MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Dec. 18 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.
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A man looks at a computer screen as he watches Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual press conference, in a public library in Moscow on December 18, 2014.
