Russia’s Vladimir Putin praises Crimea’s ‘return home’

Russian president Vladimir Putin has that the "return home" of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula to Moscow's control would remain a very important epoch in the national history.

In a televised New Year’s address on Wednesday, Mr Putin said love for “one’s motherland is one of the most powerful and uplifting feelings”.

“ It manifested itself in full in the brotherly support to the people of Crimea and Sevastopol, when they resolutely decided to return home,” he said.

“This event will remain a very important epoch in domestic history forever.”

Mr Putin's address was broadcast to Russia's Far East regions many hours before Moscow, when it is typically shown just before midnight.

In a televised press conference last week, Mr Putin defended his record and heaped blamed on the West for Russia's financial woes and various military, diplomatic and political conflicts such as that with Ukraine.

The coming year is likely to be very difficult for many Russians, with the economy forecast to shrink, inflation expected to drive prices higher and many companies predicted to lay off workers and face a battle to avoid bankruptcy.

The immediate cause is a sharp weakening of the rouble, which has lost about half its value this year as it tracked a steep slide in the price of oil and gas, sales of which account for about half of Russia’s budget.

Mr Putin has also bemoaned Nato expansion, United States plans for a missile defence system in Europe and alleged western support for separatist rebels in the north Caucasus. He claims foreign powers are seeking perpetually to weaken Russia.

Western sanctions on Russia were not a result of his annexation of Crimea or support for militants in eastern Ukraine, Mr Putin insisted, but rather a punishment imposed on Russians simply for being who they are, and living where they live.

“This is payback, or, rather, payment for our natural desire for self-preservation as a nation, as a civilisation, as a state,” he said, claiming foreigners were desperate to steal Russia’s natural resources.

"We've heard many times . . . that it's unfair that Siberia with its immeasurable wealth belongs entirely to Russia. Unfair! So grabbing Texas from Mexico was fair, but whatever we do on our own land is unfair."

Reuters