Navalny, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, has said he wants to run for the presidency in March 2018.
"When I heard you were from the BBC, I didn't doubt for a moment you would ask precisely that question because it's in a certain sense propaganda of the people whom you support", Mr Putin said answering a question about whether he sees Mr Navalny as a political competitor following nationwide protests organised by the opposition leader.
Putin added that Moscow will work to resolve the conflict, voicing hope that the growing capability of the Syrian army will allow the Russian military to scale down its involvement.
Support for additional economic penalties has been building after USA intelligence officials said Russia directly attempted to interfere in last year's race for the White House, saying the "influence campaign" was supported by top Russian leadership, namely, Putin. Combined with this, the experience acquired by the Russian army in Syria, is "priceless", he said. Moscow and Washington can cooperate on issues including the non-proliferation of weapons and the Syria crisis, he added.
He added that the tightening of sanctions against Russian Federation was evidence of the "internal political struggle" in the U.S.
Putin said that his second grandchild was born recently, adding that he keeps them out of the spotlight so that they can have a normal upbringing.
If Comey, who was sacked by Trump, continues to be persecuted, "we will be ready to provide him political asylum", Putin said.
The Republican-led Senate voted Wednesday to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 election by approving a wide-ranging package of sanctions that targets key sectors of Russia's economy and individuals who carried out cyberattacks.
"I don't think I have the right to give you any advice, but I want to thank you for your position, and we know that we have a lot of friends in the United States", said Putin.
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Putin has denied any interference in the USA election.
Putin began by announcing that Russian Federation had overcome a years-long recession, brought on by relatively low prices for a major export, oil, and tit-for-tat sanctions with Western powers over the Ukraine conflict. Predictably, the Russian president once again reiterated his denial of meddling in the USA election, saying that Russia has openly expressed its views and hasn't engaged in any covert activities.
He said the two countries could also cooperate in dealing with global poverty and efforts to prevent climate change.
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Thursday offered to give political asylum to former FBI Director James Comey, poking at tensions between Comey and President Trump.
Putin noted that electronics, aerospace industries and agriculture have all received a boost.
Snowden has been living in Russian Federation since 2013 when it gave him asylum, resisting USA pressure to extradite him.
Putin offered an optimistic vision, claiming that the "crisis is over" and pointing at modest economic growth in the past nine months, low inflation and rising currency reserves.
The bill follows several rounds of other sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union over Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its support for pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine.
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