After a raft of questions on internal matters, which he used to plug Russia's reviving economy, Mr Putin returned to foreign affairs. Asked whether Russia was risking its reputation in the Middle East by supporting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, whose government could fall, he replied: "We are not anxious about the fate of Assad's regime. We understand what is happening there and that [his] family has been in power for 40 years. Undoubtedly, change is needed. We are worried about something else: what happens next." Russia wanted to see dialogue between Mr Assad and the Syrian opposition to "save the region and the country from collapse and endless civil war," he added.