Putin tries new rhetoric for struggling Russia

As Russia tips into recession, Vladimir Putin is trying to paint his country as a willing global player. But does anyone believe him?

The good news for Vladimir Putin - as a keen skier - is that the snow in Switzerland is close to perfect, says The Times. The bad news is that he opened the World Economic Forum in Davos as a diminished figure on the world stage, laid low by the financial crisis and "challenged at home as prime minister in ways he never was as president".

Peddled at last year's Davos meeting as "an island of stability", Russia is now tipping into recession. The stockmarket is down by 72% from its highs, unemployment is soaring and the oil revenues on which the country based its bellicose grandstanding have collapsed in six months, the price of Urals crude oil has dropped by 68%. Meanwhile, the Russian central bank has had to spend $201.9bn, or 34%, of its reserves in the last six months buying the rouble, says Bloomberg, which has nevertheless slid 30% against the dollar since July. Government figures show that the economy shrunk by 0.7% in December, the first annual decline since the 1990s. Real incomes are falling, and people are taking their anger to the streets.

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