Putin to hold his live question-and-answer session on Wednesday

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will answer to questions submitted by the country’s residents during his live question-and-answer session to begin at noon on Wednesday. It will be Putin’s 19th event in this format. He has already held 14 question-and-answer sessions as the president and four as the prime minister. The event, headlined ‘Direct Line with Vladimir Putin,’ was not held in its usual format last year. Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the question-and-answer session was merged with another major presidential event, the big news conference. No unnecessary intermediaries This year, it was decided not to cancel or postpone the event. However, the format was slightly amended to make it safer for all participants. As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, advanced technologies made it possible. In the traditional format, several locations are designated around the country, where citizens could gather and ask their questions. Filming crews are sent to those areas. This time, the number of journalists acting as intermediaries was reduced to minimum. However, all Russians still have an opportunity to ask a question directly to the president. Anyone can submit their questions via a special mobile application, which makes it technologically possible to have an immediate video connection with the studio during the broadcast. Questions are also received via the show’s website, in text or MMS messages or by phone. "The slogan of this year’s Direct Line is ‘No unnecessary intermediaries’," the presidential spokesman told reporters. At the same time, Peskov assured that Putin will engage in a direct conversation with Russians, as was in previous years. Russians keep sending their questions Russian citizens are actively sending their questions to Putin for his annual Q&A session, the Kremlin spokesman told reporters. "The activity of citizens is traditionally very high. And there is enough work for those sorting through this batch of questions," he said. According to a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, one in ten Russian nationals who know or have heard something about the direct line with President Vladimir Putin on June 30, plan on ask him a question. "Ten percent of Russians plan to ask the president a question, three percent have already done so, while 85% have no such plans," the pollster said. As of Tuesday evening, the number of questions submitted to the president has already exceeded 714,000. More than a half of them were received via a hotline, while one fifth was submitted by text messages. Questions can be submitted from 12 pm local time on June 20 until the end of the program on June 30. Acute questions Some questions submitted to Putin are published at the moskva-putinu.ru website. According to the portal, Russians are most worried about issues related to the social sphere and the quality of life. Among the most acute questions are prices for food and airline tickets, problems related to social benefits and other payments, as well as mortgage-related questions. Pandemic-related issues will also be raised during the event. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel it was difficult to establish the general tendency regarding questions for the Direct Line with President Vladimir Putin, but coronavirus is in the focus this year. He specified that the questions received were about vaccination, about the end of the pandemic and its possible economic consequences. According to Peskov, the Russian leader is likely to give a detailed response about the vaccination in Russia. The Kremlin spokesman explained that COVID-19 vaccination remains voluntary for the general public, and is mandatory only for certain professions. Feeling the pulse As Peskov has told reporters, Putin worked with questions and reference materials while preparing for the Direct Line. Apart from that, he held several meetings with Russian officials in the run-up to the event. On Monday, the president had a conversation with experts and officials in his administration. Tuesday’s meeting was attended by several Russian deputy premiers and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. According to the presidential spokesman, work on questions submitted by Russians continues even after the show is over. Some of them are handled by the All-Russia People's Front members and volunteers, while others are referred to regional governments and officials. Direct Line tradition The very first ‘Direct Line with Vladimir Putin’ was held in late 2001. Since then, this event has been held annually, except for 2004 and 2012. Over 400,000 questions were submitted for the very first question-and-answer session. In the following years, the number of requests ranged between one and 1.5 million, reaching 2.3 million in 2006. Their number has been growing ever since then, having reached a record of 3.25 million requests in 2015. In recent years, their number remains at approximately 2-3 million. The event continues for as long as it is necessary, its duration is not pre-determined. The Rossiya-1, NTV and Channel One tentatively reserved three hours for the event’s live broadcast. The first five broadcasts took less than two hours each, but, since 2007, the broadcast has always exceeded this length. The 2013 broadcast was the longest, taking 4 hours 47 minutes. Read more