Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he broadly supported US plans to try to push forward the Syria peace process, but signalled in an angry attack that he was in no mood to forgive Turk
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he broadly supported US plans to try to push forward the Syria peace process, but signalled in an angry attack that he was in no mood to forgive Turkey for shooting down a Russian warplane.
Addressing almost 1,400 reporters in a cavernous hall inside a Moscow conference centre, the Russian leader said he generally backed a US plan to prepare a UN resolution on Syria even though differences between Moscow and Washington remain-ed.
But he signalled Moscow was not yet ready to withdraw its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying a new Constitution needed to be drawn up and elections held to determine the fate of the conflict-torn country. “We believe that only the Syrian people can decide who should govern them,” Mr Putin said at the press conference, saying Moscow would continue its airstrikes in Syria for as long as the Syrian Army continued its own military operations.
His comments followed a visit to Moscow by US secretary of state John Kerry this week and come on the eve of a meeting of world powers in New York on Friday to discuss Syria.
He added that Russia wanted to develop relations with the United States, irrespective of who will become the next American President. “We are ready to work with any President, for whom the American people will vote,” Mr Putin told his annual press conference.
“It’s them (the Americans) who try all the time to prompt us who to vote for” Mr Putin said.The President said on Thursday Russia would remove all restrictions on flights to Egypt once reliable anti-terrorist measures were implemented.
“As soon as we work out the mechanisms that would reliably ensure the safety of our people, we will remove all restrictions. This work is in principle being done together with our Egyptian partners,” Mr Putin said.
Mr Putin used the start of the press conference, a set-piece of Russian political life, to seek to reassure voters over the troubled state of Russia’s economy.
Buffeted by Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis, falling oil prices, and a weakening rouble, Russia’s economy is forecast to shrink by around 4 per cent in 2015, its sharpest contraction since the global financial crisis. “The Russian economy has passed the crisis. At least, the peak of the crisis,” said Mr Putin. “The government, of course, is preparing scenarios for any development of the situation.”
He said that Russia would work towards possible further privatisation of state companies to avo-id spending cash in res-erves. “This (large-scale privatisations) is possible, and in principle we will continue this work,” Mr Putin said, adding he strived not to get involved in such decisions.
Answering a question about Ukraine, Mr Putin appeared to confirm the presence of Russian Special Forces in east Ukraine for the first time.
He said he wanted better ties with Kiev overall. Mr Putin said that Russia was not planning to impose sanctions against Ukraine after Moscow slashed its free trade agreement with Kiev as it is set to enter a similar deal with Bruss-els. But he had no such charitable words for Tur-key and made clear he was in no mood to forgive Ankara for shooting down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border on November 24.
Russia imposed economic sanctions on Ankara in retaliation. Using salty language, Mr Putin mused that Tur-key may have been trying to ingratiate itself with Washington by shooting the plane down.
