MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Moscow lets US media outlets freely work in Russia even though Russian journalists are being persecuted in the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference, replying to a question from an American journalist.

"Esteemed colleague! Why do I say ‘esteemed’? Because, despite all this persecution of the Russian media, we are letting you work in Russia and you are freely doing so. This is already good," the Russian leader said.

That said, Putin stressed that, judging by the questions coming from the Western media as well as those who pay their salaries in the US, there is a clear desire to portray Russia as being in bad shape.