Kremlin chief confident of victory

Putin challenges the USA to a “missile duel”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready for a "missile experiment" with the West.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Alexander NEMENOV)

As expected, there is no critical discussion of the current political, economic and military situation. Instead, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is spreading victory slogans at his current annual press conference with selected questions from journalists and the Russian population and is even challenging the USA to a "missile duel".

The aim is to show that the new "Oreshnik" hypersonic ballistic missile cannot be intercepted by any US missile defense system. "We are ready for such an experiment," said Putin. Both states should agree on a specific target, which should then be protected by US missiles, Putin said. Russia first fired the "Oreshnik" missile at the city of Dnipro in the invaded neighboring country of Ukraine on November 21.

President Vladimir Putin particularly emphasized the deployment of his 155th Pacific Fleet, whose banner was raised behind his back.

(Bild: APA/AP)

Putin: "Russia is about to achieve its goals"
When asked by a concerned resident when the Kursk border region would be safe again, the Russian head of state emphasized: "Everything will be done. I can't give a date yet, but the Ukrainians will definitely be expelled." Once the region has been liberated, all the damage will be assessed, Putin said. "Everything will be rebuilt." Roads and infrastructure would be repaired.

A Russian soldier in the Kursk region

(Bild: APA/AP)

Kursk as a bargaining chip for the Ukrainians
He asked the people in the region, who have lost their homes and are being housed in emergency shelters, to be patient. The situation in the war against Ukraine is changing significantly, Putin continued. Russia is in the process of achieving its primary goals. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been occupying dozens of villages in the Kursk region since the beginning of August. According to the leadership in Kiev, this is intended to strengthen its position for possible negotiations to resolve the conflict.

Putin does not see the fall of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad as a defeat for the Russian army. The Russian troops stationed in Syria have not been defeated by the fall of Assad. They will now think about what to do with the Russian military bases in Syria. Russia had made proposals to the new transitional government in Damascus and had also evacuated 4000 Iranian fighters from Syria. Russia and Iran had supported the Assad regime. Putin said that he had not yet met Assad, who had fled to Russia, but was still planning to do so.

Economy "stable" according to Putin
Despite unprecedented Western sanctions and the collapse of the national currency, Putin gave a generally satisfactory economic assessment of the past year - especially in comparison to Western industrialized nations. Gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 3.9 percent in 2024, "perhaps even four percent", the Kremlin leader predicted. In the past two years, GDP has even increased by eight percent.

In the same period, Germany showed zero percent growth, he said. Putin admitted that there were problems in combating inflation. According to him, prices rose by 9.2 to 9.3 percent over the course of the year. However, in the case of food, for example, this was due to the fact that consumption had increased.