Dmitry Medvedev, looking comfortable in a big leather armchair, channeled his best Franklin D. Roosevelt when he spoke to the Russian people Sunday in his first in a planned series of television addresses. The debut talk, a “fireside chat” with no actual fire, focused on the global financial crisis. In the abridged version of the talk available on the Kremlin’s “blog,” it isn’t clear that Medvedev’s looking at an interviewer just off camera. So, despite his call for honesty, for the first two minutes we’re left wondering why he’s avoiding our eye contact. Let’s belatedly "liveblog" the highlights of the Kremlin’s edited highlights of Medvedev’s big talk as they unspool on our laptop.

The situation is complicated, and the prognosis is complicated, Medvedev points out. About six times. He then says, “Just because the situation’s complicated doesn’t mean it’s hopeless or even that alarming.” But overall, he says, everything is actually fairly “understandable” and “controllable.” So, Russia is facing a complicated situation that's also easy to understand.

Guess what else is “complicated"? The budget! And while there’s currently a budget deficit, rest assured, Russian people, we’re cool for this year, next year, and so on. We’ll get through it, thanks to our reserve of something unspecified (oil money). “The financial politics that have been conducted have proven their effectiveness,” the explainer-in-chief says.

Then it's time for some straight talk. Medvedev’s not going to sit there and tell his people that workers haven't been laid off or that factories haven't been shut down due to the crisis. “Unfortunately, this is even happening in our country,” he admits. And this whole time we assumed he was talking about Finland.

So what's the solution? A new piece of the stimulus plan! The president proposes spending a whopping 44 billion rubles of federal money to create new jobs. The interviewer shakes his head in awe, but 44 billion rubles is only about $1.3 billion. The little Paul Krugman voice in our heads is telling us that won't cut it. The president's use of repetition here only compounds our uncertainty about the plan. “We’re working on it,” he says. “There are programs going into effect.” And later, on creating more infrastructure jobs: “We’ll definitely work on it.” We definitely believe you.

Be prepared to train for a new line of work. There is a lot of “work vacancy” in Russia, Medvedev assures. He sympathizes with that person who, perhaps, doesn’t want to accept a less prestigious new job after being forced to leave an old one. “It will have to be done,” he says sternly. Just look at Putin: he’s working a new job (Medvedev didn’t actually say that one).

And what, according to Medvedev, is exceptionally important? The cooperation of regional governments. Medvedev goes on to call out by name the regions that have been too slow to act. Watch your back, Sverdlovsk region. “I would like these decisions to be made as quickly as possible,” the president concludes. “The fate of thousands depends on it.”

Overall, the address seems like good PR. It indicates, sometimes menacingly, that Medvedev is on top of things, and signals a desire to look like he is being frank and honest with the public.

P.S. If you decide to watch the video (and when else will you have reason to visit the Kremlin's blog?), be sure to scope out all the photos below it of Medvedev typing away on his various MacBooks.

Мировой финансовый кризис и прогнозы для России. Меры по смягчению негативных тенденций на рынке труда[Medvedev’s Video Blogs]

All Russian TVs were tuned to Medvedev Sunday: Original photo courtesy of www.tvhistory.tv