MOSCOW, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to send a signal to the United States and European powers on Friday over his appetite for peace or more war in Ukraine when he
Putin Maintains Ukraine Demands, Criticizes EU Asset Actions
By Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW, Dec 19 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin offered no compromise on Friday on his terms for ending the war in Ukraine and accused the European Union of attempting "daylight robbery" of Russian assets.
As U.S. President Donald Trump seeks an end to Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two, Putin said the onus was on Ukraine and Europe to make the next move towards peace.
"President Trump is making serious efforts to end this conflict. He is doing so with complete sincerity," Putin said.
"The ball is entirely in the court of our Western opponents, primarily the leaders of the Kyiv regime, and in this case, first and foremost, their European sponsors. We are ready for both negotiations and a peaceful resolution to the conflict."
Trump is pushing for a peace deal on terms that Ukraine and its European allies fear will be slanted towards Russia. Kyiv has long called for a ceasefire and said it does not believe that Putin, who sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, is serious about seeking peace.
PUTIN HOLDS MARATHON PRESS CONFERENCE
Putin was addressing an annual press conference and "Direct Line" phone-in that ran for almost 4-1/2 hours. While Ukraine was the dominant topic, the event was punctuated by bizarre moments and occasional barbed comments from ordinary Russians whose text messages were flashed up on a big screen in the hall.
"Not a direct line but a circus," one message read. Others complained about internet outages, dirty tap water and the cost of living.
Putin said Russia's terms for ending the war in Ukraine were those he set out in a speech in June 2024, when he demanded Ukraine abandon its ambition of joining NATO and withdraw entirely from four regions Russia claims as its own territory.
Kyiv says it will not cede land that Moscow's forces have failed to capture in nearly four years of war.
A Ukrainian official said on Friday Ukraine had struck a Russian "shadow fleet" oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea with aerial drones for the first time, reflecting the growing intensity of Kyiv's attacks on Russian oil shipping.
Putin says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is an illegitimate leader. Zelenskiy's mandate expired last year but Ukraine, under martial law as it fights Russian forces, is constitutionally prevented from holding new elections.
If an election were held, Putin said, Russia would be ready to consider a halt to strikes deep inside Ukraine while people voted. He said 5-10 million Ukrainians living in Russia should be allowed to take part.
EU LOAN TO UKRAINE
Putin was speaking hours after European Union leaders set aside a plan to use frozen Russian assets as backing for a loan to Ukraine, deciding instead to borrow cash to help fund Kyiv's defence against Russia for the next two years.
The EU leaders said they reserved the right to use Russian assets to repay the loan if Moscow fails to pay war reparations to Ukraine.
Putin said the bloc had backed away from the original scheme because it would have faced serious repercussions, and it had damaged its status as a safe place to store assets.
"Theft is not the appropriate term... It's daylight robbery. Why can't this robbery be carried out? Because the consequences could be grave for the robbers," he said.
ON-SCREEN GLITCHES
The Kremlin said it had received over 2.6 million questions in advance for Putin's press conference. It styles the event as a demonstration of his openness to respond to questions on any topic.
The 73-year-old president, who is divorced, replied to one questioner in the affirmative when asked if he was in love, but did not elaborate. He told a boy he sometimes drives round Moscow incognito to understand what is happening in Russia.
Putin at one point gave the floor to Naran Ochir-Goryaev, a decorated Hero of Russia who described his part in Russia's storming of the Ukrainian town of Siversk.
Putin apologised to the widow of a soldier killed in action after she said her family had not yet received the compensation due to them. State media later reported she had been paid.
Ukraine says Russian gains are incremental and have come at the cost of huge casualties. It says it is fighting back in locations such as Kupiansk in the northeast, which Russia said it had captured last month.
Putin said a sharp slowing in the Russian economy - to 1% growth this year from 4.3% in 2024 - was the result of conscious actions by the central bank to bring down the rate of inflation.
While his press conference was under way, the bank announced it was cutting its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 16%.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Vladimir Soldatkin, Anton Kolodyazhnyy, Anastasia Teterevleva, Filipp Lebedev, Felix Light, Darya Korsunskaya, Olesya Astakhova, Oksana Kobzeva, Maxim Rodionov, Dmitry Antonov, Gleb Bryanski and Gleb Stolyarov; writing by Mark Trevelyan, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
