President Putin urges Russian resilience for hard times

President Vladimir Putin has warned Russians of hard times ahead and urged self-reliance, in his annual state-of-the nation address to parliament.
Russia has been hit hard by falling oil prices and by Western sanctions imposed in response to its interventions in the crisis in neighbouring Ukraine.

The rouble, once a symbol of stability under Mr Putin, suffered its biggest one-day decline since 1998 on Monday.

The government has warned that Russia will fall into recession next year.

Speaking to both chambers in the Kremlin, Mr Putin also accused Western governments of seeking to raise a new "iron curtain" around Russia.

He expressed no regrets for annexing Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, saying the territory had a "sacred meaning" for Russia.

He insisted the "tragedy" in Ukraine's south-east had proved that Russian policy had been right but said Russia would respect its neighbour as a brotherly country.

The final draft of Vladimir Putin's annual speech is written by the president himself. It is his view of the state of the Russian nation and highlights his priorities for the year ahead.

So it is telling that Mr Putin chose to stress his unwavering, hard line on the crisis in Ukraine: what happened in Kiev was an "illegal coup" and Crimea, which Russia annexed, was like "holy land" for Russia and would always be treated that way.

Mr Putin went on to accuse the West of meddling in Russia's internal affairs, claiming that sanctions were merely an excuse to "contain" the country as it grew stronger and more independent.

Earlier this year, such talk worked well, fuelling a surge in patriotism. But Russians are starting to feel the economic consequences of their president's foreign policy, through sanctions. For those who worry, there was little suggestion from this speech that things would improve soon.

Source: BBC