MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding a major end-of-the-year press conference, where he is expected to focus on economic issues, the situation in Syria, Russia-US relations and the Ukrainian peace settlement.
"The government’s reserve fund has shrunk a bit but stayed basically the same in November … at $100 billion. There’s been an uptick in the central bank’s gold and currency reserves, from the initial $368 billion to the current $400 billion or over $385 billion. So we’re faring well, it’s a good safety cushion," Putin said at the annual press conference.
