This is a basic run down of Volodya's year end press conference.An excerpt:
In what was perhaps the most anticipated edition of his annual press conference yet, Russian president Vladimir Putin certainly delivered. His increasingly colloquial speech brought several quotable moments as he tackled questions on Russia’s collapsing economy, Crimea, the West, and his love life in the annual yearend press conference. But how much can we extract from the three-hour event that may provide insight on global energy markets in 2015? Quite a lot in fact.
“What is happening with the economy is not the price paid for Crimea”
The weakened economy was brought up early and often and the ruble’s up and down volatility was evident throughout Wednesday’s conference – intraday swings peaked at plus 2 and minus 5 percent against the dollar. Delving very little into specifics Putin largely passed the buck, citing a lethargic central bank and ‘illegitimate and illegal’ Western sanctions as the root causes for the economic downturn. In a moment of frankness, he affirmed the woes are here to stay – two years by his estimation.
“Our economy will get diversified and oil prices will go back up”
Putin still remains confident in his country’s energy industry as a vehicle for change. As such, his renewed pledge for economic diversification fell on tired ears. It’s clear his plan consists of little more than a waiting game and – though likely slip ups in Libya and Venezuela may grant it some validation – it will be a difficult wait. Putin dodged insinuations of corruption and instead commended his pal, and Rosneft head, Igor Sechin for his efficient management of the world’s largest oil company. For what it’s worth, ongoing projects are soldiering on and Russian oil output is projected to remain unchanged into 2015.