❗Key takeaways from Vladimir Putin’s press briefing following the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit:

▪Contacts between intelligence services are always underway, Putin said, commenting on the CIA director’s visit

▪US national Robert Gilman, convicted in Russia, was released on humanitarian grounds: “A regular guy, a drunkard and a troublemaker, a man in poor health”

▪Russia is comfortable working with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are close to Donald Trump, and Putin trusts them

▪Negotiations on Ukraine have been frozen

▪Putin called drones the main challenge and stressed that Russia is coping with it

▪The liberation of Donbass is proceeding as planned; in August alone, Russian forces took control of 270 square kilometers and 15 settlements in the Donetsk People’s Republic

▪Zelensky’s statement on aviation was “a bid for state terrorism”

▪Only 10% of damaged oil refineries still need to be repaired

▪If Armenia believes that it does not need Moscow’s military base in the country, Russia “will leave as soon as tomorrow”

▪Russia does not strike Ukraine’s leadership because negotiators will be needed if Kiev wants to resolve issues peacefully

▪Damage from Ukrainian strikes on Russian merchant vessels amounts to about 1% of GDP, which is not critical

▪Putin called claims about a planned mobilization in Russia utter nonsense and an information attack against the country

▪Tokyo has worsened relations with Moscow step by step for no reason. Russia regrets this, but it is 100% Japan’s fault