Putin shares how his life changed since 2022: 'I joke less, I stopped laughing'

The decision to launch the special military operation should have been made earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the Q&A conference on December 19 in Moscow.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by press service of the President of Russia, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Vladimir Putin

A journalist asked the head of state whether he would rethink the decision to launch the special operation if he could go back to February 2022.

"If it were possible to look at the situation, knowing what is happening now, I would think that the decision that was made at the beginning of 2022 should have been made earlier," Vladimir Putin said.

"The last three years have been a serious challenge for me, I have started joking less and have almost stopped laughing."

"I believe that not only have I saved [Russia], I believe that we have stepped away from the brink of the abyss," Putin said.

He also said that Russia should have started preparing for the special military operation earlier.

Earlier, Putin said that the situation in the zone of the special military operation was changing dramatically as the Russian army was advancing and taking squares of kilometers of territory under control. Soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces are acting heroically, Putin said and wished them a speedy return home.