First and foremost, Italian Institute of Geopolitics and Applied Sciences head Tiberio Graziani commented during President Putin's question-and-answer session in the context of the upcoming Russian presidential polls.
"This conference marks the beginning of the 2018 presidential campaign in Russia," he said.
Graziani also noted that Putin "gave very interesting points about the future of Russia, underlining the need for the country to have more flexible political and economic organization in order to face the challenges of modern society."
READ MORE: From Trump to Russian 2018 Election: Key Takeaways From Putin's Press Conference
He also underlines Putin welcoming Russian-US cooperation on a spate of hot-button international issues.
"I found some of Mr. Putin's words about Russia very interesting, about Russia and the US working together to overcome common challenges, such as terrorism, international crises, North Korea and the Middle East," he said.
In this regard, Graziani specifically mentioned Putin's words about US President Donald Trump's desire "to do something to cooperate together", which is opposed by "some consistent powers" in the US Administration.
Touching upon Putin's answers to questions about the situation the Middle East, Graziani praised Russia's "very important position" on the matter and its desire to address "the inequilibrium and instability in the region."
"Russia needs to stabilize the region and it is conducting serious activities and cooperating with Mediterranean countries. From Syria to Libya, there is an opportunity to cooperate in order to resolve this crisis," he added.
Dwelling upon Putin fielding North Korea-related issues, Graziani claimed that due to its "hegemonic position" in the Pacific, the United States is not interested in the resolution of the North Korean crisis, which he said is "instrumentalized by Washington."
READ MORE: Real De-Escalation': Why Putin Announced Pullout of Russian Troops From Syria
On December 14, President Vladimir Putin held his annual press conference to field a whole array of questions pertaining to Russia's domestic and foreign policy issues.
The event, which lasted nearly four hours, was attended by 1,640 Russian and foreign journalists, a new record.
The views and opinions expressed by Tiberio Graziani are those of the analyst and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
