Tusia President Vladimir Putin announced today that Russian forces are moving towards achieving their primary objectives on the battlefield in Ukraine and are taking control of significant territory every day, Reuters reports.
The President of Russia said this at the traditional annual press conference.
Answering questions at his annual meeting with citizens, Putin said Russian forces were advancing along the entire front.
"I must say that the situation is changing dramatically. There is movement along the entire front line. Every day," he said.
Reuters reports that military analysts say Russia is advancing in eastern Ukraine at its fastest pace since 2022.
"Our fighters are reclaiming territory per square kilometer every day. The fighting is tough, so it is difficult and pointless to guess what lies ahead... (but) we are going, as you said, towards solving our primary tasks that we outlined at the beginning of the special military operation" , Putin pointed out.
Speaking about the continued presence of Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region, Putin said that they would definitely be driven out, but refused to say when exactly that would happen.
Putin, as reported by Reuters, proposed a missile "duel" with the United States of America (USA) that would show how the new Russian hypersonic ballistic missile "Oreshnik" can defeat any American anti-missile defense system.
Due to the West's skepticism about the "Oreshnik", Putin proposed that both sides choose a specific target that will be protected by American missiles, according to Reuters.
"We are ready for such an experiment," Putin said.
Putin also said the Oreshnik was a modern weapon, even though it was based on a previous Russian design.
Reuters reports that Russia first fired an Oreshnik missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on November 21, in what Putin said was a response to Ukraine's first use of US ATACMs and British Storm Shadows to strike Russian territory with permission. of the West.
Ready to talk to Trump
Putin said that he is ready to talk with the newly elected President of the United States of America (USA) Donald Trump and said that Russia is getting stronger.
When asked what he would offer Trump, Putin said he did not know when the two would meet.
The economy is stable, but there is overheating
Putin said that the Russian economy is showing signs of overheating, which is causing alarmingly high inflation.
Putin supported the central bank's tight monetary policy, but also suggested it could have acted in a timely manner.
Reuters reports that at a meeting on Friday, the regulator is expected to aggressively raise its key interest rate by 200 basis points to 23 percent, the highest level in 20 years. His strict monetary policy has drawn harsh criticism from businesses.
"There are some issues here, namely inflation, a certain overheating of the economy, and the Government and the central bank already have the task of reducing the pace," said Putin.
He also said that he spoke with the governor of the central bank, Elvira Nabiulina, who warned him that inflation will be 9,2%-9,3% in 2024, which is significantly higher than the central bank's estimate of 8,5%.
Putin said that as a result of strict monetary policy and government measures to cool the economy, economic growth rates in 2025 will be reduced from this year's four percent.
"I think (the growth rate) next year should be somewhere around 2-2,5%, a kind of soft landing to maintain macroeconomic indicators," Putin added.
Inflation is a bad thing
Putin said previously the central bank could have used instruments other than the key rate to cool the economy, while the government could have worked with different sectors of the economy to boost supply.
"These timely decisions should have been made. It is an unpleasant and bad thing, in fact the rise in prices. But I hope that in general, while maintaining macroeconomic indicators, we will deal with it," he said.
Putin said that Western sanctions, as well as this year's poor harvest due to extreme weather conditions in many agricultural regions across Russia, are to blame for the high prices.
Reuters reports that high inflation, caused in recent months by rising food prices, has hit the pockets of Russian citizens.
The latest inflation data showed that tomato prices rose by 4,1 percent and cucumber prices by ten percent during one week in December.
This time last year, Putin was forced to issue a rare apology over rising egg prices.
A year later, the increasing price of butter led to thefts in some supermarkets.
Inflationary expectations of the population, a key benchmark for the central bank, reached their highest level this month this month.
Grigory Zakuraev, a factory worker, told Reuters that 1.000 rubles in a supermarket is much less than three years ago.
"Everything has become more expensive. Of course, it is felt in the wallet, price changes, inflation," he said.
Oil spill in the Black Sea - an ecological disaster
Putin said that the oil spill caused by two Russian tankers in the Black Sea represented an environmental disaster.
Reuters reports that crude oil has spilled over tens of kilometers of Russia's Black Sea coast after two tankers were badly damaged in a storm over the weekend.
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