It’s the main political event at the end of the year in Russia. For 17 years, Putin has held a December press conference in Moscow.
Unlike last year when the event was held online due to covid-19, this year, 507 journalists were invited to join the Russian president on Thursday in the famous Manezh hall right outside the Kremlin walls.
Four hours, journalists from all over the world asked dozens of questions ranging from canceling the local train lines to fears of a new large-scale military conflict involving Russia.
Foreign policy issues took the first quarter of the presser, with China at the top of the list. Putin said, among other things that Russia is firmly against the politicization of the 2022 Beijing winter Olympic games.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia said that moves to politicize Beijing winter Olympics were unacceptable and incorrect as he described China as Russia’s number one partner.
Putin said “it’s a mistake to use sports for some current political issues, namely stop the development of China. They should be aware of that at the end, that unstoppable. Today China’s purchasing power parity is higher than American. Sometime would pass and China will unavoidably become the world’s top economy.
Putin said that Russia had unprecedented levels of trade and collaboration in space,medical,science and military areas with China.
Putin also accused the West of fabricating a natural gas crisis in Europe insisting that Russia had recently not decreased but increased gas exports to the continent by 10%.
Putin also confirmed the meeting between Russian and U.S officials at the beginning of January ” they should discuss Russia’s offer to defuse the mounting tensions between the two sides over Ukraine and the NATO expansion”