Putin then responds on the decision to raise retirement ages. Says doing this was inevitable sooner or later and doing it now allowed the government to do it gradually. Says he wouldn't have allowed it to happen if he was not convinced it was inevitable. Promises to look into all the specific local issues that the journalist raised.
Putin returns to a previous question about human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov and says he can't interfere with the decision of a court. (Ponomaryov was recently jailed for 16 days for organizing a protest against the arrests of activists from New Greatness and Network, two groups that the Russian authorities accuse of extremism.)
Journalist from Vladivostok thanks Putin for his recent decision to name the city the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District (some analysts say he moved the capital from Khabarovsk because that region recently elected a "protest" governor from one of the systemic "opposition" parties). The journalist then gives a list of local problems in Vladivostok until other journalists tell him to get to his question. He then launches into a tirade against the government decision to raise retirement ages. Asks Putin whether he would overturn that return. Then wishes Putin a happy new year.
Journalist asks about "Putin's chef," Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the Vagner private security company. Asks what Putin thinks about the work of such companies. Putin disputes the term "Putin's chef" for describing Prigozhin, who also owns the Internet Research Agency troll factory that interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other Western political processes. Putin then says Vagner and other private security firms should not do anything illegal. Says the Russian journalists who were killed in Africa while reporting on Vagner were to blame themselves for traveling without letting the authorities know. But expresses his condolences anyway.
Russian social media and others poking fun at the fact that the Brexit question was asked by the "British" journalist, Sergei Brilev, who works for Russian TV and has admitted to having obtained British citizenship, and a London apartment.
Next journalist asks about Russian-British relations, whether Putin met with British Prime Minister May at G-20 in Argentina, what Brexit means for Russia. Putin says he spoke briefly with May but they didn't meet. Putin says Brexit will only touch Russia indirectly. Praises role of BP in Rosneft. Putin says May has to go ahead with Brexit because there was a referendum and you have to respect democracy. "Of course, that is their business," he adds.
Next journalist notes the "yellow jacket" protests in France over rising gas prices and asks Putin if he foresees similar protests in Russia. Putin says the state must "definitely" protect the right of people to express their opinions, but at the same time it must be done "within the framework of the law." Putin says it would be improper to assess the French government in connection with the protests, and then proceeds to do exactly that. In Russia, he says, gas prices went up last year because of increases in the price of oil but the government immediately introduced measures to soften the blow.
Ekho Moskvy takes aim at one of the many soft questions tossed Putin's way during the press conference: When will you get married, Mr. President?"
The same journalist also asked about the split in Orthodoxy as the Ukrainian church tries to gain independence from the Russian Orthodox Church. Putin says this is a gross political interference in religious affairs by the state that didn't even happen in Soviet times. Also hints at a nefarious role in this dispute by the United States, and the impact of Ukraine's presidential election. Says it is bad for religious freedom and will lead to a "division of property" that could be "difficult, even bloody." Talks about defenseless, unarmed people left to the whims of fate.