Putin admits failure of security services over general's killing

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made a rare admission of failings by his powerful security agencies over the Ukraine-orchestrated killing of a senior military general in Moscow.

"Our special services are missing these hits. They missed these hits. It means we need to improve this work. We must not allow such very serious blunders to happen," Putin said at his end-of-year press conference, addressing a string of attacks inside Russia on high-profile Kremlin backers amid the military offensive on Ukraine.