04:53Russian President Vladimir Putin said it’s time to “turn the page” on issues surrounding opposition figure Alexei Navalny if the West cannot provide concrete evidence on his poisoning, speaking at his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
“Let our specialists come, let us take a sample. Give us grounds to at least institute criminal proceedings. No. Zero. We are asking - how to explain it? Silence. So, there is no need to talk about it, let's turn the page if there is nothing to answer,” Putin said.
He also touched on Russia’s law labelling independent media and NGOs as “foreign agents”, saying only 0.034 percent of organisations in Russia fell under the category, adding that the law was not created in Russia but in the West during the 1930s.
Going on to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s low vaccination rate and high excess death toll, Putin stated the importance of getting vaccinated must be respectfully explained to the people.
"People who have had the disease are getting sick again. They get sick. How many? Only one percent falls ill from those who have recovered from the disease […] These figures, objective figures, you just have to explain them to people,” said the president.
This year 507 representatives of Russian and foreign media have been accredited to participate in the press conference with the president.
The event has been held since 2001, with no pressers held in 2009-2011.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the event lasted for 4 hours and 29 minutes and was done via videoconference. The longest press conference took place in 2008 when Putin spoke for 4 hours and 40 minutes.
Russia: Putin says time to move on from Navalny issue
Russian President Vladimir Putin said it’s time to “turn the page” on issues surrounding opposition figure Alexei Navalny if the West cannot provide concrete evidence on his poisoning, speaking at his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
“Let our specialists come, let us take a sample. Give us grounds to at least institute criminal proceedings. No. Zero. We are asking - how to explain it? Silence. So, there is no need to talk about it, let's turn the page if there is nothing to answer,” Putin said.
He also touched on Russia’s law labelling independent media and NGOs as “foreign agents”, saying only 0.034 percent of organisations in Russia fell under the category, adding that the law was not created in Russia but in the West during the 1930s.
Going on to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s low vaccination rate and high excess death toll, Putin stated the importance of getting vaccinated must be respectfully explained to the people.
"People who have had the disease are getting sick again. They get sick. How many? Only one percent falls ill from those who have recovered from the disease […] These figures, objective figures, you just have to explain them to people,” said the president.
This year 507 representatives of Russian and foreign media have been accredited to participate in the press conference with the president.
The event has been held since 2001, with no pressers held in 2009-2011.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the event lasted for 4 hours and 29 minutes and was done via videoconference. The longest press conference took place in 2008 when Putin spoke for 4 hours and 40 minutes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said it’s time to “turn the page” on issues surrounding opposition figure Alexei Navalny if the West cannot provide concrete evidence on his poisoning, speaking at his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
“Let our specialists come, let us take a sample. Give us grounds to at least institute criminal proceedings. No. Zero. We are asking - how to explain it? Silence. So, there is no need to talk about it, let's turn the page if there is nothing to answer,” Putin said.
He also touched on Russia’s law labelling independent media and NGOs as “foreign agents”, saying only 0.034 percent of organisations in Russia fell under the category, adding that the law was not created in Russia but in the West during the 1930s.
Going on to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s low vaccination rate and high excess death toll, Putin stated the importance of getting vaccinated must be respectfully explained to the people.
"People who have had the disease are getting sick again. They get sick. How many? Only one percent falls ill from those who have recovered from the disease […] These figures, objective figures, you just have to explain them to people,” said the president.
This year 507 representatives of Russian and foreign media have been accredited to participate in the press conference with the president.
The event has been held since 2001, with no pressers held in 2009-2011.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the event lasted for 4 hours and 29 minutes and was done via videoconference. The longest press conference took place in 2008 when Putin spoke for 4 hours and 40 minutes.