One of the most anticipated questions today is whether Putin will be asked about the poisoning of anti-corruption crusader and opposition politician Aleksei Navalny. (and of course whether he will answer).
Earlier this week, the open-source research group Bellingcat, along with The Insider, CNN, and Der Spiegel, published a bombshell investigation that found Navalny, who almost died in August, had been poisoned by Novichok by a special group of FSB agents who had trailed him for several years.
Navalny himself concluded that such an operation could not have been carried out without the approval of the head of the FSB, and Putin himself.
Ahead of the news conference, Navalny appeared to taunt Putin slightly, with a post on Facebook that repeated some of the findings of the case.
"We've grabbed the popcorn. We're waiting for Putin," he wrote.
Putin says the new elections will be held under the constitution that was radically amended earlier this year, giving the State Duma new powers, including greater influence on choice of prime minister and cabinet. This "fundamentally increases" the power and responsibility of the Duma, Putin says.
As for new parties and whether it is time for the old political lions to step aside, Putin said that is up to the voters. He says that a large number of parties will be participating in the new elections and many of them have the right to participate without collecting signatures.
Praises the range of points of view and the sharp debates that one sees in the current Duma from the "traditional parties," even though all of them are based fundamentally on patriotism.
Next question is about the 2021 Duma elections. How will these elections be different and what is the current political landscape? Will the upcoming elections provide an opportunity to new, small parties? What about the problem of external interference?
Putin says that "of course" the government is analyzing the pandemic experience as it plans future health-care reforms.
A frequent refrain on COVID: Putin suggests we're all in the same boat but asserts Russia's boat is more seaworthy than others. Some would beg to differ.
Says that Russia had plenty of problems but overall the health-care system reacted to the pandemic effectively.
Putin says 70 percent of Russia’s federal budget now comes from sources other than oil and gas. “If someone wants to present us as a gas station, this no longer has a basis in reality,” he says, in an apparent reference to the late Senator John McCain calling Russia “a gas station masquerading as a country” in a 2014 interview.
According to figures from the country’s Finance Ministry, 51 percent of the Russian federal budget came from oil and gas in 2014, compared to 39 percent in 2019.
- By Mike Eckel
Putin takes the second question, about the state of Russia's health-care system and COVID and defends the government's response:
He says: no health-care system anywhere in the world was ready for the pandemic. But our health care was better than most others.
As of December 17: Russia reported 2,736,727 cumulative cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University. The Russia government's official figure for deaths is 49,151.
