Itar-Tass, RT 12-17-15… “Putin answers diverse questions” and “Putin’s best Q&A quotes” from today’s press conference

Click to view video of conference

These tell a bit about the 3-hour press conference from earlier today. Also, here is a link to an RT video of the full conference (posted at Kp blog here).

Putin answers diverse questions at yearend news conference (TASS)

Putin’s best Q&A quotes from ‘Ankara sucking up to US’ to ‘Trump being absolute frontrunner’ (RT)

“Never at loss for words, Putin was as straight-forward as ever at his annual Q&A session. Russian relations with Turkey, the Syrian and Ukrainian crises, as well as the US presidential race were the highlights of the 3-hour long marathon attended by 1,400 journalists.

“When asked about third party interests contributing to the deterioration of Russia-Turkey relations, Putin wondered if Washington might have something to do with it. “We don’t know that for sure, but if someone in the Turkish leadership wanted to suck up to the Americans, I’m not sure whether they did the right thing or not,” he said.

“Russia won’t cease its military campaign in Syria because of the Su-24 downing, even if Ankara expected that, said Putin. “[Ankara] thought we would flee [Syria]! No, Russia is not a country to act like that. We increased our presence in Syria; we increased the strength of our air forces. There were no anti-aircraft weapon systems there before – now there is the S-400,” he said. “Turkey used to violate Syrian airspace on a regular basis, now let’s see them fly there”

“After the main part of the Q&A session was over, Putin was asked about his attitude towards Donald Trump. “It’s not our business to define his accomplishments,” Putin said. “But he is the absolute leader of the presidential race [in the US]”.”