Live Blog: Putin's Annual Press Conference (Archive)

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF PUTIN'S PRESS CONFERENCE

-- Putin defended an amendment that he signed into law on December 2 about media outlets deemed "foreign agents" to include workers employed by such organizations being listed as "foreign agents," as well.

-- Putin, whose current term runs through 2024, refused to be pinned down on his political future. He wouldn't answer if he could potentially extend his rule by shifting into a new governing position to become the head of a Russia-Belarus union. He also suggested the Russian Constitution could be amended, such as changing the powers of the president and the cabinet.

-- Putin says the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump was based on allegations that are “dreamed up.”

-- Putin said Russia is warming more than twice as fast as the global average. He said that global warming could threaten Russian Arctic cities and towns built on permafrost.

-- Regarding the banning of Russian athletes from the Olympics and other international sports event for four years, Putin said the the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) had acted unfairly.

-- Putin added that Russia is ready to extend the New START arms treaty with the United States, but that there has been no response to Russian proposals.

-- Putin says there are no “foreign troops” in areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine under separatist control.

-- Putin lambasted Lenin's policies on ethnic issues, saying his idea to grant broad autonomy to ethnic-based Soviet republics paved way for the Soviet breakup. He also rejected the push for taking Lenin's embalmed body out of the Red Square tomb in Moscow and burying it.

*Time stamps indicate local time in Moscow