(VOVworld) - Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual marathon end-of-year press conference on Friday. Nearly 1,500 journalists joined the event.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual press conference in Moscow (Source: www.rt.com)

Nearly 1,500 journalists joined the event.

At the conference, President Putin applauded Russia’s economic achievements despite sanctions from the West and oil price dropping. Although Russia's GDP in 2016 is estimated to decline 0.5%, its macro-economic stability still remains, he added.

Mr. Putin called on the international community to work together in the fight against terrorism, adding that it will not be effective if Western countries keep applying sanctions on and refuse to cooperate with Russia.

President Putin said Russia hopes to be a trustworthy and independent partner with the EU. He hopes the Russia-US relationship will soon be normalized to build a win-win and equal bilateral tie. 

Mr. Putin said efforts of the Normandy Quartet (including Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) in solving the crisis in Ukraine have not been effective, however, the Ukraine’s situation would have been worse had it not been for this mechanism.