MOSCOW, December 18 (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a big end-of-the-year press conference on Thursday noon Moscow time (09:00 GMT) where he will have the opportunity to address the nation's economic concerns, as well as burning international issues.
According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, economic issues are expected to be the major point of the upcoming discussion. "It is obvious that economy will probably be the first question to be raised. The sitiation with economy, ruble, measures to be taken by the Russian authorities," Peskov said. He added that international relations would also be on agenda.
This will be Putin's tenth major encounter with Russian and international reporters over the three terms he has served as head of state. He usually holds one large press meeting per year, which traditionally lasts several hours.
The precise length of the question-and-answer session is a regular topic of speculation before the day. The president set the record in April 2013, when he answered questions for four hours and 47 minutes.
This year's press meeting is expected to zero in on the country's ailing economy and the prolonged standoff with the West over Ukraine, according to Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
This year the United States and its allies in Europe have slapped Russia with rounds of economic sanctions targeting its sensitive energy, defense and banking sectors. The sanctions, imposed over the Ukrainian crisis, and a slump in oil prices have weighed down the Russian national currency, halving its value against the dollar and prompting the country's Central Bank to dig deeper into the pockets of the safety-net Reserve Fund.
The crisis in Ukraine is expected to dominate the foreign policy agenda of the press conference. The former Soviet republic has been rocked by a bloody military conflict since a coup in February put a West-leaning government into power and led to a massive uprising in the east of Ukraine.
Russia's stance on the situation, as well as its decision to provide crisis-hit eastern provinces in Ukraine with essential humanitarian aid, was met with criticism in the West. The United States, the European Union and its allies slammed Russia for interference in Ukraine's domestic affairs, the claim Moscow has repeatedly denied.
President Putin is expected to give a breakdown on these events, although the discussion has traditionally been more about domestic policies and social woes.
The conference will be broadcast live by two Russian TV channels, Rossiya-1 and Rossiya-2, as well as the news website Vesti.ru.
For a live stream of President Putin’s annual press conference, stay tuned to our website or follow our live updates on Twitter.
