Putin answers questions from journalists on Ukraine, NATO and the Russian economy
With full room and suspense in the air, Vladimir Putin held the traditional annual press conference in a context more tense than usual.The complex economic situation, with the fall of the ruble, the conflict in Ukraine and international sanctions have dominated the menu of questions from journalists, but the Russian President did not leave out the criticism of Western partners: "they didn't tell us that after the fall of the Berlin wall would cease the expansion of NATO to the East? Yet started playing shortly thereafter. It's not a wall? It is true that not excavated trenches, but this is a virtual wall and they started to create it. And regarding the anti-missile defence system close to Russian borders. It's not a wall too? We must realize that the West didn't stop. This is the most important problem in international relations today. Our partners have not stopped. Decided which are the winners, who are the new empire, and that the rest are subjects that have to be driven into the ground. "Changing your route, but also sparing no words, the Russian head of State spoke in a "punitive operation" launched by Kiev against pró-russos rebels in Eastern Ukraine."In Eastern Ukraine have witnessed a veritable punitive operation that is being conducted by the authorities of Kiev today. I think that is an approach totally counterproductive and harmful to Ukraine's sovereignty and the fate of the Ukrainians. I hope we can run things on the bottom of the dialog. We are prepared to serve as mediators in the process, to initiate real political dialogue and reach consensus to rebuild the political unity of Ukraine, "Putin stressed.In the field of economy, the Russian President showed optimistic. Ressalvou that the recovery of Russia is "inevitable" and that in the worst-case scenario it will take two years to overcome the bad timing: "the return to positive numbers with subsequent growth is inevitable. There are at least two reasons for this. First, global economic growth will continue, even if the rate is not high. The global economy will grow and our economy will stop these problems. How long will it take? In the worst-case scenario, I think about two years. I repeat that after that growth is inevitable, but during these two years I have no doubt that we can do a lot to diversify our economy. "An economy in which the oil is responsible for over 40% of the budget revenue of the State.
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