Asked if he was prepared to compromise “in any way” over Ukraine, Putin said that Russia has always said it is “ready for negotiations and compromises.”

“Politics is the art of compromise,” he added, before claiming that Ukraine is refusing to hold negotiations.

Referring to peace talks held between the two countries in 2022 in Turkey's capital, Istanbul, which led to the negotiation of a draft agreement, Putin blamed former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, “a man with a nice haircut,” for Ukraine backing out from the agreement.

Returning to the topic of Syria, Putin said the fall of Bashar al-Assad did not constitute a defeat for Russia. 

“We came to Syria 10 years ago to prevent the creation of a terrorist enclave, similar to what could be seen in certain other countries, for example in Afghanistan,” he said. “As a whole, we achieved our aims.”

Russian military and aerial support allowed Assad to cling to power at crucial moments during Syria's 13-year-long civil war, with Russian airstrikes devastating the country's cities and killing thousands.

Bilateral relations between Russia and China are at an all-time high, Putin said, adding that there was “full trust and confidence” on both sides. 

“We’ll do nothing that will undermine the confidence,” he said, calling Chinese leader Xi Jinping his “friend.”

The two leaders last met in the Russian city of Kazan at the opening of the BRICS summit in October, where Xi told Putin that “the friendship between China and Russia will continue for generations, and great countries’ responsibility to their people will not change.” 

Invoking the history of Russia-China relations, Putin spoke of how the two countries fought together during World War II. "We were together back then and are together now,” he said.

The assassination by Ukraine of the head of Russia‘s chemical, radiological and biological weapons unit, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, shows “the nature” of the Kyiv regime, Putin said.

During his annual press conference, the Russian president added that he was grateful to NBC News’ Keir Simmons, who asked a question about the killing for calling it an assassination because “it endangered the lives of others.”

Russia’s most senior military figure, Kirillov was killed by a bomb planted by Ukraine in a scooter in Moscow two days ago.

While Russia was ready for talks, Putin said that was not the case with Ukraine.

Putin was dismissive in response to another question from NBC News' Keir Simmons, who told the Russian leader that when he meets with President-elect Donald Trump. Moscow will have the weaker hand in negotiations.

He said he didn’t know when he would meet Trump but he was “ready,” adding that, “as for your comment about my weakness: those paying you wish for that.”

The president contended that Russia's military has, in fact, become stronger in recent years. “Our defense capabilities are the highest in the world, same for our military industry. Our forces are advancing.”

He went further, saying that Russia, “to a significant degree is in the state we were aiming for. She has become stronger. She has become a truly sovereign country.”

Putin has said he will ask the deposed president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, about the U.S. journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in the country 12 years ago. “I promise to ask this question,” he said in response to a question from NBC News’ Keir Simmons.

Assad fled to Russia earlier this month after being ousted by a rapid rebel advance that ended the country's 13-year-long civil war. Despite harboring Assad, Putin said he has yet to catch up with his ally.

“I have not seen President Assad when he arrived in Moscow,” he said. “But a person went missing 12 years ago, we understand what situation was there back then.”

NBC News exclusively obtained a letter that Tice’s mother had sent Putin late yesterday asking for his help in finding her missing son.

Russian forces are moving toward achieving their primary goals on the battlefield in Ukraine and were taking control of significant territory every day, Putin said.

“I must say that the situation is changing dramatically,” he said, adding that Russian forces were advancing along the entire battle front.

"There is movement along the entire front line. Every day,” he said.

The Russian president is circumspect when asked about whether the West understood last month's changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine. “I don’t know how they understood it," he said. "You’d have to ask them.”

He continued, saying about the West that “if such states pose a threat to us, we reserve the right to use our nuclear weapons against them as well.”

Last month, Putin made changes to Russia’s doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons, setting out new conditions for when the country could deploy its nuclear arsenal. 

Under the modified doctrine, Russia would treat an attack by a nonnuclear state, backed by a nuclear power, as a joint assault.

The Oreshnik missile defense system is a “modern, very new weapon,” Putin says in response to a question referring to the West’s doubts about Russia’s missile capabilities.

He said Western experts and should challenge Russia “to conduct some kind of technological experiment, a high-tech duel of the 21st century. Let them identify a strike target, say in Kyiv, concentrate all their air defense and missile defense forces there, and we will strike there with the ‘Oreshnik’ and see what happens. We are ready for such an experiment.” 

The Kremlin announced Monday that Russia would launch the serial production of the missiles in the “near future” to “protect the security of Russia and our allies.”

Russian forces first deployed the Oreshnik missile late last month, striking the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, after Kyiv used long-range missiles provided by France, the United States and the United Kingdom to strike targets within Russia.