Putin Says Russia Supports US Draft Resolution on Cutting IS Finances

Putin also addressed a slew of questions on foreign and domestic policy during the three-hour event, taking an angry swipe at Turkey over last month’s downing of a Russian fighter jet.

The Russian leader says that he had not discussed the issue with the leadership of the province of Chechnya, whose residents have been detained on suspicion of involvement in the crime, but added that no one would be immune from prosecution.

Putin has praised FIFA’s suspended president, Sepp Blatter, for his contribution to the world soccer. He said the downing of the Russian warplane was “an act of enmity” and that he did not understand why Turkey had done it. He also said the act contradicted Turkey’s interests.

“So the sooner we do this, the sooner we settle the conflict, the better”. This year, a Russian journalist asked Putin whether when he came to power he had hoped the result would be corruption among the children of Russia’s top officials, reports of which have recently been widely circulating in the Russian press.

Putin said Moscow supports the US draft of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria.

“This was a stab in the back”, Putin said.

Regarding Syria, Putin said the Russian military operation will continue until a political process starts.

Putin also said Russian Federation plans no sanctions against Ukraine, but will not extend preferential trade to Kyiv.

Addressing an annual news conference in Moscow, Putin said Russian Federation was cooperating with the United States over Syria. He urged the Ukrainian government to approve legislation on holding elections in the eastern regions, where Russia-backed separatists have been fighting government troops since April 2014. He said his talks with U.S. Secretary John Kerry earlier this week showed that Washington is ready to “move toward settling the issues that can only be settled through joint efforts”.

The president said he was unsure whether Russia needs a permanent military base in Syria, since new Russian weapons, such as sea- and air-launched cruise missiles used in recent strikes on targets in Syria, give Moscow enough punch to strike an enemy from afar.

Putin had positive things to say about the Russian economy, saying it has “passed the crisis – at least, the peak of the crisis”.

Putin often uses the occasion to speak colorfully, and on Turkey, he suggested that the Turkish government had shot down the Russian jet perhaps in order to please the US, in his words to “lick the U.S.in a certain place”. He said they live in Russian Federation and “live their own life and do it with dignity”.

But he signalled Moscow was not yet ready to withdraw its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying a new constitution needed to be drawn up and elections held to determine the fate of the conflict-torn country.