Ordinary Russians got the chance to question their leader at his year-end call-in show, with queries focused on an end to the Ukraine war and boosting the economy.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow that the European and Ukrainian changes would not improve the chances of peace. "This is not a forecast," Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies, though he said he had not seen the exact proposals on paper yet.