Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to give his annual state of the nation address in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on December 4, 2014. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)Moscow, AP—In an annual speech ranging from economy to school tests, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday evoked religious imagery and defended the Kremlin’s aggressive foreign policy as necessary for his country’s sheer survival.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March following the ouster of Pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych and was later accused of supplying pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in ammunition and manpower.
Putin in his annual state-of-the-nation address at …read more
Source: ASHARQ AL-AWSAT
