RUSSIA
* In his longest annual televised Q&A session, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
- called for a clampdown on all extremist practices
- assured the nation that GDP would return to pre-crisis levels by the first half of 2012
- said that thieves belong in jail when asked about former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky
- said Russian security services do not carry out the murder of "traitors"
- said there are no plans to restrict the rights of protesters in Russia, but warned against violence and breaches of the law
BUSINESS