I definitely feel better about investing in the U.S.S.R….. I mean, Russia

In the wake of the Russian government’s prosecution of Yukos oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, president Vladimir Putin tried to assuage domestic and foreign investors in his state-of-the-nation address. If this AP account by Alex Nicholson is accurate, I’m not sure he succeeded:

President Vladimir Putin lamented the demise of the Soviet Union in some of his strongest language to date, saying in a nationally televised speech before parliament Monday that it was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” In his annual address to lawmakers, top government officials and political leaders, Putin also sought to reassure skittish investors about Russia’s investment climate – just two days before a ruling in the tax evasion and fraud trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. His statements on the collapse of the Soviet Union and its effects on Russians, at home and abroad, come as the country is awash in nostalgia just two weeks before the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe – a conflict Russians call the “Great Patriotic War.” Putin, who served as a colonel in the KGB, has resurrected some communist symbols during his presidency, bringing back the music of the old Soviet anthem and the Soviet-style red banner as the military’s flag. In the 50-minute address at the Kremlin, Putin avoided mentioning the need to work more closely with other former Soviet republics – in contrast to previous addresses – and he made passing reference to the treatment of Russian-speaking minorities in former Soviet republics. “First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” Putin said. “As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory. The epidemic of collapse has spilled over to Russia itself.” ….Liberal politician Irina Khakamada dismissed Putin’s address as “an export product” marked by “liberal rhetoric and ritual statements addressed to the West.”

[What the hell is Khakamada talking about?–ed. Well, if you read Jeremy Page’s account of the speech in the London Times, “Putin tried to make peace with Russia’s increasingly critical clique of influential businessmen yesterday by ordering his tax police to stop ‘terrorising’ companies.” So Putin wasn’t only scaring the bejeesus out of the near abroad, Eastern and Central Europe, and the West. Well, I certainly want to invest all of danieldrezner.com’s financial resources into Russia right now!!–ed. And that’s about all I’m expecting Putin to reap from this speech.]