible,” says demographer Alexey Raksha.

He worked for a long time at Rosstat, and now he is closely following the statistics on coronavirus.

The person whose name cannot be called

A separate question concerned, of course, the main opposition leader of Putin, Alexei Navalny, and his poisoning.

The President, once again not mentioning the name of the oppositionist and calling him “the man who was allegedly poisoned,” this is not the first time he has made an assertion that the Russian side is allegedly not provided with confirmation of the fact of the crime.

“Give us at least a basis to initiate a criminal case. No. Zero. Silence. So there is no need to talk about this. Let’s turn this page if there is nothing to answer,” Putin said.

Meanwhile, the German Ministry of Justice has repeatedly stated that all legal inquiries of Russia in the Navalny case were answered, in particular, the Berlin prosecutor's office handed over the protocols of his interrogation.

On the subject: Biden told if America is ready to go to war with Russia for Ukraine

“All the necessary data to begin criminal proceedings, such as samples of Navalny’s blood, tissue and clothing, are at Russia’s disposal,” a ministry spokesman said in early 2021.

What else did Putin talk about

The president also spoke about the new term, but he did not answer the question of when he would retire, only said that “now we need to think not about this”.

When it came to questions about torture in prisons, according to journalists, Putin got lost and could not answer anything concrete.

He also did not ignore the topic of "new ethics" in Russia. According to Putin, supporting gender reassignment could kill women's sports by allowing sex reassigned men to attend.

“The peculiarity and strength of our thousand-year-old society lies in the fact that Russia has emerged as a multinational and multi-religious state, and we have learned to treat each other with respect,” Putin said.

“Let them do what they want there. We must take everything progressive and the best that helps us develop. I hope our peoples have enough internal deep immune systems to protect themselves from this obscurantism. Well, we need to fight this not with direct instructions and shouts and accusations, but with the support of our traditional values,” he concluded.

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