Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he hopes Santa will bring his countrymen everything they want this year, and weighed in on a case brought against him by a lawyer who says he has never received the presents he hoped for.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday as part of his annual end-of-year press conference, Putin was asked to comment on a lawsuit being brought by Igor Mirzoev, a 37-year-old lawyer from the president’s hometown of St. Petersburg. Mirzoev complained that Father Christmas has brought him sub-standard gifts for the past two decades, and is demanding 23 gifts as well as 10 million rubles ($136,000) in damages.