Star Metro - Moscow intent on pressing on in Ukraine: Putin

Speaking during his annual end-of-year news conference -- a staple of his 25-year rule -- Putin told Russians that Moscow was intent on pressing on in Ukraine, striking a confident tone.

The 73-year-old repeatedly says that Moscow will seize the rest of Ukrainian land he has proclaimed as Russian by force if talks fail.

Putin said Friday he did not feel personally responsible for the tens of thousands of people killed since Moscow launched its offensive, which has become Europe's worst conflict since World War II.

"We did not start this war," he said, repeating a frequent narrative pushed by Moscow throughout the conflict.

"We do not consider ourselves responsible for the loss of life."

Putin ordered the all-out assault in Ukraine in February 2022, sending troops and tanks towards Kyiv.

He also denied dragging out settlement talks and turning down proposals -- claiming Moscow had agreed to "some compromises" -- without elaborating.

"The ball is now fully and completely on the side of our Western opponents... first of all the head of the Kyiv regime and their European sponsors," Putin said.

The United States, Ukraine and Europeans have been refining a proposal first put forward by Washington last month that many saw as heeding most of Moscow's core demands for how the conflict should end.

- 'Our troops advancing' -

Putin said that Russia's recent advances in Ukraine should force Kyiv to agree to a deal -- that original version of which included Ukraine ceding land to Moscow.

Russia and Washington are also pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold a presidential election, with Putin saying Russia could halt long-range strikes on voting day.

Listing a string of cities and towns in eastern Ukraine now eyed by the Russian army, the Kremlin chief said he was certain Moscow would soon capture more settlements.

"Our troops are advancing along the entire line of contact," Putin said.

"I'm sure that before the end of this year we will still witness new success," he added.

The Russian army made its biggest advance in Ukraine in a year in November, AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War showed.

Speaking at the same time from an event in Cairo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned a European proposal to send a multinational force to police any potential peace deal in Ukraine as a "brazen" threat to Russia.

And Putin also warned of "severe" consequences if the EU used Russia's frozen assets to fund Ukraine's recovery and defence, after Brussels failed to approve a plan to tap the funds.

In another message to the West, Putin said that Russia would not attack other countries -- as long as it was treated "with respect" -- without clarifying what he meant.

As he spoke, Zelensky said on a visit to Warsaw that Russia would come for Poland if Ukraine fell.

- Downplays economy woes -

The four-and-a-half-hour long televised event -- a mix of questions from the press and call-ins from Russia's 12 time zones -- is a fixture of the Russian political calendar, generating frenzied media coverage in the weeks leading up to it.

The Kremlin said almost three million people had sent questions to Putin and security was heavy in Moscow during the event.

Putin mused on everything from geopolitics to regional development issues to his views on love and family life, at times pledging to intervene to fix the problems of citizens caught up in local bureaucracy.

He downplayed the economic costs of the war for Moscow, even as the Central Bank trimmed interest rates amid slowing growth.

Russia has lived under massive Western sanctions for almost four years, while ramped up military spending has strained the public finances and caused prices to surge.

A.Lavoie--SMC