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By Andrew Osborn and Alexander Winning MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin assured ordinary Russians on Thursday that he was trying to relieve the hardships they face, with the economy in recession and consumer prices pushed up as a consequence of the Kremlin's standoff with the West. Putin used a televised phone-in, an annual event when he fields questions from ordinary citizens around the country, to strike a conciliatory tone on foreign policy, saying Russia wanted friendly relations with the rest of the world. Early questions to Putin focused on the economy, which shrank 3.7 percent last year, a result of falling prices for oil made worse by the effects of international sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.More...