President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday tried to paper over or shift the blame for recent setbacks at home and in the Middle East, while making a fresh appeal to Donald J. Trump that he was ready to talk to the U.S. president-elect “any time.”
At his four-hour, year-end news conference, Mr. Putin said it was a failure by Iran to resist a rebel offensive that help bring down one of Russia’s closest allies, Bashar al-Assad, in Syria this month — without addressing Moscow’s own decision not to help Mr. al-Assad.
He said that Russia’s security services committed the “gravest of blunders” in failing to stop the assassination of a Russian general in Moscow this week.
And Russia’s central bank, Mr. Putin said, could have taken more action sooner to head off the inflation that has sent consumer prices soaring.
“Whoever would like to present Russia as weakened,” Mr. Putin said at one point, citing Mark Twain, “I want to remember a well-known person and writer who once said: ‘Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.’”
It was a familiar combination of misdirection and self-confidence from Mr. Putin as he tried to portray Russia as firmly in control of its fate, at home and abroad.
And with the war in Ukraine approaching its fourth year, and with Russia taking heavy losses and its economy showing signs of strain, Mr. Putin made no secret of his desire for talks with Mr. Trump, who has promised swift negotiations to end the war.
“I’m ready for this, any time,” Mr. Putin said, after being asked about a potential meeting between the two. “And I’ll be ready to meet, if he wants this.”
Later, he added: “If we ever have a meeting with the newly elected president, Mr. Trump, I am sure we will have something to talk about.”
Mr. Putin maintained that he was seeking a broad peace deal to end the war, rather than a temporary cease-fire. He said he would keep pushing ahead on the battlefield, where Mr. Putin said Ukraine is suffering from “the attrition of military equipment, gear, ammunition and most importantly, personnel.”
“If we stop for one week, that will mean giving the enemy the chance to dig in at these positions, to give them the opportunity to rest,” he said. “We don’t need a cease-fire. We need peace.”
Mr. Putin displayed similar bluster in his comments on Syria, speaking in public for the first time about the stunning fall of Mr. al-Assad.
The Russian leader cast Syrian government troops as well as Iranian and pro-Iranian forces as responsible for Mr. al-Assad’s fall, because they “retreated without a fight, blew up their positions and left.” Russia flew 4,000 Iranian fighters to Tehran at Iran’s request as the rebels advanced, he said.
Russia itself did little to aid Mr. al-Assad, deciding not to commit resources to help combat the surprise rebel offensive that began last month.
And Mr. Putin insisted that Moscow remained a player in the Middle East despite what has been widely seen as a major blow to Russia’s ambitions to position itself as a world power.
He claimed that most Middle Eastern countries and ruling factions in Syria wanted Russia to keep its Syrian military bases.
“We’ll need to think about it,” Mr. Putin said, referring to whether Russia would maintain the bases. “We’ll need to decide for ourselves how our relationships will look with those political forces that now control and will control the situation in the country in the future. Our interests need to coincide.”
Analysts say that, in fact, Russia’s standing as a world power has suffered as a result of Mr. al-Assad’s fall, especially if it loses its Tartus naval base and Hmeimim air base in Syria. Both have been key to Russia’s ability to project its influence across the Mediterranean and Africa.
Mr. Putin, responding to a question from NBC News, said he had not yet met with Mr. al-Assad, who had fled Syria for Moscow, but that he was planning to. Mr. Putin said he would ask Mr. al-Assad about the whereabouts of Austin Tice, the American journalist abducted in Damascus, Syria, in 2012.
“I will definitely speak with him,” Mr. Putin said, referring to Mr. al-Assad. And referring to Mr. Tice, he added: “I promise that I’ll ask this question.”
Mr. Putin’s marathon annual news conference has become an annual ritual for the Russian ruler, who first took power in 1999. In recent years, it has been combined with another Kremlin rite, the “direct line,” in which Mr. Putin answers calls or letters from across the country, often from people complaining about their local authorities.
The broadcasts, often longer than four hours, are meant to show Mr. Putin’s close engagement with world affairs as well as with the worries of regular Russians. It is also, analysts say, meant to contrast him with Western leaders, whom Russia’s state media often portrays as weak and out of touch.
In Thursday’s session, Mr. Putin also commented on the assassination of a Russian general, Igor Kirillov, who was killed by a bomb planted on a scooter in Moscow on Tuesday. He described the killing as the latest failure on the part of Russia’s security services, recalling the car bomb that killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent nationalist, in 2022.
“They missed these attacks,” Mr. Putin said. “Their work needs to be improved so as not to allow these gravest of blunders for us.”
But for many Russians, the biggest concern in recent months has been the rising price of staple goods like potatoes, which have nearly doubled in price over the last year.
The price of cucumbers, one of the moderators told Mr. Putin, citing official statistics, rose 10 percent in just a one-week period this month. What members of the public most wanted to hear about from Mr. Putin, the moderator said, “are related to the rise in prices of bread, fish, milk, eggs and butter.”
“Rising prices, it really is an unpleasant and bad thing,” Mr. Putin said in an understated, melancholy tone. “But I hope that, by generally maintaining macroeconomic indicators, we will manage this, too.”
He directed a rare, veiled criticism at Russia’s central bank, which has been under fire from corporations and business leaders for its record-high interest rates. Mr. Putin said that “some experts believe” that the bank could have taken action “more effectively and earlier” to address inflation.
But he said the rising prices — which experts see in large part as a consequence of Russia’s overcharged war economy — were really an indicator of people’s improved well-being.
“It’s just that the supply of food hasn’t gone up as much as consumption,” Mr. Putin said, without mentioning the war.
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