Putin Dares to Go Where Soviet Leaders Feared to Tread Apr 23 2021, 7:57 PM April 23 2021, 11:00 AM April 23 2021, 7:57 PM (Bloomberg Opinion) -- As Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual state of the nation address this week, offering one social handout after another, praising heroic doctors and vaccine researchers and promising to toughen environmental regulation, it felt like a trip to a parallel reality. Yet notwithstanding Putinâs largely empty domestic exhortations, his message to the West highlighted a radical difference in approach... (Bloomberg Opinion) -- As Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual state of the nation address this week, offering one social handout after another, praising heroic doctors and vaccine researchers and promising to toughen environmental regulation, it felt like a trip to a parallel reality. Yet notwithstanding Putinâs largely empty domestic exhortations, his message to the West highlighted a radical difference in approach from that of his Soviet predecessors.