Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready for “compromises” over Ukraine in possible talks with President-elect Donald Trump but said Russian forces were in a strong position.
Speaking in Moscow during his annual end-of-year press conference, Putin said the military was “advancing” toward achieving its goals in Ukraine.
While Putin said Russian forces were advancing across the entire front in Ukraine, he also said, “We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises.”
“Soon, those Ukrainians who want to fight will run out, in my opinion; soon there will be no one left who wants to fight. We are ready, but the other side needs to be ready for both negotiations and compromises,” he said.
During a question and answer session after his main speech, he was asked if he would be willing to meet Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025.
Putin said he had not spoken to Trump for several years but would be happy to meet with him.
“If we meet with Mr. Trump, we will have things to discuss,” said the Russian leader, claiming that Moscow was in a strong negotiating position.
“Russia has become much stronger over the past two or three years because it has become a truly sovereign country. We are standing firm in terms of economy, we are strengthening our defense potential, and our military capability now is the strongest in the world.”
During the election campaign, Trump said he believed that he could end the Ukraine war quickly.
Putin has said in the past that he is open to discussing a cease-fire deal with Trump but that he would not make territorial concessions and that Ukraine must abandon plans to join NATO.
He mocked claims that it could be intercepted by NATO’s air defenses and challenged the West to a “high-tech duel” to see if they could protect a target, chosen in advance, in Ukraine.
“Let them select a target, possibly in Kyiv, put their air defense assets there and we shall strike it with Oreshnik. Let’s see what happens,” Putin said.
Putin said that it was “difficult and pointless to guess what lies ahead.”
“We are moving ... toward solving our primary tasks, which we outlined at the beginning of the special military operation,” he said.
Kirillov Killing a ‘Major Blunder’
Putin, making his first comments on the Dec. 17 bomb attack, said allowing Kirillov to be killed was a “major blunder” of Russia’s security agencies and that they needed to learn from it and improve.
Putin denied that it was a setback or made Russia look weak, saying it had achieved its goal of destroying terrorist groups in Syria.
“That means that our goals have been achieved,” Putin said.
He said Russia had made proposals to Syria’s new rulers about the Kremlin’s two military bases there and that it was wrong to suggest that Moscow’s influence in the Middle East was over.
