Putin hopes for improved relations with Washington

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he hopes to overcome problems in relations with the United States with the advent of the Biden administration.

"We expect all problems which emerged, or at least some of them, will be ironed out under the new administration," Putin said during his annual news conference in Moscow.

The Russian president, who didn't congratulate President-elect Joe Biden until Tuesday, when Biden received Electoral College confirmation, spoke of his expectations for relations with the US under the new administration.

"We presume that the newly elected US president will understand what is going on. He is a person who has experience in both domestic and foreign policy," he said.

Amid the restrictions due to the pandemic, Putin's customary year-end news conference, in which he also fielded questions on the economy and the pandemic, was held online this year.

Putin answered questions from his residence in the Moscow suburb of Novo-Ogaryovo, and journalists from state, foreign and regional media posed their queries by video link from one of six centers across the country. Putin also answered a number of questions from ordinary Russian citizens.

The unemployment rate in Russia has risen to 6.3 percent, Putin said, adding that the nation's GDP had contracted by 3.6 percent, which was "less than in all leading European countries and the US".

Meanwhile, Russia's industrial production slipped by 3 percent, mainly due to the agreement in April between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and 10 non-OPEC members, including Russia, to reduce crude oil production in response to rapidly increasing global oil inventories in the first quarter of 2020.

"Due to the OPEC+ deal, we have cut production, which affected Russia's total results," Putin explained.

In the meantime, real incomes in Russia would fall by about 3 percent in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, Putin said.

He said that no healthcare system in the world was prepared for the pandemic, but Russia had fared adequately.

On Thursday, Russia reported 28,214 new cases of coronavirus infection, bringing its total to over 2.76 million.

According to the president, Russia managed to win some time in order to fight the infection thanks to a swift reaction at the very beginning of the pandemic.

"We reacted at once at the border and won time in order to begin active preparations for the moment when it came to us in a large amount and scale."

He said the year 2020 could not be called "bad"."It's like weather. Is there good or bad weather? It's just weather. And it's the same with the year. There are pros and cons, like in life."

Putin hailed the effectiveness of Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, claiming that it has a success rate of 96 to 97 percent.

When Putin, 68, was asked if he's been vaccinated with Sputnik V, he said he hasn't because it's not recommended for people over 60 but added that he will "definitely get vaccinated as soon as it becomes possible".