MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday rarely admitted the mistakes of his strong security agencies in connection with the Ukrainian-orchestrated assassination of a very sensible general in Moscow. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian army’s chemical and biological weapons unit, killed a bomb on a motorcycle in Moscow on Tuesday, the most audacious murder claimed in Kiev since the start of the conflict.
“Our special services are missing these hits. They missed these hits. It means we need to improve this work. We must not allow such very serious blunders to happen,” Putin said at his end-of-year press conference, addressing a string of attacks inside Russia on high-profile Kremlin backers amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Ukraine has been linked to previous attacks in Russia, including the August 2022 car bombing of nationalist Darya Dugina and an explosion in a Saint Petersburg cafe in April 2023 that killed high-profile military correspondent Maxim Fomin, known as Vladlen Tatarsky.
Putin spoke for the first time about Kirillov’s murder, more than 48 hours after the explosion in a residential complex in the Russian capital. Questions have been raised in Moscow about the security protocols applicable to such a high-ranking and public figure involved in the military offensive against Ukraine.
Kyiv claimed responsibility for the attack, saying explosives were packed into an electric scooter left by the door of a residential building.
When Kirillov and his assistant left the building, it exploded, killing them both.
Russia arrested an Uzbek citizen born in 1995 on suspicion of carrying out the attack, the investigative committee announced Wednesday.
He claims to have been “recruited by the Ukrainian special forces. ”
Putin on Thursday called the attack “terrorism”.
A source in Ukraine’s SBU security service called Kirillov a “legitimate target” and accused him of being responsible for the extensive use of banned chemical weapons on the front lines in eastern Ukraine.
Putin said Thursday he was ready for talks “any time” with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has touted his ability to strike a Ukraine peace deal within hours of coming to office.
Trump, who will return to the White House in January, has stoked fears in Kyiv that he could force Ukraine to accept peace on terms favourable to Moscow.
Holding his annual end-of-year press conference, the Kremlin leader said his troops held the upper hand across the battlefield, but was forced to admit he does not know when Russia will take back the western Kursk region where Ukrainian troops launched an incursion in August.
The traditional annual question and answer sessions, often lasting hours, are largely a televised show while also being a rare setting in which he is put on the spot and answers some uncomfortable questions.
Asked about Trump’s proposals regarding a potential peace deal, Putin said he would welcome a meeting with the new Republican.
“I don’t know when I’m going to see him. He doesn’t say anything about it. I haven’t spoken to him in over 4 years. I’m ready, of course. At any time,” Putin said.
“If we ever meet with President-elect Trump, I’m sure we will have a lot to say,” he said, adding that Russia is in a position to “negotiate and reach compromises. “
The Kremlin recently welcomed Trump’s harsh complaint about President Biden’s decision to allow kyiv to use U. S. -supplied missiles to attack Russian territory, a major escalation in the nearly 20-year conflict. Three years that, according to Biden’s leadership, were necessary due to Putin’s recruitment in thousands of Northern countries. Korean infantry to their own ground forces.
Russian troops have been advancing in eastern Ukraine for months, and Putin boasts of his battlefield prowess.
“We are moving towards the resolution of the number one objectives that we set at the beginning of the army’s special operation,” Putin said, a term used by Russia for the conflict. “Our boys fight heroically. The functions of the armed forces are growing. “
Moscow’s military complex in November at its fastest speed in Ukraine since the first month of its 2022 attack.
But when asked through a woman in the Kursk region when citizens will return to their homes, after thousands of people were evacuated from frontline spaces amid the Ukrainian attack, Putin replied that he might not give a date.
“We will surely expel them. Absolutely. It be otherwise. But on the query of a express date, I’m sorry, I can not say that at the moment,” he admitted.
Putin appeared to reiterate his risk of attacking kyiv with Russia’s new and robust multi-warhead ballistic missile, called Oreshnik. Russia has touted the Oreshnik as a hypersonic weapon that virtually intercepts, however, a U. S. Department of Defense official told CBS News that it has been evaluated as a variant of the existing Russian RS-26 rocket, a long-range ballistic missile. intermediate (IRBM) “experimental”.
Asked Thursday by an army reporter if the weapon had any defects, Putin advised a “high-tech duel” between the West and Russia because of his claims that the weapon is impervious to air defenses.
“Let them set a target, let’s say in kyiv. They will put all their air defenses there. And we will launch an Oreshnik attack there and see what happens,” Putin proposed.
In his first public comments since the fall of ex-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Putin rejected claims that his toppling was a “defeat” for Russia.
“What is happening in Syria must be presented as a defeat for Russia,” Putin said in reaction to a journalist’s question. “I guarantee you that we didn’t. . . achieve our goals. “
Putin said he had still met with Assad, who fled to Moscow as rebels approached Damascus, but planned to do so soon.
Putin has come to Assad’s rescue continuously in Syria’s grueling civil war, and is in danger of squandering a vital military foothold in a volatile Middle East with his longtime best friend now permanently out of commission.
Putin was also pressed Thursday on the economic headwinds facing Russia — the fallout from a huge ramp up in military spending and deep labor shortages caused by the conflict.
He insisted that the situation was “stable, despite external threats,” citing low unemployment and industrial growth.
Asked about soaring inflation, Putin said that “inflation is a worrying signal,” and that price rises for foods such as butter and meat were “unpleasant.”
He claimed that Western sanctions also existed – “even if they are not of paramount importance” – and criticized his country’s central bank, saying it has taken steps beyond raising rates to reduce inflation.