Putin’s annual Q&A session set for April 25 – Kremlin

(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 18, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual question and answer session is due to start at noon on April 25, the Kremlin press service said.

It will be broadcast live on the Channel 1, Rossiya 1 and Rossiya 24 television stations, as well as the Mayak, Vesti FM and Radio of Russia radio stations, it said.

“Keeping the traditions of such programs, which have been conducted for more than a decade, the president will answer Russian people’s questions about the socio-political and socio-economic life of the country during a live communication session,” the report says.

Not only people invited to the studio, but also citizens with whom Putin will talk during live linkups with Russia’s cities and people who call or send text messages to the unified call center will be able to ask the president questions, the press service reported.

People visiting the program’s website will also be able to ask the president questions about issues that concern them. The most interesting and vital questions received by the unified call center will be forwarded to Putin during the live program.

The call center will traditionally begin working four days before the program, at noon Moscow time on April 21, and will work until the live program is over, the Kremlin press service said in a report.

This will be Putin’s 11th live question and answer session. The previous live question and answer session took place in December 2011, when Putin was prime minister. When he became president again, he decided to continue the practice of talking to people in this format.

“We have been meeting with you for ten years and we will, of course, continue this format,” Putin said during his tenth question and answer session with Russia’s citizens on December 15, 2011.

Live question and answer sessions were traditionally held in winter, but last year a decision was made to postpone the live session until it got warmer. “Bearing in mind the climate conditions, we will go into a regime when live sessions will be held when it’s warm, not when your ears and feet freeze,” presidential press officer Dmitry Peskov said.

The issue of postponing live question and answer sessions until a warmer season was periodically raised before due to the fact that live linkups with the northern regions of Russia in cold seasons create problems to Russians who want to ask the president questions on a live program.

Like before, the intrigue of the upcoming session is whether Putin will set another record in terms of the session’s duration. In 2011, the live program lasted a record four hours and 26 minutes. Putin answered 88 questions during that session.

As a rule, there is no time limit for these sessions.

Several days prior to the session, a call center will begin working, where people can direct their questions to the president. Questions can also be sent by SMS and to the website

moskva-putinu.ru, where an overview of the most frequently asked questions is made.

In 2011, some changes were made to the organization of the live session: among the people invited to work in the call center were artists, public figures, and lawyers, who answered citizens’ questions along with regular operators.

Before the session, Putin selects some of the questions that he then answers on the program.

During the live program, residents of various regions are able to ask the president questions directly via video communication. In 2012, the studio in Gostiny Dvor had video calls from Tyumen, Vladivostok, St. Petersburg, the Stavropol Territory, Saransk, Murmansk, Ufa, Sochi, and Nizhny Tagil.

Presidential press officer Dmitry Peskov reiterated more than once that questions asked on live programs are not “prearranged.”

Putin has also been asked questions by guests present in the studio. Among them were prominent people and ordinary citizens with whom Putin had met during the year, including during trips in the country.

According to the call center, almost 2 million calls were taken during the 2011 live session, which lasted more than four hours. Like in the previous years, most questions addressed issues such as social security, housing and utilities, and wages. Naturally, there were many questions about current political events. Putin was also asked personal questions such as what his dreams are, how he understands happiness, and which of his character traits he considers bad.