Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hasn’t yet met with exiled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad — even though he personally made the decision to grant the dictator and his family asylum when Syria’s longtime dictator fled the country after his regime crumbled. 

He made the comment during an annual press conference and question-and-answer session, where he fielded questions from both journalists in the audience and Russian citizens who submitted their queries ahead of time.

The topics ranged from Syria, Ukraine, Russia’s economy and Putin’s relationship with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, all part of a carefully choreographed spectacle that has lasted for more than four hours.

Putin, who said he hasn’t spoken to Trump in four years, said he is open to meeting with the incoming U.S. president, who has repeatedly vowed to end the war in Ukraine soon after taking office on Jan. 20. 

While many questions from the audience came from journalists affiliated with Russian state media, NBC correspondent Keir Simmons asked Putin if he was prepared to compromise when it comes to Ukraine — a question the Russian president didn’t fully answer. 

“We are ready,” Putin said without offering any specifics. “We just need the other side to be ready, too. For negotiations and for compromise.”

The Kremlin has said repeatedly it will not negotiate with Ukraine unless it renounces its ambition to join NATO and withdraws soldiers from territories now controlled by Russian troops.

Kursk

Putin was also asked about Russia’s fight to recapture several hundred square kilometres of the Kursk region, which Ukraine still controls after a lightning offensive in western Russia in August. 

He said Russian troops are fighting to take Kursk back, but there is no firm date when they will “liberate” it. 

“The situation [at the front] is changing dramatically. There is movement along the entire front line every day,” he said.

He noted the campaign into Ukraine should have begun before February 2022, saying Russia should have “systematically prepared for it.”

Though he went on to praise the heroic efforts of Russian soldiers, there was no mention of the thousands of North Korean troops that Ukraine and the U.S. say are fighting alongside the Russians.

 At least 100 of them have been killed according to a South Korean lawmaker who cited information from the country’s spy agency on Thursday. 

Russian state media reported that two million Russian citizens submitted questions ahead of Putin’s press conference on topics that ranged from the cost of living, mortgage rates and what Russia still calls its “special military operation.”

Economy

The first question was about Russia’s economy, given the surging inflation rate driven by the country funnelling money into the war effort. Throughout the country, there have been concerns about the rising price of food and groceries. 

Putin admitted that the inflation rate, which sits above nine per cent, is an “alarming” figure but said government measures to cool the economy are working. He said economic growth is expected to be about four per cent this year and will slow in 2025. 

“I think the [growth rate] next year should be somewhere around two to 2.5 per cent, a sort of soft landing in order to maintain macroeconomic indicators,” he said. 

Syria 

Putin was asked about Russia’s presence in Syria, where it has two major military bases, the Hmeimim airbase and a naval base at the port of Tartous. 

Satellite images indicate that Russia is in the process of moving some of the military equipment, but Putin said that Russia has proposed that its “partners” use the airbase for humanitarian purposes. 

The future of the airbase, which was used to launch strikes across Syria in support of Assad, is now in question, given that rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, has taken control of Damascus, pushing out the Assad government that Russia spent years backing. 

“On the whole, we have achieved our goal,” Putin claimed when speaking about the bases. “We maintain relations with all the groups that control the situation there,

He also condemned Israel’s seizure of territories in the country, and he said he believed Israel had no intention of withdrawing its troops from Syria.

U.S. journalist Austin Tice 

During the press conference, Simmons asked Putin if he would speak to Assad about missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012.

Putin replied that Tice was someone who disappeared 12 years ago during a civil war but then said he would ask Assad about the American when the two speak.

Tice, a former U.S. marine, was one of the first U.S. journalists to make it into Syria after the start of the war. 

U.S. President Joe Biden said earlier this month the government believes Tice is still alive. There had been hope Tice would be found among the thousands of people released from prisons in Damascus.