Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual keynote speech at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, which he delivered Friday, was highly anticipated as it may be his most important economic message of the year. Yet anyone who expected Putin to reveal some kind of plan for dealing with Russia's economic crisis must be sorely disappointed. Crisis? What crisis?
Given Russia's economic performance, much of Putin's speech was first-class, straight-faced stand-up comedy.
"The consumer demand that used to push the economy forward, has fallen slightly, too," Putin said of the 7.7 percent drop in retail volume in January through May, which included the steepest fall for January in at least 10 years.