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 President Vladimir Putin launched a defiant and patriotic defense of Russia’s relations with the West Thursday as he faced the public in his annual live televised news conference. 
 
 He said 25 percent of Russia’s economic crisis — including its faltering currency — was caused by sanctions imposed following the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. 
 
 Putin said Russia was unfairly criticized for looking after its own interests, and compared his country to the United States. “To chop Texas from Mexico is fair, but when we make decision about our territories it is unfair,” he said. “Do they want our bear to become a stuffed animal?” 
 
 "We’re not aggressive" 
 
 In a defense of Russia’s defiance of NATO and the West, said: “Maybe our bear should sit quietly, not chasing any piglets around, but just eating honey and berries. Maybe they should just leave him alone? They will not. They are trying to put it on a chain. And as soon as they do it they will tear his teeth and claws out.” 
 
 The president also insisted Russia's economy and the ruble would quickly recover from the current crisis. In opening remarks, he acknowledged that the ruble could slide further because of falling oil prices and warned that spending cuts might be necessary — but said the economy would return to growth in two years. 
 
 Putin denied Russia was embarking on a new Cold War. "The only thing we’ve done is protecting our interests in a tougher way," he said. "We’re not aggressive. We’re not attacking anyone in the political sense of the word.” 
 
 He added: "There are American bases all over the world and you’re trying to say that we’re being aggressive. What about nuclear weapons. Our budget is $50 billion — the Pentagon budget is 10 times higher. Does anyone listen to us at all? Does anyone have a dialogue with us? No. All we hear is ‘mind your own business.' In the Ukrainian crisis I believe we are right and our Western partners are wrong." 
 
 He also took a swipe at U.S. justice in response to a question about the killing by pro-government forces of suspected terrorists in Chechnya. “Everyone should obey the Russian constitution. But the reality is usually more complex,” he said. “After 9/11 in the USA they legalized torture.” 
 
 Putin looked mostly relaxed during the session, sipping occasionally from a coffee cup embossed with the Kremlin logo and cracking jokes. 
 
 He gave an enigmatic answer to a question about his private life, saying he was still on good terms with his ex-wife. "Everything is fine, don't worry," he told a reporter. "My friend from Europe asked me, 'Do you have love? Do you love someone?' I said, 'Yes.' 'And does someone love you?' I said, 'Yes,'" 
 
 However, there was a tense moment when a prominent anti-Putin activist and television journalist, Ksenia Sobchak, asked about the suppression of political opposition. 
 
 “Why did you give her the floor?” Putin snapped at the moderator. 
 
 More than 1,200 journalists were accredited for the more than three hour question-and-answer session. Many waved bright banners or toy animals in the hope of being chosen to ask a question. 
 
 Putin is enjoying historically high poll ratings. Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Thursday found that about 80 percent of Russians still support him — an increase compared to 2012. 
 
 Earlier, a tycoon under house arrest since September was reportedly released just hours before the news conference. Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s release was reported by Interfax news agency citing his lawyer, Vladimir Kozin. The last-minute release echoes a similar move last year, when Putin announced after his annual press conference that another tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, would be set free. 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014. Putin says Russia has sufficient currency reserves and the ruble will recover. (AP... (Associated Press) 
 
 MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Thursday to fix Russia's economic woes within two years, voicing confidence that the plummeting ruble will recover and promising to diversify Russia's gas-dependent economy. 
 
 Speaking with strong emotion and looking confident, Putin also displayed a defiant stance toward the West, which he insisted was still trying to destroy Russia. 
 
 Putin acknowledged that Western economic sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine was just one factor behind Russia's economic crisis, accounting for roughly 25 to 30 percent of the ruble's troubles. He said a key reason for the currency's recent fall was the nation's failure to ease its overwhelming dependence on oil and gas exports. 
 
 As Putin spoke, the Russian currency was trading at 61 rubles to the dollar. That was slightly lower than last night but up 12 percent from the historic low of 80 to the dollar that it hit earlier this week. Russia's benchmark MICEX index rallied by 5.5 percent by midday Thursday. 
 
 The Russian leader sought to soothe market fears that the government could use administrative controls, such as obliging exporters to sell their currency earnings, to help stabilize the ruble. 
 
 Putin said the nation's currency reserves are sufficient to keep the economy in stable condition, adding that the Central Bank shouldn't aimlessly "burn" its $419 billion in reserves. 
 
 "Our economy will overcome the current situation. How much time will be needed for that? Under the most unfavorable circumstances I think it will take about two years," he said. 
 
 Putin struck a defiant note against America and the European Union, saying that sanctions slapped against Russia after it seized the Black Sea region of Crimea in March were part of a historical campaign to weaken Russia. He accused the West of trying to infringe on Russia's sovereignty, adding that the Ukrainian crisis was just a pretext for Western action. 
 
 "Sometimes I think, maybe they'll let the bear eat berries and honey in the forest, maybe they will leave it in peace," said Putin, referring to Russia's famed symbol. "They will not. Because they will always try to put him on a chain, and as soon as they succeed in doing so they tear out his fangs and his claws." 
 
 He said by fangs and claws he meant Russia's nuclear weapons, adding that the West wants to weaken Russia to win control over its rich natural resources. 
 
 "Once they've taken out his claws and his fangs, then the bear is no longer necessary. He'll become a stuffed animal," he said. "The issue is not Crimea, the issue is that we are protecting our sovereignty and our right to exist." 
 
 Putin defended Russia's increased military activities, including Baltic flights that NATO said put civilian flights at risk, as a necessary response to what he described as aggressive Western action. 
 
 Despite his anti-Western rhetoric, Putin urged a political solution for the crisis in Ukraine, where pro-Russian insurgents have been battling Ukrainian government troops since April, leaving 4,700 people dead. 
 
 He said Ukraine must remain one political entity, meaning that its pro-Russian, rebellious eastern regions should not break away. He also suggested the Ukrainian government and rebels in eastern Ukraine should conduct a quick "all for all" prisoners swap before Christmas. 
 
 Putin said he feels sure that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sincerely wants a peaceful solution to the crisis but other forces in Ukraine don't. He urged the Ukrainian government to fulfill its end of a peace deal reached in September and grant amnesty to the rebels and offer broad rights to eastern residents. 
 
 Putin also held out hope for normalizing ties with the West, saying that Russia still hopes to expand its gas supplies to southern Europe using a prospective gas hub on Turkey's border with Greece. 
 
 Turning to the ruble's collapse, he said the government should work with exporters to help stabilize the plummeting currency, but added that it shouldn't be done through formal orders. 
 
 He said he had talked to the heads of some of Russia's major companies to encourage them to sell more rubles — and said one promised to sell $3 billion to help stabilize the currency. 
 
 But he rejected proposals to fix the ruble rate, saying it would not achieve positive results — a statement that likely will help soothe market fears the government could use administrative means to stabilize the ruble — measures that could add to panic on the market. 
 
 Putin said the government and the Central Bank are generally working correctly to deal with the current economic woes, albeit some of their action was belated. 
 
 "The current situation has been provoked by external factors, but it's worth noting that we haven't done what we planned to do to diversify our economy," Putin said. 
 
 Putin toned down his accusations against his foes, who he has branded as agents for the West bent on undermining Russia. 
 
 Hours before the press conference, a Russian tycoon placed under house arrest in September, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, was released. Shares in Sistema, a company that Yevtushenkov controls and manages, surged by more than 30 percent in the early hours of trading on Moscow's MICEX stock exchange. 
 
 One of Sistema's most lucrative assets — the oil company Bashneft — was transferred to the government this month. Yevtushenkov in September was charged with money-laundering in relation to Bashneft. ||||| The latter, he said, was a reference to Russia’s nuclear deterrence. 
 
 His remarks on the economy held the most interest, given that the price of oil and the Russian ruble plummeted in tandem this week, with the ruble testing historic lows of 80 to the dollar before rallying to closer to 60, though still down about 40 percent on the year. 
 
 Analysts said the decline reflected not just the drop in oil prices but also investors’ distrust of the government’s ability to cope, or to promote economic growth through something other than oil exports. 
 
 “Economically, socially and politically, the country will have to go through severe economic tests in the years to come,” said Dmitri Trenin, the head of the Carnegie Moscow Center. “Not having a working, realistic, credible model for economic development, not just muddling through, will become critical.” 
 
 Mr. Putin acknowledged that many Russians blamed Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the central bank, for the crisis, but he defended the record of the bank. 
 
 “I believe that the central bank and the government are taking adequate measures,” he said. He did not present any new policies or a specific plan to address the problems, but rejected predictions that currency controls were in the offing. 
 
 He also said Russia should try not to waste its $419 billion in currency reserves. The central bank has spent about $75 billion this year defending the ruble. 
 
 Mr. Putin described the problems as rooted in external factors, including the drop of about 50 percent in oil prices this year and Western sanctions imposed over Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. He said that global demand for oil would recover next year or in two years, and that this would solve the problem. 
 
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 The president, sitting on a small stage in an amphitheater in a Moscow hotel, seemed to be relying on his high popularity to carry the day, noting that Russia had emerged from the 2008 financial crisis relatively unscathed under his leadership. But it remained an open question whether that would be enough to persuade Russians, who are facing a sharp recession next year. 
 
 “Above all, the goal was to calm people down about the crisis,” Mikhail Vinogradov, head of the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation, said by telephone shortly after the speech. “The question is whether Putin’s calming words will turn into any kind of action.” 
 
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 Ordinary Russians are worried about the ruble’s collapse and rising inflation, which is expected to climb 10 percent by the end of the year and even higher early next year. They have flooded car dealerships, appliance stores and malls to spend savings before their rubles lose any more value. 
 
 The popular discount Swedish furniture chain Ikea has been mobbed for the last week. On Thursday, the company announced that it was suspending all sales of kitchen furniture and appliances for two days to catch up with the orders. It also announced that it would raise prices — a common step by importers trying to keep up with the lower value of the ruble. Russia depends on imports for about 30 percent of its consumer goods. 
 
 Mr. Putin accused the West of trying to build a virtual wall around Russia by moving NATO forces closer to its border, and noted that the $50 billion that Russia plans to spend on its military next year is much less than the Pentagon’s budget. 
 
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 He also conceded that Russia had contributed to a recent rise in global tensions by resuming long-range military surveillance flights across Europe and along the edges of North America. “The only thing we have done is to protect our interests in a tougher way,” he said. 
 
 That theme plays well at home, where political analysts estimate as much as 40 percent of the population wants Russia to regain its superpower status. 
 
 Mr. Putin slipped in some criticism of the C.I.A. torture report in response to a question about the legality of burning the homes of suspected terrorists in Chechnya. “After 9/11, torture was legalized. How could you explain that?” he asked, a reference to the waterboarding of terror suspects by the C.I.A. during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
 
 Mr. Putin estimated that 25 to 30 percent of the economic distress was rooted in the sanctions over Ukraine, but conceded that Russia had not done enough to diversify an economy in which energy resources constitute 60 percent of the country’s exports. 
 
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 Even while Mr. Putin was speaking, the European Union imposed an array of new sanctions involving investment, services and trade linked to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. 
 
 Russian corporations owe approximately $650 billion to Western banks, but sanctions have eliminated any chance of refinancing that debt. The foreign reserves should cover that for the time being, Mr. Putin suggested, though some analysts say as much as half of that — around $200 billion — is tied up in other obligations, like pensions. 
 
 Mr. Putin stressed that Russia wanted to solve the crisis in Ukraine, and said he thought that President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine did, too, but that some nationalists there did not. 
 
 In response to a question from a Ukrainian reporter about how many Russian soldiers had been dispatched into eastern Ukraine and how many had died there, Mr. Putin again called Russian fighters volunteers. He did not say how many had died. Still, Russia has toned down its rhetoric on Ukraine in the last month. 
 
 The news conference is an annual ritual, with Mr. Putin picking questions at random from 1,200 or so reporters ranging from the mainstream Russian press to the BBC. 
 
 In one awkward moment, a Russian reporter suggested in slurred speech that Mr. Putin support the sale of kvass, a mildly alcoholic beverage, in international chain stores. Mr. Putin suggested that the man might have been sipping a little. The Russian media soon reported that the reporter was not drunk, but that his speech had been slurred by two strokes. 
 
 Several journalists asked why the state media had been unleashed to attack government critics as fifth columnists, to which Mr. Putin said it was sometimes hard to tell where “the opposition ends and the fifth column starts.” A fifth column is a group that tries to undermine a larger group. 
 
 One reporter asked about Mr. Putin’s personal life. The president answered by saying that recently a European dignitary had asked him whether he had any love in his life. 
 
 Mr. Putin said he had assured the unidentified visitor that he did, that he saw his former wife periodically as well as his two grown daughters. “Everything is fine,” he said.
– Vladimir Putin today gave his annual televised news conference, with his words described as defiant and patriotic. The New York Times calls his message an "acidic" one, noting he gave no indication of backing down—on Ukraine, or in terms of his anger toward the West. As for the economic doom the country is staring down, Putin framed it as temporary, predicting it would end within two years as oil demand and the world economy strengthen; he also assigned 25% of the blame for the ruble's woes to the West's sanctions. Neil MacFarquhar, the Times' Moscow bureau chief, was one of a number of the 1,200 journalists who live-tweeted the three-hour, 10-minute event. He captured this tidbit, among others: " # Putin says he also does not know how much he earns. It arrives (in an envelope?) and he just forwards it to his accountant." More substantial highlights from the event, which featured journalists who waved toy animals in hopes of being selected to ask a question (a bit of color, per the Guardian: A journo brandishing a "green fluffy crocodile" got to ask about Moscow parking fines): One portion of the event getting plenty of press is an elongated metaphor about a bear—real and stuffed. Putin's comments, per the AP and NBC News: "Maybe our bear should sit quietly, not chasing any piglets around, but just eating honey and berries. Maybe they should just leave him alone? They will not. They are trying to put it on a chain. And as soon as they do it they will tear his teeth and claws out." [The teeth and claws are a reference to Russia's nuclear weapons.] "Once they've taken out his claws and his fangs, then the bear is no longer necessary. He'll become a stuffed animal." On Russia's interests, per NBC News: "To chop Texas from Mexico is fair, but when we make decision about our territories it is unfair." "It might be [true], it might be." That's Putin's take on whether the US and Saudi Arabia are secretly conspiring to suppress oil prices to hurt Russia and Iran. Shaun Walker's (of the Guardian) take: "It was pitched middle-of-the-road in all senses, there was lots of rhetoric but no major new policies announced, some conciliatory words about Ukraine but nothing concrete, and the most difficult questions were ducked or avoided. ... His words are unlikely to terrify the market, but probably won’t massively reassure it either."