Today Vladimir Putin gives his annual “presidential address”. What a year. Russia began 2015 locked in a standoff with the West over the crisis in Ukraine. Now Mr Putin has warplanes dropping bombs in Syria, and seems determined not to relent in another showdown, after Turkey shot down a Russian jet last month. Yesterday, Russian defence officials presented information that they claim connects Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to trade in oil with Islamic State, a charge Mr Erdogan calls slanderous. Mr Putin’s intervention in Syria has brought benefits: though Western powers want his ally, Bashar al-Assad, removed, shared enmity of IS means they can no longer claim Russia is isolated. Yet with Western sanctions over Ukraine still in place and oil prices low, Russia’s economic problems are mounting. Mr Putin will have to provide either answers or yet more distractions. What adventures will 2016 bring?