MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he preferred spending holidays in his home country, but saw nothing wrong in his Ukrainian counterpart Pyotr Poroshenko’s vacation in the Maldives.

"As far as the New Year holidays and all other holidays are concerned, I spend all of them in Russia. That’s a tradition and, frankly, I feel no urge to travel anywhere," the Russian leader said at a meeting with top editors of the Russian printed media and news agencies.

He said he met the New Year at home, and then made a brief trip to Siberia.

When one of his interlocutors referred to Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko’s decision to meet the New Year in the Maldives, Putin replied: "I don’t think that it is shameful for a president to travel abroad and spend some time there with his family."

"Anyway, he [Poroshenko] is a rich person and can afford foreign trips, including to the Maldives or some other islands," he added.