In the end-of-year conference in which he answers questions from the press and ordinary citizens, the Russian leader sought to project an image of strength and perseverance. As usual, he used a tightly choreographed event to make his point authority and demonstrate a total control about everything, come on consumer prices to the progress of the war. In a way that is not new, Putin on the one hand talks about dialogue and on the other flexes his muscles. He proposed a «technological duel» to the West whose missiles supplied to Ukraine are also regularly hitting Russian territory: you tell us a target to hit in Kiev, we launch our Oreshnik hypersonic missile and you try to intercept it, let’s see what happens, it was the challenge launched by the Russian leader, in a live broadcast imposed during lesson times in schools across the country.
«Putin is a madman, he loves to kill», commented Zelensky, in press conference in Brussels on the sidelines of European Council from where he asked Trump to “help us put an end to this war”. It’s about decisive weeks for the future of the conflict in Ukraine. There is a month left until Trump arrives at the White House and alarm is growing over the possibility that he will reduce the support for Kiev. Zelensky asked Brussels for «theunit” Between EU And Washington in the face of Russian aggression. “It is very difficult to maintain support for Ukraine without the United States,” acknowledged the president who participated in a vertex in Brussels with the leaders of the EU and NATO.
What Putin and Zelensky seem to agree on is that the prospect of a cease-fire you only risk giving an advantage to the enemy who could exploit it to get back in love. The Russian president called for a «lasting and long-term peace» with guarantees for Moscow, while the Ukrainian colleague rejected the possibility of simply «freeze» the conflict and rejected the mediation attempts of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban: «He does not have a mandate to organize peace negotiations and his relations with Putin are a little too warm to put Putin in his place».
«When we talk about a cease-firein any war, people know what will happen next. We should have in mind what will happen tomorrow to create a ceasefire today,” Zelensky continued, “that’s why Ukraine needs solid security guarantees from NATO and more armaments to ensure that any potential peace agreement is sustainable.” Even in today’s unrealistic perspective of a peace agreementit is not clear who and by what means will be able to guarantee the future security of Ukraine which shares a border over 1,700 kilometers long with Russia. Zelensky said it clearly: European guarantees alone would not be “enough”, the United States must be involved.
Putin and the message to Trump
One from Moscow and the other from Brussels, the Russian and Ukrainian leaders each sent their message to the future US president, Donald Trump, who promised to put an end to the war as soon as he arrives at the White House next month.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in his end-of-year press conferencehe hinted that he wanted to continue the war also in 2025convinced that he had «thebest prepared army in the world» and denying that the fall of Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad was a strategic defeat for Moscow. In four and a half hours TV marathon – the longest since 2013 – the Kremlin leader admitted that in the third year of war he “almost stopped laughing”, that it is a difficult period for the country and its economy, but then confessed that he had no regret. Indeed, if he could go back he would launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine even before February 2022. In the 2014Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and pro-Russian forces sparked conflict in eastern Ukraine, but just eight years later Putin attempted to take over Kiev.
In saying he is ready to meet Trump “at any time”, Putin also declared himself ready to negotiate with his Ukrainian colleague, Volodymyr Zelensky, but only “after he runs and wins the presidential elections”. Moscow deems the Kiev leader illegitimate, whose mandate expired in May but who remains in office due to the impossibility of holding popular consultations in times of war.
This is why Putin’s umpteenth opening to «negotiations without preconditions», but on the basis of Istanbul agreements and the recognition of territorial conquests in the field. He also declared himself “open to compromises” to end the war, but without ever specifying what they might entail.
Putin and Italy: between Russophobia and historical ties
On the one hand the attacks of Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the government of Rome, accused of «Russophobia», on the other theancient love for Italy which still harbors many Russians. From the beginning of conflict in Ukraine bilateral relations are based on this difficult balance, for which he has once again become the spokesperson Vladimir Putin. «Despite what happens now, we perceive in the Italian company a certain sympathy for the Russiajust as we have it for theItaly», declared the head of the Kremlin during the river press conference of the end of the year. And a reminder to could not be missing Silvio Berlusconi and not only their relationships politicians but also personal.
When asked who he would sit down to have tea with among the departed politicians, the president cited the Knighttogether with the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the former French president Jacques Chirac. «Leader from whom I learned a lot”, said the Russian president. But he made it clear that a special place in his heart is always reserved for Berlusconiwho on the occasion of his death last year, he had defined as “a dear friend”, speaking of “irreparable loss». The Knight he was a person “very warm in his relationships, very industrious, very tenacious”, stated the head of the Kremlin in front of the audience of journalists and Russian citizens representing different regions attending the press conference. In addition to being, he added, a politician who “has done a lot for the development of relations between Italy and Russia».
Times have changed, and consequently the official tones. Two months ago the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the policies”Russophobic» of the Italian authorities, who had denied the seen to the Russian delegation that was to participate in Milan at 75/o International Astronautical Congress. And already from January 2023 the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had expressed “surprise” in “seeing theItaly become one of the leaders in the anti-Russian front.” But Putin he always used different words. “In Italy – the head of the Kremlin had said for example last June during a meeting with representatives of international news agencies – not one spreads Caveman Russophobiaand we take it into consideration.” «We hope that when the situation regarding theUkraine will begin to stabilize, we will be able to re-establish relations with Italy perhaps even faster than with some other countries”, added the tsar.