This ends our live-blogging for December 20. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Vladimir Putin takes a defiant stance:
President Vladimir Putin has warned that no country can "intimidate" or "isolate" Russia.
Putin, speaking in Moscow on December 20, said such attempts had repeatedly been made over centuries.
But Putin, in an address to mark the Russia's Security Services Day said: "Of course, no one will be able to intimidate us, or contain and isolate Russia. No one has ever been able to and no one ever will."
Putin called for improvement of Russia's secret services to tackle "modern challenges and threats" amid tensions with the West over the Moscow's role in the Ukrainian crisis.
Putin said the most important tasks for Russia's intelligence services are the fight against global terrorism and the prevention of "any attempts of foreign special services to deal a blow to Russia and her political and economic interests."
Russia's economy is expected to slip into recession next year because of Western sanctions and the falling price of oil. (AFP, Reuters, and Interfax)
Speaking on December 19 in an interview to Russia's Dozhd TV in Moscow in reaction to Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual news conference of December 18, Russian opposition figure and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said:
Putin "came up with a third explanation in a row for the annexation of Crimea. First, [the reason behind it] was a threat for the Russian-speaking population; then it was [the symbolism] of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and Khersones [references Putin made in his annual address to the Federal Assembly of December 4] -- everyone has been shocked by this explanation -- while [on December 18] it turned out that there is a conspiracy to deprive Russia of its sovereignty, thus [Russia] made an advance kick bellow the belt -- that's how I interpret it -- and took Crimea in order to protect our sovereignty. Do you follow the changes? The change of arguments over the last three months having been made by the head of a nuclear power and a permanent member of the UN's Security Council?"
"The [fall of] oil [prices] and [Western] sanctions have accelerated the inevitability of the collapse of the entire [Russian power] system. People can see that the next year will be decisive. Putin will have to make a decision next year. He said it might take two years for [the economic troubles] to dissipate and for the situation to get back to normal, while I am saying there are only two years left until the end of the regime, unless the right decisions are made next year."
Why is there a cat?
Moscow calls on Paris to decide on ships' delivery:
Moscow has called on Paris to decide by the end of the year whether it will deliver two Mistral-class warships.
Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov told Interfax on December 20, "It doesn't matter if the calendar shows December 31, 2014 or January 1, 2015, but we are waiting for France's decision."
He also said Russia will gladly take back the money it paid for the warships, whose handover has been delayed by concerns over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis.
The agreement for the helicopter carriers worth 1.2 billion euros was signed before Moscow's annexation of Crimea and support of the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Paris has so far delayed delivery of the first warship, which was set for fall of 2014, "until further notice." (Interfax)