Putin’s annual ‘circus’: 5 top takeaways 

Contrary to the Kremlin’s promises, President Vladimir Putin’s annual question and answer session is never really a moment for Russians to share what’s on their chest. 

In reality, it works the other way around: The event offers Putin a platform to relay what’s top of mind for him.

With U.S. President Donald Trump angling for an elusive end-of-year peace deal, keeping his counterparts in Brussels and Ukraine in a state of anxious anticipation, the geopolitical stakes this year were heightened. 

To ensure unity of message, the Friday presser was, as per tradition, carefully choreographed, and questions — according to the Kremlin, there were some 3 million — meticulously vetted. 

Still, a few comments appeared to have slipped past the censors (see the bonus section lower down), offering a glint of sincerity.  

Here are 5 key takeaways from this year’s marathon phone-in.

(Still) on the warpath 

Since the Kremlin banned the word “war” in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 at risk of prosecution, it’s come a long way. 

“War or peace?” the show’s co-host asked a relaxed-looking Putin as the event kicked off shortly past noon local time. 

The question set the tone for the almost five hours that followed, during which the war in Ukraine remained front and center. 

Using questions posed by military correspondents, veterans and even the wife of a dead soldier, Putin made clear that, as far as he’s concerned, Russia’s war is going to plan and any problems are the result of “excessive bureaucracy.” 

At a time when various surveys show that many Russians are impatient for some version of peace, Putin is doubling down on his rallying cry for the country to unite in a common war, Moscow-based political analyst Andrei Kolesnikov told POLITICO. 

The message is that “victory, in the form of a peace on Russia’s terms, is close, and the population is united in support” of the war, he said. 

Peace on Russia’s terms

Viewers could be forgiven for thinking they’d stepped into a time machine back to February 2022, when Putin laid out his reasons for invading Ukraine. 

Seemingly trying to keep in Trump’s good books, Putin signaled Moscow was “ready and willing” to broker some deal on Ukraine. 

But his subsequent language suggests the opposite. He referred to the “Kyiv regime,” which had come to power by means of a “coup d’état,” and said Russia was battling “neo-Nazism.”  He also hinted at Moscow’s demands for Kyiv to give up its NATO ambitions and withdraw from eastern Ukraine. 

As always, Putin referred to the “root causes” for the war, citing the expansion of NATO as justification for his Ukraine invasion.

To Europe and NATO: Butt out

While praising China and Belarus for their close ties with Moscow, Europe and NATO drew Putin’s ire.

He nearly apologized for calling European leaders “little pigs” earlier this week at a meeting with the defense ministry, saying the words had “flown out” of his mouth.

But that didn’t stop him from dubbing them “robbers” for wanting to use Russian frozen assets to help Ukraine. 

Putin’s main target, however, was NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who last week cautioned Europeans to prepare for a war on the scale of their “grandparents and great grandparents.” 

“I really want to ask: Listen, what are you saying about preparing to go to war with Russia?” Putin scolded. “Can you even read? Read the U.S. National Security Strategy.”

Answering a question from the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg about the possibility of military escalation, Putin vowed, “there won’t be new special military operations if you treat us with respect and take our interests into account.”

To Russians: Lean in

It wasn’t all foreign policy. Putin also set aside time to address Russians’ financial concerns amid a slowing economy and high inflation, as the Kremlin is drowning its defense sector in cash. 

Rattling off statistics, he insisted there was no cause for concern, praising “deliberate action” taken by the country’s financial institutions to stabilize the economy. 

Meanwhile, he claimed, Russians were signing up to fight in droves. “There are very young boys, university students, who are taking a sabbatical to sign a contract [with the army], and to take part in combat operations,” he said. 

In reality, Russia has suffered an estimated 1 million casualties in the war, and those who were mobilized in the fall of 2022 have yet to be released, suggesting the authorities are struggling to fill the ranks. 

But Putin “is not concerned about the cost of continuing the ‘special military operation,’ whether financial, human, or psychological,” said Kolesnikov, the Moscow-based analyst. 

Anti-LGBTQ+ as national glue

With the war taking up most of the airtime, Putin nonetheless interspersed his answers with various references to another favorite topic: “traditional values.” 

He warned other countries that they risked having their assets seized by Europe for their conservative politics. “Tomorrow someone might dislike policies related to the LGBT community,” he said. “In Muslim and Islamic countries, there are many very strict laws protecting their traditional values, which are our shared traditional values.” 

And after a 23-year-old student seized the moment to propose to his girlfriend on air, Putin praised the young man for beginning dating his partner in his mid-teens. 

“In the Caucasus, they have the good tradition of marrying off their children at a young age. We should take their example,” he said.

What united all those fighting for Russia on the front, Putin summarized at a different moment, were their “common values.” 

Bonus: Fake or real? 

For viewers, the most exciting part of the stage was a big screen displaying text messages sent in by ordinary Russians. 

Some fit seamlessly with the general tone of the event: “How can I help make Russia an empire?” one message read. 

But others, less so. 

“[This is] not a direct line, but a circus,” a message which briefly appeared on screen said.

“Vladimir Vladimirovich, it’s Friday, can we break out the beer?” read another. 

It’s unclear whether the Kremlin deliberately allows such messages to slip through to give the event an air of legitimacy. Or whether some Russians just get lucky. 

Ketrin Jochecová contributed to this report.