Putin`s annual press conference is held in a live question and answer format. Last year, over 1,000 media professionals attended the event.



What`s you biggest mistake as a president?

I have been asked this many times. Everyone makes mistakes. No one lives without making them. I will refrain from what I talked about. I will try to draw conclusions.

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16:51

Final question from NBC news Moscow: When are you going to meet Trump and what will you discuss?

It`s hard to say when. The President-elect needs to build his team. We will discuss normalizing ties. Trump said during his election campaign that we need to improve ties, because they are already bad. We will think how to resolve this together.

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16:34

Question from China`s CCTV correpondent: How such superpowers like Russia and China will solve global issues and how it will affect bilateral relations?

China is our biggest partner. There are major joint projects in energy, aircraft manufacturing, space. We have major initiatives in infrastructure projects. The renminbi (yuan) is a reserve currency now. Congratulations on that.

Our stances on many international issues are similar. This is a stabilizing element in all international affairs. We value relations with China and hope that they will develop.

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16:09

Will Putin participate in the upcoming presidential election?

The time will come. I will look at what is happening in the world and in the country. Taking into account what we have achieved and what can be done, I will make a decision on whether to take part in the upcoming presidential election or not.

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15:43

What`s Russia`s stance on the fact that Iraqi Kurds moving toward independence?

Russia has special and cordial relations with the Kurds. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been extremely courageous and efficient in fighting terrorists. When it comes to sovereignty, we will act within the framework of international law. In the end, the rights of the Kurdish people will be upheld, but all specific issues will be determined by Iraq and the Kurdish people. We will not interfere in Iraq`s internal affairs.

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15:37

On the fight against Daesh and use of the Islamic State name for the terrorist group by media

Islam should never be put together with terror.

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15:30

On a bridge to the Crimean peninsula, the development of Russia`s westernmost Kaliningrad region

The name is not that important. The most important that it will operate. Currently, people call it the Kerch Strait brigde, but we can conduct a poll.

There are issues with energy deliveries to Kaliningrad. Our European partners are saying that we should get closer to each other, but in this case they are cutting ties with us. We will resolve the issue of sustainable deliveries of energy resources to Kaliningrad. This is one of the key issues for Kaliningrad`s development. Infrastructure is the second major area.

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15:22

Question from RT "accused of all mortal sins in the West": on the US presidential election, the so-called American democracy: is it still alive?

As for democracy, we have been speaking about this for a long time, but our American colleagues ignored that. We have long raised this issue. The US election system is archaic. But it`s up to American people to solve that. The Democratic Party has clearly forgotten what its name means.

I believe that the Americans will figure it out, the US is a great country.

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15:08

On import substitution amid foreign pressure on Russia

You speak about economic sovereignty. Economic sovereignty is extremely important. The independence of our financial system is also an issue. When they (the US and the EU) needed to pressure us, they started to use economy to pressure use. Import substitution of foreign consulting is an important issue. We must develop our own rating agencies. These organizations must be transparent.

As for rating agencies, nobody is going to hear them if they don`t prove their competitiveness. We need to make this area more sovereign.

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14:59

On oil prices; is Russian budget ready for implementing agreement with OPEC on oil production cuts

The situation was worse than average, our economy adjusted to the situation. Nobody knows what the prices would be like. We expect oil to stabilize at the current level.

How our economy will respond to oil cuts? It will be a gradual oil production cut. How our economy will respond to oil cuts? It will be a gradual oil production cut. It`s a first such decision by OPEC in the past 8 years. We will continue working with OPEC. We are not members of the cartel, but we will honor our commitments. This cooperation is beneficial to both members of OPEC and countries that are not part of the organization.

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14 :42

On Russia-Turkey thaw, potential of Russia-Ankara-Tehran trilateral group on Syria, murder of the Russian ambassador in Ankara

The tragedy that took place recently, I think, was an attempt on Russia and Russia`s relations with Turkey. Will that damage Russia-Turkish relations? No. This will not affect Russia`s relations with Turkey, because we understand how important these ties are. We will do a lot to develop them. After a thaw in our relations, we have managed to find common ground after the relations were improved. I hope we will be able to reach compromises in the future.

The trilateral cooperation has played a major part in resolving the Aleppo situation without combat activities. Some 100,000 people have been evacuated from Aleppo. This is the biggest humanitarian operation in the world. And it could not be achieved without the Turkish president, without Iran`s leadership and the Syrian president.

The next phase must see a nationwide ceasefire. Then political negotiations must take place. We have suggested that they could take place in Astana. Erdogan and Assad have agreed to that.

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14:32

On the "frozen" Ukrainian crisis, the Normandy format

As for the so-called occupants in Donbass. You should be more concerned that the Ukrainian troops would be considered occupants of Donbass for years to come.

Journalists should do what their profession tells them to do. As for servicemen of the Ukrainian army, nobody tortured them, they just confessed. Their contacts in Russia, other information, they revealed all that. If Kiev has a political will, this and other issues can be resolved.

As for the Normandy format group, indeed, it`s been not extremely efficient, but we have no other alternative. We have to continue working in this framework. Without it, the situation will only become worse.

As for Ukraine`s visa-free regime with the EU, I support that. I believe that a visa regime is a relic of the past, of the Cold War times.

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14:14

On Obama`s accusations of alleged Russia`s state-sposored hacking of the US presidential election

The basis for the new arms race have been created when the US withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. it`s not something we did. We have to respond to this challenge and made progress. It`s in the framework of all our agreements and obligations. We are not violating anything, including the New START. We were not the ones to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. But we have upgraded our nuclear potential. Yes, we improved our nuclear triad. Probably, this is what has prompted the US to upgrade their nuclear forces.

We are not the ones fueling the new arms race. We will never joint the arms race. By 2021, more than 70 percent of weapons in Russia`s arsenal will be upgraded or new.

I never reveal the content of our conversations with Obama one-on-one. The side that lost is always searching for someone to blame. Now it`s easy for them to blame some other countries. But the most important things is WHAT was revealed. The truth came out. The Democratic party manipulated the public opinion. he DNC chairman resigned. This means that this information was true. And instead of apologizing, they chose to blame others.

I have never publicly commented on my conversation with Obama. This is my rule.

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14:05

On doping in Russian sports, WADA`s potential reform

First of all, the issue of performance-enhancing substances has never been created in Russia. There is no state-run doping program. We are having some issues with doping just as many other countries. We will work with international organizations, WADA, to resolve this problem. As for (WADA`s) informants, who escaped from Russia to another country, he previously worked in Canada. He brought prohibited substances in Russia for the US or Canada. He made athletes take them.

We have to tackle this issue, primarily taking the health of athletes into account. I am convinced that activities of WADA and similar organizations have to be transparent and accountable. Transparency is essential in this area.

Clearly, there is a political component. We need to cleanse sport and culture from politics. They must unite and not divide people.

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13:54

New global world order, Russia`s relations with US after Trump`s win

All attempts to blame outside factors for all the failures of the outgoing administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party… Is it my work? There are systemic issues. There is a gap between what is good and what is bad when to comes to elites and people.

The fact that many Republican voters support the Russian president says that some Americans" share our view on global challenges and traditional values. "This is a good basis to build relations between Russia and the US. I think that former President Ronald Reagan would not "roll in his grave", but would have been happy his party wins. He would have been happy for the president-elect that he understood the grieve. He united the nation, while the current administration split the nation.

They have to learn how to lose. We want to build working relations with the next US administration.

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13:46

Development of Crimea, its intergration in Russia`s economy

As for the integration, you might know about the program of Crimea`s development, Crimea is a free economic zone, it`s more difficult than we expected. It greatly depends on local authorities. Crimea`s integration is underway. In Crimea, the inflation is even lower than 5.5 percent this year.

Shipbuilding, ship repairs, agriculture, chemical industry, tourism. I would like the high-tech sector to develop in Crimea. They could create high-tech and well-paid jobs in Crimea. You need to develop tourism. Once this bridge (the Kerch Strait Bridge) is put into operation, there will be more tourists.

Crimea has a lot of potential. I`m sure we will see some growth there. We just need to resolve issues, which had been unresolved for decades.

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13:40

On new types of arms, nuclear weapons

When it comes to Trump, there is nothing new about his comments. He spoke about increasing America`s nuclear potential during the election campaign. I was surprised by comments of some officials in the outgoing administration.

Yesterday, I said that Russia is stronger than any potential aggressor. And this is true. What is an aggressor? A country that can launch an attack against us. We have upgraded our land- and sea-based nuclear forces, as well as our Air Force.

We are acting in strict accordance with all our international commitments, including the New START Treaty.

Nothing new is happening here. Why would some officials in the US administration say that the US has the strongest military force in the world? We are saying that we are stronger that any aggressor.

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13:35

On Russia`s budget, defense spending, Rosneft deal

When it comes to Russia`s budget, we are using conservative estimates - $40 a barrel. We will fulfill our social commitments. In 2011, we spent 2.7 percent of our GDP on the defense. In 2016, it will be 4.7 percent. In 2017, we will go down. It will be 3.7 percent next year. This will not affect our defense capabilities. In the past five years we spent a lot of money on upgrading our army.

The Russian budget included the sake of a stake in Rosneft. They money has already been transfered. The government has already received 1.1 trillion rubles.

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13:18

What are Russia`s main economic problems?

The problem with economies like ours is when you have petrodollars, you can get cash easily, while other sector remain underdeveloped. Our country has been working on changing the structure of our economy. We are still investing less in high-tech sectors less than OECD countries. They invest 2.4 percent of their GDP, while we invest approximately 2.1 percent. The Russian government is making steps to resolve this issue. Export of IT-technologies was close to zero. Right now, Russian IT-exports amount to $7 billion.

Recently, we exported billions of dollars in weapons. In the defense indusstry, we see a real growth there. We have every reason to believe we can be a leader in many sectors. We should be leaders in a global technology revolution.

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13:14

On agriculture

I think that actually agricultural machinery shows a positive dynamic of development. This is a sector that helps to boost the economy. Agriculture has been growing by over 4 percent. However, the government plans to assistant certain sectors of the economy with subsidies. I hope this will produce a positive outcome.

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13:05

On Russian economy, inflation rate, GDP

When commenting on the issues Putin is expected to cover, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "That is Syria. And in the context the situation of in Syria many people are interested in the development of our armed forces. We know that the armed forces are taking part in a large cross-border operation for the first time in a long period of time.

They are doing a brilliant job. This topic is likely to attract much attention during the press conference. The process of the rearmament of the Russian army correlates with Russian economic potential."

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13:00

Russian President Vladimir Putin`s annual year-end press conference begins

When commenting on the issues Putin is expected to cover, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "That is Syria. And in the context the situation of in Syria many people are interested in the development of our armed forces. We know that the armed forces are taking part in a large cross-border operation for the first time in a long period of time. They are doing a brilliant job … This topic is likely to attract much attention [during the press conference]. The process of the rearmament of the Russian army correlates with [Russian] economic potential."

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