Russian President Putin attends his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow…Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, December 18, 2014. Putin said on Thursday the central bank and government were taking adequate measures to support the rouble and that Russia’s current economic situation was casued by external factors. A defiant Vladimir Putin said Russia should brace itself for two years of recession, as he blamed economic woes on a western plot to defang the Russian bear. The president was speaking at a three-hour press conference during which he addressed this week’s market turmoil in public for the first time. More On this story On this topic IN Europe He claimed that a period of economic hardship was the price Russia would have to pay to maintain its independence in the face of western aggression, repeatedly blaming […]