MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin vowed to punish speculators attacking the ruble with "harsh" measures in a defiant speech that reached into Russian history to defend his annexation of Crimea and compared his international opponents with Adolf Hitler.

"The authorities know who these speculators are and the instruments we can use to influence them," Putin said Thursday in his annual address to parliament regarding efforts to defend the country's currency, which is trading near a record low. "The time has come to use these instruments."

Putin, who did not comment on the tailspin in oil prices in his 70-minute speech, also announced plans for an amnesty for those returning capital to Russia. The president said he'll eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy as he works to reassure a nation threatened by a spiraling economic crisis.

The data show a Russian economy reeling from an oil-price plunge this year of more than a third and sanctions imposed by the US and its allies over the conflict in Ukraine. The Economy Ministry acknowledged this week that GDP in the world's biggest energy exporter may shrink in 2015 for the first year in six. Inflation last month accelerated more than economists predicted, reaching the fastest pace since June 2011.

The ruble has lost a third of its value since Putin started his incursion into the Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in March, the most among 24 developing countries Bloomberg tracks.

Putin's anti-West rhetoric during the speech was "one degree higher than usual" as the Russian leader tried to use it to rally support, said Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin adviser. "The historical part of the speech was very strange. Putin is in a conspiracy mode."

"Western" allies are seeking to weaken Russia with sanctions and attacks on the ruble and oil price, Foreign Intelligence Chief Mikhail Fradkov, a former prime minister, told Bloomberg News after Putin's annual address. The drop in the oil price is partially caused by US actions and foreign investment funds are "taking part" in ruble speculation via intermediaries, Fradkov said.

The Bank of Russia Thursday reduced the rate it charges banks to borrow foreign currency in a bid to slow the ruble's slide and ease a dollar shortage. The ruble has "substantially" deviated from its fundamental value, creating risks for financial stability and spurring expectations of inflation and depreciation, the central bank said in a statement on its website, reiterating its readiness to intervene without limits.

"The Bank of Russia has moved to a free-floating ruble but this doesn't mean it is distancing itself completely from influencing the ruble and that the exchange rate can become a target for financial speculation," Putin said.

Russian GDP may shrink 0.8 percent next year, compared with an earlier estimate of 1.2 percent growth, Deputy Economy Minister Alexei Vedev said Dec. 2. Inflation surged to 9.1 percent in November from 8.3 percent in October.

Putin said Russia must escape the "trap" of zero growth by achieving annual productivity gains of 5 percent, to return GDP expansion to above the world average within 3-4 years.

State-run VTB Group, the second-largest lender, gained as much as 12 percent in Moscow trading after Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the government would give out aid from its $82 billion National Wellbeing Fund to finance infrastructure projects via VTB.