One would like to know what was going on in the minds of non-Russian viewers who saw Vladimir Putin live during the economic forum in Saint Petersburg. The moderator had announced the president as a “historical personality” and that Putin’s decisions would have “enormous effects” on the fate of “all of humanity”. You can hardly screw the expectations higher. And Putin? He stood at the lectern and spoke for 80 minutes in such detail about the Russian economy, from individual funding programs to partial regional successes, that he almost apologized for the lengthy speech at the end. “I think I’ve tired you out,” he said before sitting back in the white armchair.
Russia: Putin denies Ukrainian successes in St. Petersburg
