I DON’T AGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT:

MOSCOW – The collapse of the Soviet Union was “the greatest political catastrophe of the last century,” Russian president Vladimir Putin said Monday as he delivered his annual state of the nation address.

But he’s sounding as if he’s working on an excuse to try to reverse it:

The former KGB agent said the 1991 breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a “true drama” that left tens of millions of Russian people living outside Russia, in breakaway republics formerly under Soviet control.

Keep an eye on this guy. He’s going to be trouble, even if he is talking about democracy.

UPDATE: More on Putin’s speech, here.