Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to outline why the Kremlin considers Ukraine\u2019s Westward turn an urgent security threat during his annual news conference on Thursday, which marks an opportunity for Putin to convince skeptical citizens that the situation on the border may require military action.<\/p>\n
The stakes are especially high for Putin\u2019s end-of-year marathon event, which can sometimes last more than four hours. It\u2019s one of his highest-profile television appearances of the year and state television channels start a countdown to it days in advance.<\/p>\n
While the news conference typically has a circuslike atmosphere \u2014 journalists from across the country pack a Moscow hall with signs to grab Putin\u2019s attention so he\u2019ll call on them for questions \u2014 it could have a more serious feel to it this year. The Kremlin has invited roughly 500 journalists from Russian and foreign media outlets.<\/p>\n
Putin is expected to address the sweeping demands Russia issued to the United States and NATO last week that would halt any eastward expansion and effectively bar all other former Soviet republics \u2014 including Ukraine \u2014 from joining or cooperating with the military alliance. The foreign ministry took the unusual step of publishing its proposals \u2014 what Moscow refers to as \u201csecurity guarantees\u201d \u2014 and officials this week complained that the United States had yet to adequately respond to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to outline why the Kremlin considers Ukraine\u2019s Westward turn an urgent security threat during his annual news conference on Thursday, which marks an opportunity for Putin to convince skeptical citizens that the situation on the border may require military action. The stakes are especially high for Putin\u2019s end-of-year marathon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[573,2037,2038,456,633],"class_list":{"0":"post-234537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-journalists","9":"tag-marathon","10":"tag-showdown","11":"tag-ukraine","12":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"yoast_head":"\n