Putin: Crisis won't sink our economy

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin assured Russians yesterday he would guide them through the global financial crisis without the economic collapses of the past, but acknowledged there would be pain.

Putin unveiled a $20 billion economic stimulus package and help for people hurt in the slowdown as he set out a long-term response to a crisis that has cut more than 70 percent from the value of Russian markets since May and hammered the rouble.

The crisis has dented confidence in the Russian economy and raised the prospect that popular discontent could, for the first time, seriously undermine the ruling double act of Putin and his successor, President Dmitry Medvedev.