- By Mike Eckel
Putin fields a question about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, saying he was alarmed by Zelenskiy's statements after the recent Normandy Summit in Paris (Zelenskiy, Putin, Merkel, Macron) that Ukraine wants to revisit the Minsk Accords.
He also suggest that Ukrainian forces have been slow to pull back from the front line. (This is disputable.)
"We have nothing except the Minsk agreement. If we start revisiting agreements, we end up at a dead end," he says.
Putin also says he's ready to meet with Zelenskiy again.
(The meeting in Paris was Putin and Zelenskiy's first face-to-face meeting since Zelenskiy's election.)
He also follows up by fielding a question from a Ukrainian reporter, more specifically about the war in eastern Ukraine.
And he denies again that there are Russian forces fighting in the two territories that are held by separatist fighters, who call the regions the Luhansk People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic (LNR and DNR).
"There are no foreign troops in LNR and DNR. The self-defense forces consist of local people... There are some foreigners, like Germans and French, who are fighting on both sides, but the major part of the forces are local people," Putin says.
- By Mike Eckel
Oooh. A question about doping.
Recall that global anti-doping regulators have come down hard on Russia, accusing it of basically doing nothing to clean-up its internal system for testing athletes for banned substances. And they've been accused of purposely trying to fool regulators.
(The Oscar-award winning documentary Icarus went deep into this question (it's a good flick).)
Earlier this month, the World Anti-Doping Agency executive committee called for banning Russian athletes and officials from the Olympics and world championships in a range of sports for four years.
It's a decision that really hit the Kremlin hard: restoring Russia's sporting glory-- from the Soviet period when Soviet athletes regularly won Olympic golds and world championships-- has a priority for Putin.
"Not is it only unjust, but it also doesn't confirm to correct thinking," he says, about the WADA decision.
Throwback Thursday: A look back at Vladimir Putin's first annual press conference in 2001, shortly after he was elected president.
Hot topics included security "sweeps" in Chechnya and the deadly sinking of the Kursk submarine.
- By Mike Eckel
Quick little shout-out for the Soviet Union.
This is of course not new for Putin; it's a theme that has run throughout the 20 years he's has been in Russia's president: the restoration, or re-emphasis, of the accomplishments of the Soviet period.
"There's a lot to be proud of from the Soviet period. We should be grateful to our grandfathers, our predecessors for creating such a world power," he says,.
Kremlin politics aside, it's a sentiment shared by a growing number of Russians.
- By Mike Eckel
Trash-- in particular municipal solid waste from Moscow and the Moscow region-- has been a source of growing public unhappiness among Russians.
There've been persistent protests in the northern Arkhangelsk region about plans to build a giant landfill at Shiyes. And the Yadrovo landfill, in the Moscow region, has seen locals blocking a highway, as they complained the landfill was emitting harmful fumes.
Putin takes on the question of landfills, trash, dumps, rubbish, etc. for his third question. After a disquisition about global problems, he seems to dodge the issue... and he doesn't say the name "Shiyes."
"If the whole world will resolve this problem (of rubbish), then we will be able to resolve it," he says.
At this year's press conference, many attendees are drawing attention with national attire, both from Russia’s ethnic republics and other countries. This Bulgarian journalist brought a traditional toy and dressed in national costume.
During last year's press conference, questions seemed to have been coordinated in advance, and many journalists appeared to be chosen to ask questions based on the signs they were waving from their seats.
Like these, for example:
According to Russian media reports, this year posters, flags, and other such items are not allowed.
- By Mike Eckel
Second question goes to a reporter from Kamchatka, the Pacific peninsula that is closer to Alaska than it is to Moscow.
Appears that signs like this one (which says "Kamchatka: 15 Years Without A Question") may be helping reporters' get Putin's attention.
The woman complains about the rising cost of airline tickets to the peninsula and she cracks a jokes that Putin hasn't visited because he can’t afford a ticket.