The US top diplomat pointed out that his briefing took place on the same day as the Russian leader's Q&A session

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio joked on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to overshadow him after learning that his briefing was staged almost simultaneously with the latter's end-of-year press conference.

During the annual Direct Line Q&A session in Moscow, the Russian president answered questions from citizens and journalists for almost four-and-a-half-hours.

At a briefing at the US State Department later in the day, a journalist addressed Rubio without giving his name, saying: "Vladimir Putin today..." 

"Oh, I thought you were introducing yourself," the secretary of state laughed. "'Hey, I am Vladimir Putin'... What are you doing here?" 

After being told by the journalist, who was actually Nick Schifrin from PBS NewsHour, that Putin had ended his press conference not long ago, Rubio replied by saying: "Wow, he's trying to step on my message," causing laughs in the audience.

However, Rubio assured those present that his briefing would not be as extensive as the Russian leader's Q&A session. "Oh, well, don't worry about that," he said.

Speaking in a more serious tone about Washington's attempts to end the Ukraine conflict, Rubio explained that US officials "try to understand what the Russian position - how much can they give and what do they have to have. We understand the Ukrainian position. And we try to find whether those two things can overlap." 

Putin said during his press conference that he believed that the US diplomatic efforts are "serious and sincere." He reiterated that Russia is ready to settle the Ukraine conflict based on the principles he had laid out in his address to the Russian Foreign Ministry in June 2024.

Back then, the president said that Moscow would stop the fighting and engage in talks if Kiev withdraws its forces from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, and Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, abandons its aspirations to join NATO, and if sanctions against Russia are lifted.

"The ball is entirely in the court of our Western opponents - above all the leaders of the Kiev regime and their European sponsors," Putin stressed.