December 21, 2018

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday sat down with 1,700 Russian and foreign journalist for his annual marathon question-and-answer session that lasted, as these things usually do, about four hours. Though Putin seemed bored at times when reciting domestic statistics on agriculture production, he livened up whenever talk of nuclear war came his way.

These are the moments when Putin, increasingly focused on foreign policy and Russia’s place in the world, is in his element. And though his answers are predictable and stick to already obvious Russian talking points, they serve as a useful calibration of where the Russian president’s head is at — or, at the very least, what impression he currently wants to convey.

Asked if he wanted to rule the world, Putin joked that he would, but that there is only one place where politicians aspire for global hegemony: Washington, D.C., citing the U.S. defense budget. He added that Russia only wishes to carve out a respectable seat at the table, one in which Moscow has equal standing with other major powers.

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https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/12/20/nukes-syria-trump-and-ukraine-putin-tackles-topics-in-marathon-qa-session/