From endorsement of suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter for the Nobel prize to pride for his daughters and suggesting that Turkish leadership is toadying to Washington, Vladimir Putin's press conference Thursday was a mix of populism and crude street language.
Here are some of the more notable quotes from his annual three-hour-long appearance before hundreds of journalists:
SEPP BLATTER
"That is someone who should be given the Nobel Peace Prize... His contribution to the global humanitarian sphere is colossal."
DONALD TRUMP
"He is a very outstanding man, unquestionably talented. It is not up to us to judge his virtue, that is up to US voters, but he is the absolute leader of the presidential race."
SYRIAN OPPOSITION
"It was the idea of Francois Hollande, to try and bring together the efforts of the Syrian army and at least part of the armed opposition in fighting ISIL. We are, at least partially, succeeding in doing this.
"We have found contact with these people -- this so-called opposition, the uncompromising armed opposition in Syria -- who want to fight ISIL and are doing it in practice. We support their efforts in fighting ISIL with Russian air strikes."
TURKEY
"On the state level, I don't see any prospects of improving relations with the Turkish leadership."
"If somebody in the Turkish leadership decided to lick the Americans in one place... I don't know, if they did the right thing. Firstly, I don't know if the Americans need this or not."
"The creeping Islamisation which would probably cause Ataturk to turn over in his grave, you see, impacts us too. We see that there are militants in Turkey, those from the Northern Caucasus, for example... They sit there, they get medical treatment, they are provided with security. And then they use the no-visa regime to arrive on Turkish passports, and we have to go catch them in the Caucasus or in our large cities."
PUTIN'S DAUGHTERS
"They live in Russia, it is true, and they never left to live permanently anywhere else. That doesn't mean that they don't contact colleagues and don't communicate. I am proud of them. They continue to study and work.
"My daughters fluently speak three European languages, and some speak one or two Eastern ones... They don't just speak them fluently but use them in their work.
BORIS NEMTSOV
"I knew him personally and our relationship was not always lousy. I never damaged our relationship. But he chose this path of political struggle - one of personal attacks and so forth. I am used to this, he is not the only one. But it's not a given that the person must be killed."
DOPING IN SPORT
"We are against any kind of doping, first of all because doping destroys people's health.
"If a person must take some kind of medication due to his health, he should go into Paralympic sport, not the Olympics."
From endorsement of suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter for the Nobel prize to pride for his daughters and suggesting that Turkish leadership is toadying to Washington, Vladimir Putin’s press conference Thursday was a mix of populism and crude street language.
Here are some of the more notable quotes from his annual three-hour-long appearance before hundreds of journalists:
SEPP BLATTER
“That is someone who should be given the Nobel Peace Prize… His contribution to the global humanitarian sphere is colossal.”
DONALD TRUMP
“He is a very outstanding man, unquestionably talented. It is not up to us to judge his virtue, that is up to US voters, but he is the absolute leader of the presidential race.”
SYRIAN OPPOSITION
“It was the idea of Francois Hollande, to try and bring together the efforts of the Syrian army and at least part of the armed opposition in fighting ISIL. We are, at least partially, succeeding in doing this.
“We have found contact with these people — this so-called opposition, the uncompromising armed opposition in Syria — who want to fight ISIL and are doing it in practice. We support their efforts in fighting ISIL with Russian air strikes.”
TURKEY
“On the state level, I don’t see any prospects of improving relations with the Turkish leadership.”
“If somebody in the Turkish leadership decided to lick the Americans in one place… I don’t know, if they did the right thing. Firstly, I don’t know if the Americans need this or not.”
“The creeping Islamisation which would probably cause Ataturk to turn over in his grave, you see, impacts us too. We see that there are militants in Turkey, those from the Northern Caucasus, for example… They sit there, they get medical treatment, they are provided with security. And then they use the no-visa regime to arrive on Turkish passports, and we have to go catch them in the Caucasus or in our large cities.”
PUTIN’S DAUGHTERS
“They live in Russia, it is true, and they never left to live permanently anywhere else. That doesn’t mean that they don’t contact colleagues and don’t communicate. I am proud of them. They continue to study and work.
“My daughters fluently speak three European languages, and some speak one or two Eastern ones… They don’t just speak them fluently but use them in their work.
BORIS NEMTSOV
“I knew him personally and our relationship was not always lousy. I never damaged our relationship. But he chose this path of political struggle – one of personal attacks and so forth. I am used to this, he is not the only one. But it’s not a given that the person must be killed.”
DOPING IN SPORT
“We are against any kind of doping, first of all because doping destroys people’s health.
“If a person must take some kind of medication due to his health, he should go into Paralympic sport, not the Olympics.”
