Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold his annual press conference, emboldened by battlefield advances in Ukraine and a push for a diplomatic settlement.
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin will hold his annual press conference on Friday, a staple of his 25-year rule.
The event comes as he is emboldened by Russian battlefield gains in Ukraine and during a diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year war.
Putin has spent recent days stating Moscow will seize the rest of eastern Ukraine by force if diplomacy fails.
He launched the assault on Ukraine in February 2022, triggering Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.
Russia has since lived under massive Western sanctions and a domestic crackdown on dissent unseen since the Soviet era.
Putin will speak as the EU tries to help Kyiv avoid a US-pushed deal seen as capitulation.
The Kremlin seeks to keep Europe out of settlement talks.
Putin this week called EU leaders “piglets” and vowed to seize proclaimed Russian land by military means if talks fail.
“The goals of the special military operation will certainly be achieved,” he told defence officials.
The often hours-long conference is a tightly-controlled TV show featuring questions from the press and public call-ins.
Ahead of the event, some Moscow residents hoped for an end to the conflict, but on Russian terms.
“I have loved ones fighting in Donbas and I would not want us to surrender positions there,” said 55-year-old accountant Lilya Reshetnyak.
Many people on the capital’s streets said they wanted to hear when the war would end.
“We would ask when will peace come for everyone,” said Anna, a 65-year-old pensioner who backs Putin’s position.
“Any person on the planet right now, I think, is waiting,” added 32-year-old Grigory.
Putin is also expected to take questions on the economy, which has been on a war footing for almost four years.
Russia has lived under huge sanctions and persistent inflation.
According to the independent Levada Centre, 16% of those surveyed want to know when living conditions will improve.
Criticism of the Ukraine offensive is banned in Russia, with thousands punished for speaking out.
All of Putin’s political opponents are in exile, prison, or dead. – AFP
