She pointed out that the Russian president didn’t change his policy regarding Syria, insisting that the conflict in the war-torn country can only be resolved via a political settlement.
However, he also didn't change his stance on Turkey, so just like with the situation in Ukraine, "there's no light of hope on the horizon," the journalist claims.
Atai also claimed that another hypothesis was confirmed today: the battle against the ‘Western foe’ became a secondary concern for Russia, as the country now considers Islamist terrorists as its 'enemy number one.'
ZDF points out that a few days prior to the conference Putin held a ‘rather amicable’ meeting with the US Secretary of State John Kerry who assured Moscow that the US doesn’t seek a regime change in Syria.
Atai was also quite surprised that Putin didn’t mention the possibility of the extension of the anti-Russian sanctions. At the same time, the Russian president didn't display any kind of growing concern for his country’s future.
On December 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a major end-of-year annual press conference, addressing the nation's economic concerns and issues on the international agenda. About 1,400 journalists from both Russian and foreign media outlets attended the event.
