Putin offers amnesty for flight capital: Anybody wishing to repatriate the capital they have stored could bring it back with impunity and no questions asked, Russian President Vladimir Putin said today in State of the Union address. The amnesty would be a strictly one-off event. Vedomosti

Only economic downturn will make Putin change his ways, says Obama

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he doubted President Vladimir Putin would change course until the economic downturn forced his hand. The Russian president had promoted a  nationalist, backward-looking approach to Russian policy that was scaring its neighbours and hurting Moscow’s economy, he said. The Moscow Times