'I told you so,' Putin tells Europe on U.S. trade tariffs

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he warned European countries years ago about the risk of the United States imposing its rules on others, and that now they are paying the price for ignoring him.

Speaking Thursday during an annual live television phone-in with the Russian people, Putin likened the tariffs that Washington imposed last week on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union to economic sanctions.

"It appears our partners thought that this would never affect them, this counterproductive politics of restrictions and sanctions. But now we are seeing that this is happening."

The Russian president said he had warned in a speech in Munich in 2007 about a growing U.S. sense of exceptionalism and the risk of it imposing its own rules on other countries.

"That is exactly what is happening now. Nobody wanted to listen, and nobody did anything to stop this from developing. Well, there you go, you've been hit. Dinner is served … please sit down and eat."

Putin also accused the U.S. of upsetting the strategic nuclear balance, and said nobody should take any hasty steps: "The understanding that a third world war could be the end of civilization should restrain us."

Forces to remain in Syria

Putin, who easily won re-election in March, has since 2001 used the annual phone-in to cast himself as a decisive troubleshooter on the home front and a staunch defender of Russia's interests on the world stage.

Critics say the event, being held a week before the World Cup starts, is a stage-managed piece of theatre designed to let Russians let off steam and fleetingly feel as if they can influence a bureaucratic, top-down system.

Putin and his aides say it is an indispensable tool to gauge public sentiment and learn about people's real problems. Kremlin-watchers often liken his performance to that of a czar listening to his petitioners as he often promises to fix individuals' household problems.

With respect to Russia's involvement in Syria's war, Putin did not reveal his hand, stating that the status quo would prevail for now.

The Kremlin first launched airstrikes in Syria in September 2015 in its biggest Middle East intervention in decades, turning the tide of the conflict in President Bashar al-Assad's favour.

"We are not yet planning a withdrawal of these military forces," he said. "We are not building long-term facilities there and if needed we could fairly quickly withdraw our troops without material losses," he said.

"But for the moment, we need them there, they are carrying out important tasks, including providing security for Russia in the region, and helping our interests in the economic sphere."

In December, Putin flew to Syria and declared Russia's mission accomplished, ordering a "significant part" of its contingent to start withdrawing.

Says Russian poisoning would have been fatal

Putin, as has been Russia's position, scoffed at the notion that former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned on March 4 in Salisbury, England, with Novichok, a nerve agent developed decades ago by the Soviet military.

"If as Britain insists a military chemical agent was used against these people, they would have died within second or minutes, on the spot. Thank God, this did not happen. Clearly we are dealing with something other than a military agent."

The incident sparked an international response, with several countries joining Britain in expelling Russian diplomats. Russia retaliated by banishing Western officials.

Both Sergei and Yulia Skripal have been released after spending weeks in hospital. Yulia Skripal has said since the incident she wants to return to Russia at some point in the future.

"We would like to be given access to our citizens, to Yulia, and we would like to have the opportunity to take part fully in the investigation," said Putin.

Avoids awkward questions

At the start of a new presidential term and on a drive to improve living standards, Putin also used the event to try to reassure Russians about the economy.

"Overall, we are heading in the right direction," he said. "We have started on the trajectory towards robust economic growth in Russia. Yes, this growth is modest, small, but it is also not a fall."

The Russian central bank forecasts economic growth at between 1.5 and 2 per cent this year.

The "traditional question" of Putin's eventual successor came up, to which the 65-year-old said he wouldn't be anointing the next president.

"The Russian people, the voters will decide who that will be," he said. "But of course I think that we should raise a new, young generation of leaders, responsible people who will be able to take on the responsibility of Russia."

Putin will get to showcase Russia beginning next week, as the country begins hosting the World Cup.

He warned neighbouring Ukraine that if it tried to make any military moves against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine while Russia hosts the impending soccer tournament, it would suffer.

"I hope that there won't be any provocations, but if it happens I think it would have very serious consequences for Ukrainian statehood in general," he said.

Putin dispensed with his usual studio audience this year, fielding questions asked by text and video. He referred some questions to regional governors, government ministers and state company heads who were shown on giant TV monitors sitting at their desks across Russia, waiting to be quizzed.

Members of the public submitted around two million questions, state TV reported, some of them flashed up on a giant screen close to Putin.

Some of those questions, which Putin did not attempt to answer, were politically awkward. One asked why opposition leader Alexei Navalny had not been allowed to register as a candidate in the presidential election, another why there was money for the military but not ordinary people, and another asked whether Russia was a banana republic.

"Life is getting worse and worse," read another. "It's in the Kremlin where everything is wonderful."