Key takeaways from Putin’s marathon annual press conference

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual press conference Thursday, after skipping it last year when Russia was rapidly losing ground in Ukraine.

Putin’s return to the annual tradition was a sign of renewed confidence, as Ukraine’s fall counteroffensive failed to secure major victories, and Western support for Kyiv appears to be cracking.

Putin’s address comes just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington this week to urge Congress to continue arming Ukraine in its battle against Russia’s invading forces.

Russia is approaching its two-year mark of its invasion on Ukraine and has paid a high cost. The U.S. reportedly estimates that Russia has lost more than 300,000 soldiers to either death, injury or desertion since the war started.

Here are some key takeaways from the press conference:

Warns there will be no peace in Ukraine until Russia achieves its goals

Putin warned there would be no peace solution in Ukraine until Russia achieves its overarching goals: the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine.

“There will be peace when we achieve our goals. Let’s return to these goals: they have not changed. I’ll remind you of what we talked about then: the denazification of Ukraine, its demilitarization, its neutral status,” Putin said, according to Reuters.

He said if Ukraine won’t come to an agreement, Russia will be “forced to take other measures, including military ones,” Reuters reported. Putin added they will “either reach an agreement or resolve it by force.”

Putin outlined similar objectives when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The “denazification” of Ukraine refers to a false Russian narrative that Kyiv is influenced by radical nationalist and neo-Nazi groups — a claim denied by Ukraine and allies in the West, who note that Zelensky himself is Jewish.

Blasts NATO’s ‘burning urge’ to add Ukraine

Putin also attacked Western countries for suggesting Ukraine join NATO, reiterating his argument that U.S. and European expansionism started the war.

“That, combined with a burning urge to creep up to our borders and drag Ukraine into NATO — all of this has led to the tragedy. In addition, there has been bloodshed in Donbass for eight years,” he said, per a Kremlin translation. “All this taken together has led to the tragedy that we are now experiencing. They forced us to take these actions.”

President Biden sent the opposite message during a press conference Tuesday alongside Zelensky.

“And NATO will be in Ukraine’s future. No question about that,” Biden said. “But … as said we said in Vilnius, Ukraine will become a member of NATO when all Allies agree and conditions are met.  Right now … we have to make sure they win the war.”

Putin reiterated that much of Ukraine today, like the Black Sea port of Odesa, historically belonged to Russia, and he called the war he started in Ukraine a “huge tragedy.”

“The problem is, as I have always said and as I am saying today, that despite the current tragic developments, Russians and Ukrainians are essentially one people,” Putin said. “What is happening now is an immense tragedy; it is like a civil war between brothers who stand on different sides. But overall, they are not, to a large extent, responsible for this.”

Promises no second military draft

Putin said there was no need to order a second military draft, saying Russia has enough military personnel to “defend” Russia.

“The flow of men ready to defend our homeland with arms in hand is not decreasing. Together with volunteers, there should be around half a million people. There is no need for mobilization as of today,” he told reporters, according to Reuters.

There are about 617,000 Russian soldiers stationed in Ukraine, including about 244,000 troops who were called up last year to fight alongside the professional military forces, Putin said, per The Associated Press. Putin’s draft order spurred criticism of the war within Russia.

In September 2022, he ordered mobilization of 300,000 reservists to support his efforts in Ukraine. Putin ordered the country’s military earlier this month to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000, but noted that this did not mean it would be an increase in mandatory conscription. 

Hopes ‘to find a solution’ on detained Americans in Russia

Putin also discussed efforts between Moscow and Washington, D.C., “to find a solution” on detained Americans Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich.

“We have contacts on this matter with our American partners, there’s a dialogue on this issue. It’s not easy, I won’t go into details right now. But in general, it seems to me that we’re speaking a language each of us understands,” Putin said, the AP reported. 

“I hope we will find a solution. But, I repeat, the American side must hear us and make a decision that will satisfy the Russian side as well.”

Whelan, a former U.S. Marine and corporate security executive from Russia, was arrested in 2018 on espionage charges that he has continued to deny. He was sentenced to 16 years based on the accusations and is considered wrongly detained by the U.S.

Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was detained in March on espionage charges and has been awaiting trial from a Moscow jail. The Journal and the U.S. have denied the allegations. 

A Russian district court last month extended his detention until the end of January. Gershkovich’s appeal on the extension was rejected by the Moscow City Court at a Thursday hearing.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has suggested it will consider a swap for Gershkovich but only after a verdict is reached in his trial, which could last more than a year.