| Series Title | The Moscow Times |
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| Series Details | 18.12.14 |
| Publication Date | 18/12/2014 |
| Content Type | News |
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Russian president Vladimir Putin gave his annual news conference on 18 December 2014. During the interview, he tried to reassure Russians about the state of their economy under his leadership and blamed the West for the economic situation the country had been put into. Mr Putin predicted that the economy may rebound from the current downturn as early as the first quarter of 2015, with a federal budget surplus in 2014 expected to amount to 1.9% of GDP. The president said the ruble had been weighed down by a series of 'external factors', namely a drop in oil prices and, to a lesser degree, by a slide in gas prices. On the collapse of the South Stream project, and while Russia saw the European Commission as the responsible for its cancellation, Mr Putin went on to say that Russia was ready for cooperation and remained EU's reliable partner and cheap gas supplier. In its Main Focus on the 19 December 2014 Euro|Topics wrote that 'Russian President Vladimir Putin ... blamed the fall in oil prices and the West's sanctions for his country's economic problems. Putin is distorting reality like a Soviet-style leader, commentators write, and pin the blame for the current crisis on his misguided economic and foreign policy'. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/513616.html |
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| Countries / Regions | Russia |
