Vladimir Putin was quizzed about his stance on the rising threats facing Russia, sparking a defiant response from the president.

The Russian president, whose domestic popularity has been in freefall, is touring the vast country in an apparent attempt to claw some of it back.

Putin, who likes to portray a tough guy public image, insisted nothing can shake him during questions from young teachers and students in Novosibirsk in south-central Russia.

During conversations with the next generation of scientists, the thorny topic of AI came up.

Putin asked one of the young people: ‘What kind of threat does artificial intelligence pose to us?’

The young scientist replied: ‘I’ll be honest with you, you’ve got nothing to be afraid of.’

Then Putin said: ‘And I’ve never been afraid of anything.’

He also suggested that AI could turn people’s brains into mush, and divide people into the intellectual elite and those who press the buttons without thinking, First Post reports.

The 73-year-old said: ‘And their grey matter gradually shrinks, like shagreen leather. Boom-boom, press the buttons, and everything pops out.’

Putin has been travelling the regions of Russia in recent months, showing his face in Tatarstan, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Buryatia, Omsk, and Irkutsk.

His absence from public in the spring raised questions about his healthand whereabouts after Putin was not seen for more than two weeks after Easter.

Then at the annual Victory Day parade in May, the president appeared with a puffy face and swollen cheeks, prompting questions about his wellbeing.

In a further blow to Putin, a Ukrainian drone managed to slip through defences and deep inside Russia on Monday night.

The drone struck more than 680 miles from the border in the Tatarstan region, killing at least 13 people.

Attacks inside Russia stemming from its war against Ukraine spill the conflict deeper onto Putin’s doorstep, risking his popularity even further as the country’s citizens are subjected to the horrors of the fighting.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Sky News that Putin aims to mobilise up to 500,000 soldiers after the Russian parliamentary elections in September.

Zelensky said: ‘He wants to increase mobilisation. Not openly, because he is afraid of his society, but he will do it at the beginning of October, if we don’t cause him problems with logistics, weapons, petrol, diesel, and if our partners don’t impose total sanctions for his aggression.

‘It will be a big problem because he will aim to mobilise from 300,000 to 500,000 people. It’s not that difficult for him to mobilise this number. He will have internal questions about it, because his society is – and I saw the polls – against mobilisation.’

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