MOSCOW—President
said Moscow would deliver a swift and harsh response to any foreign threat, a warning that comes amid a vast Russian military buildup at the border with Ukraine and a growing protest movement at home.
Mr. Putin’s remarks, in his annual state of the nation address, showed the Russian leader taking a harder line against his perceived adversaries as domestic criticism coalesces around the fate of jailed opposition activist
Alexei Navalny.
The Kremlin critic, whom some Moscow officials have described as a foreign agent, has been on a hunger strike for more than three weeks and is now in critical condition, according to his team. Protesters gathered in Moscow and other cities Wednesday to demand his release.
