BERLIN, December 20. /TASS/. The content of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statements during the combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference is a demonstration that the country has achieved successes in the military, diplomatic and social spheres, and the West’s negative forecasts regarding Moscow have not materialized, the Focus publication wrote.

According to Focus, Russia, despite a tough sanctions regime, successfully exports its products and secures its defense budget, while simultaneously avoiding military expenditures dominating the entire rest of the economy. The West also failed to achieve the international isolation of Russia, with its ties with countries beyond only strengthening, and even NATO members Turkey and Hungary continuing to do business with Moscow, the latter also being an EU member state.

In turn, the European community, the publication wrote, is weak and unable to reach an agreement, and Western countries appear in the eyes of the Russian leader not as a unified bloc but as a "disordered mess." The failure of the agreement on the expropriation of Russian assets is evidence that "Putin won in Brussels, despite not being present there," Focus added, stressing that European leaders themselves are to blame for the situation that has developed in Europe, having "shown themselves to be quarrelsome, unmotivated, and divided."

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to 77 questions during the combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference, fielded both from journalists and live broadcast participants, with some asking multiple questions at once. The combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference headlined "Results of the Year" with Russian President Vladimir Putin has lasted 4 hours and 27 minutes.

Frozen Russian assets

The EU summit ended in the early hours on Friday after a discussion that lasted 17 hours and failed to overcome Belgium’s resistance and agree on the expropriation of Russian assets. The meeting participants confirmed their indefinite freezing without any real prospect of a voluntary return in the foreseeable future.

The EU countries decided to provide Ukraine with a 90 billion euro financing in 2026-2027. The union will raise the money through a loan, which Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic officially refused to participate in. Ukraine will receive the loan at zero percent and repay it if it receives full reparations from Russia, the amount of which, according to Brussels, exceeds half a trillion euros. The European Commission previously declared Ukraine insolvent and on this basis announced that it could not provide loans to it. However, it was forced to finance Kiev directly on a grant basis.