...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...struck an unusually conciliatory tone in his annual state of the nation address on Thursday, saying Moscow wanted to get on with the incoming US administration and was looking to make friends not enemies.
His foreign minister Sergei Lavrov too sought a fresh start in relations under Trump and made a parting shot at outgoing president Barack Obama
I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money...
, in an interview with an Italian newspaper.
Putin has used previous set-piece speeches to lash out at the West and the United States in particular, but he reined in his criticism this time round and focused most of his speech on domestic social and economic issues.
"We don’t want confrontation with anyone. We don’t need it. We are not seeking and have never sought enemies. We need friends," Putin told Russia’s political elite gathered in one of the Kremlin’s grandest halls.