Russia's Putin praises 

Crimea's 

'return home' in New Year address

Reuters 
 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a video conference with members of Russian Geographical Society expedition to the Southern Pole in Moscow .

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised New Year's address on Wednesday that the "return home" of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula to Moscow's control would forever remain an important chapter in Russia's history.

You see, Putin does not 

TAKE Crimea; 

he welcomes them into the motherland after 

they vote to be annexed.

Putin is facing the biggest challenge of his 15-year rule as the Russian economy is sliding sharply into recession, hurt by Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and falling prices for oil, Russia's chief export.

The West (Obama) 

thinks the sanctions have hurt Russia; 

it is a joke. 

Russia has everything it needs 

to stand alone even if 

the rest of the world does not like it.

His comments are likely to strike a chord in a country where many people have always viewed Crimea as part of their homeland because of centuries of shared history and the region's mainly ethnic Russian population.

They DO have a "shared history", and 

thus should be a part of Russia again.

"Love for one's motherland is one of the most powerful and uplifting feelings. It manifested itself in full in the brotherly support to the people of Crimea and Sevastopol, when they resolutely decided to return home," Putin said. "This event will remain a very important epoch in domestic history forever."

Crimea should never have 

been divorced from Russia, 

but since they have 

it is now time to restore this wrong.

Russia annexed Crimea in March following the ouster of a Russian-backed Ukrainian president in Kiev, triggering the deepest crisis in East-West relations since the end of the Cold War and prompting several waves of Western economic sanctions.

Ukraine and the West view the annexation as illegitimate.

The West (Obama) is truly stupid!

Putin's popularity has surged at home thanks to his tough stance on the Ukraine crisis, but a deepening economic crisis threatens to undermine the stability and prosperity on which his approval ratings partly rest.

When has the US 

EVER 

voted for more than 55% for a given President. Putin's popularity is about 90%!

Next year, the Russian economy is projected to fall by around 4.5 percent if the average price of oil remains near $60 per barrel, according to the central bank.
I doubt this fall, as Russia is so big 
it can easily control its economy. 

Yes the lowered oil price 

is not good for Russia, 

but they will do very well anyway. 

Thank you very much.

"The (next) year will turn out the way we make it," Putin said. "We have to fulfill, implement everything we had planned for our own sake, for the sake of our children and the Motherland."

Putin has always looked out for his citizens; that is why his approval rating is so high; Obama needs to learn from this lesson, as 

he looks down on America 

with a desire to destroy us!

The New Year's address was broadcast to Russia's Far East regions many hours before Moscow, when it is typically shown just before midnight. In a separate and apparently conciliatory gesture, Putin sent New Year's greetings to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing Putin's press service.

Putin is a strong Christian leader who has enough integrity to send this greeting.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Alexander Winning and