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| Putin press conference: don't blame me for Democrats' election loss – live | Putin press conference: don't blame me for Democrats' election loss – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 1.10pm GMT | |
| 13:10 | |
| I agree with Shaun’s analysis. In terms of news, Putin’s press conference told us very little we didn’t already know. After 16 years in the job (including four as prime minister), Putin is an accomplished media performer who has seen and done everything. | |
| There were a few moments of passion. One of them came when he was asked by a German reporter about Ukraine. Putin said Russia wasn’t to blame for the 2014 war, which others created. It’s clear to me that getting rid of EU and US sanctions against Russia remains Moscow’s top foreign policy priority. The good news for Putin is that president-elect Trump has pretty much indicated that his administration will dump them. | |
| Putin was scathing about the Democrats, essentially branding them bad losers and whingers. As Shaun notes, he dodged the question as to whether Russia hacked the US presidential election. Certainly, the CIA and US intelligence officials believe Kremlin operatives were to blame, acting on Putin’s direct orders. We haven’t yet seen proof. The question now is how much Obama will declassify in his twilight days in office. | |
| Thanks to everyone who has followed this blog and happy Christmas! Or счастливого Рождества, as they say in Russia. Let’s do it again in 2017. | |
| 12.58pm GMT | |
| 12:58 | |
| Here is Shaun Walker’s take on one of the most important set pieces of the Kremlin’s year, at the end of a tumultuous 2016. Shaun writes: | |
| “Not the liveliest of Putin’s press conferences, and quite the endurance test at nearly four hours in duration. As usual he handled questions on pretty much everything from local affairs to geopolitics deftly and with occasional humour, but then that’s the joy of the format for Putin – no chance for any kind of follow-up question or real probing. Sometimes these press conferences involve news bombshells, but we didn’t learn much today we didn’t already know. | |
| “Putin was evasive over whether he’d stand for president again in 2018 and gave evasive or general answers to specific questions such as on the trial over the murder of Boris Nemtsov or high-profile Russian corruption cases. | |
| “All in all, in the disaster year that Putin is widely regarded to have ‘won’, he looked confident, assured, and like he’s not going anywhere soon. And he couldn’t resist that little jibe, that even though he denied all the hacking allegations, he had always believed that Trump would win, whatever everyone might have thought.” | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.13pm GMT | |
| 12.56pm GMT | |
| 12:56 | |
| It’s over! Putin wishes everyone a happy new year and good luck. Not quite four hours but almost. I’ll post a few thoughts in a moment. | |
| After 3 hours 53 mins Putin's end of year news conference is over pic.twitter.com/CjyIR4aCzU | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.13pm GMT | |
| 12.50pm GMT | |
| 12:50 | |
| Putin says he wants to normalise relations with president-elect Trump | |
| A question on president-elect Trump from NBC News. | |
| Trump is formulating his cabinet at the moment, Putin says. Trump said during the course of the US election campaign that he wanted to normalise US-Russian ties. Putin agrees. Trump also said relations with Moscow couldn’t get any worse. Putin thinks this is also right. He doesn’t know when they will meet. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.13pm GMT | |
| 12.45pm GMT | 12.45pm GMT |
| 12:45 | 12:45 |
| We’ve now reached the silly stage of Putin’s annual press conference, which has been going on for nearly four hours. Normally at this point you can expect questions on gardening or how to bring up children. I missed this exchange but fortunately Shaun Walker was there to record it for posterity: | |
| "Can I ask about love?" calls out a journalist"Love quickly turns to hate," says Putin, turning her down. | "Can I ask about love?" calls out a journalist"Love quickly turns to hate," says Putin, turning her down. |
| Updated | |
| at 1.14pm GMT | |
| 12.43pm GMT | 12.43pm GMT |
| 12:43 | 12:43 |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.50pm GMT | at 12.50pm GMT |
| 12.40pm GMT | 12.40pm GMT |
| 12:40 | 12:40 |
| Putin is now talking about the deaths in Siberia of dozens of people from drinking fake alcohol. The deaths in Irkutsk appear to have been caused by a counterfeit batch of Boyaryshnik, a concentrated liquid sold as a relaxant to add to bathwater but widely known as a cheap alcohol substitute. At least 74 people have perished. | Putin is now talking about the deaths in Siberia of dozens of people from drinking fake alcohol. The deaths in Irkutsk appear to have been caused by a counterfeit batch of Boyaryshnik, a concentrated liquid sold as a relaxant to add to bathwater but widely known as a cheap alcohol substitute. At least 74 people have perished. |
| Putin calls it a terrible tragedy. “I just don’t have words for it,” he says. He says a lot of citizens, some of them foreigners, have been producing home-grown spirits. They didn’t understand what they were doing, he says. | Putin calls it a terrible tragedy. “I just don’t have words for it,” he says. He says a lot of citizens, some of them foreigners, have been producing home-grown spirits. They didn’t understand what they were doing, he says. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.45pm GMT | at 12.45pm GMT |
| 12.33pm GMT | 12.33pm GMT |
| 12:33 | 12:33 |
| A question about Alexander Sokolov, a Russian reporter arrested over alleged extremism. Putin says he’ll look at it. | A question about Alexander Sokolov, a Russian reporter arrested over alleged extremism. Putin says he’ll look at it. |
| The journalist complains about the way liberal media outlets have been shut down or sued in court by Kremlin officials. The officials have always won, she says. They include Igor Sechin, Putin’s friend, who successfully sued the newspaper Novaya Gazeta after it revealed details of his mega-yacht. | The journalist complains about the way liberal media outlets have been shut down or sued in court by Kremlin officials. The officials have always won, she says. They include Igor Sechin, Putin’s friend, who successfully sued the newspaper Novaya Gazeta after it revealed details of his mega-yacht. |
| Putin defends Sechin (who is, incidentally, good friends with Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson). “What else can he do to defend his honour and dignity? He goes to court, like in any other civilised country,” Putin says. | Putin defends Sechin (who is, incidentally, good friends with Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson). “What else can he do to defend his honour and dignity? He goes to court, like in any other civilised country,” Putin says. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.49pm GMT | at 12.49pm GMT |
| 12.27pm GMT | 12.27pm GMT |
| 12:27 | 12:27 |
| A question from China’s state CCTV. A journalist says Europe is in bad shape, with terrorist attacks. Plus there’s a new president in the White House. What does he think about relations with China? | A question from China’s state CCTV. A journalist says Europe is in bad shape, with terrorist attacks. Plus there’s a new president in the White House. What does he think about relations with China? |
| We have a strategic partnership with China, Putin says. It’s a major economic partner for us, he adds. We have joint projects in atomic energy, space, infrastructure. And we have a “common position” on many international questions. This is a stabilising force in global affairs, he says. | We have a strategic partnership with China, Putin says. It’s a major economic partner for us, he adds. We have joint projects in atomic energy, space, infrastructure. And we have a “common position” on many international questions. This is a stabilising force in global affairs, he says. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.49pm GMT | at 12.49pm GMT |
| 12.17pm GMT | 12.17pm GMT |
| 12:17 | 12:17 |
| Here’s some more from Shaun: | Here’s some more from Shaun: |
| “So, we’ve passed the two-and-a-half-hour mark. Putin has started showing the strain a little with the appearance of his trademark dry cough, and there are still hundreds of journalists bouncing up and down with their homemade signs trying to get the Russian president to pay attention. It can be pretty random: the guy with a large yellow ‘Chess’ sign just got picked, but ‘Save Our Volga’, ‘Clever Russia’, ‘Barack Obama’ and ‘From the Heart of Russia’ are among the dozens that are still waiting. | |
| “It has been a pretty sterile affair so far by Putin’s standards. Perhaps the most interesting moment for international audiences was Putin’s vicious castigation of the Obama administration. Otherwise we’ve had questions on oil prices, grain production, and whether or not foreign consulting firms should be banned from Russia. | |
| “How much longer we’ll go is a mystery – it could wrap up shortly after the three-hour mark or it could go on for hours more.” | “How much longer we’ll go is a mystery – it could wrap up shortly after the three-hour mark or it could go on for hours more.” |
| Updated | |
| at 12.57pm GMT | |
| 12.17pm GMT | 12.17pm GMT |
| 12:17 | 12:17 |
| Updated | |
| at 1.00pm GMT | |
| 12.12pm GMT | 12.12pm GMT |
| 12:12 | 12:12 |
| Will Putin stand again as president? This comes from Andrey Kolesnikov, celebrated correspondent for the Kommersant newspaper. Russia’s next election is due in 2018. It would surprise no one if Putin did stand for a fourth presidential term. | |
| Putin says he’ll look at the state of the world and Russia, have a think and then decide. This sounds to me like a yes. | Putin says he’ll look at the state of the world and Russia, have a think and then decide. This sounds to me like a yes. |
| Updated | |
| at 12.57pm GMT | |
| 12.08pm GMT | 12.08pm GMT |
| 12:08 | 12:08 |
| Putin expresses condolences to the victims of Monday's terror attack in Berlin | Putin expresses condolences to the victims of Monday's terror attack in Berlin |
| Ah! A question in German. Putin speaks German fluently from his time as a KGB spy in Dresden. What does he make of the terror attack in Berlin? And the death yesterday aged 80 of Stalin’s grandson Yevgeny Dzhugashvili? | Ah! A question in German. Putin speaks German fluently from his time as a KGB spy in Dresden. What does he make of the terror attack in Berlin? And the death yesterday aged 80 of Stalin’s grandson Yevgeny Dzhugashvili? |
| Putin talks about Russia’s relations with Germany. Russia hasn’t started anything and is merely responding to “anti-Russian sanctions”, he says. “Let’s look at what actually happened.” (He’s referring to events in Ukraine in 2014, which saw president Viktor Yanukovich flees to Russia following anti-government protests.) | |
| He says Russia was merely responding to the “tragedy in the Donbas” in eastern Ukraine. “We didn’t initiate these events,” he repeats. “We don’t consider ourselves to be the guilty party.” | He says Russia was merely responding to the “tragedy in the Donbas” in eastern Ukraine. “We didn’t initiate these events,” he repeats. “We don’t consider ourselves to be the guilty party.” |
| He sends his condolences to the victims of Monday’s terror attack in Berlin. He says western spy agencies have stopped cooperating with their Russian counterparts, making terrorism easier. | He sends his condolences to the victims of Monday’s terror attack in Berlin. He says western spy agencies have stopped cooperating with their Russian counterparts, making terrorism easier. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.59pm GMT | |