Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would enquire about the whereabouts of Austin Tice, the American journalist missing in Syria, while responding to a question from an NBC correspondent at his lengthy end-of-year press conference.

The mother of U.S. journalist Austin Tice sent Russian President Vladimir Putin a letter late Wednesday asking for his help in finding her son, who went missing in Syria a dozen years ago.

Does President Assad himself know what happened to this American citizen, a journalist who was doing his journalistic duty in a combat zone? Nevertheless, I promise that I will ask this