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Face-to-face with Putin

Vladimir Radyuhin

His third term, N. Korea raised in the live broadcast

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin faced Russians in a wide-ranging marathon question-and-answer session on Wednesday in what has become a powerful political, image-building and even therapeutic instrument of communication between the Kremlin and the nation.

During a nearly 3-hour live broadcast on all national TV and radio channels, the fifth such event in as many years, the Russian leader took more than 50 out of 2.3 million questions submitted to him by fixed-line phone calls, mobile phone text messages and E-mail. Questions ranged from North Korea to a third presidential term for Mr. Putin, from ethnic tension to ecology, but mostly centred on issues of wellbeing and social security.

Mr. Putin, famous for displaying remarkable competence and reeling off statistics by memory on practically any issue of national economy or politics, visibly enjoys such shows. "It enables you to feel the problems that worry the people. It is a good guideline for practical work," he said after last year's call-in session which also lasted about three hours.

Special website

A special website and a call-in studio in Moscow received questions several days ahead of the event, and satellite television linkups were set up in 10 cities and towns across Russia to enable people to ask their queries live. While the Kremlin admitted that Mr. Putin and his staff did some selection of questions he answered, there was no sign they tried to avoid hot-button topics. When minimum wages will rise to subsistence level? What is being done to combat growing drug trafficking? Why are we spending so much on defence? When corruption will be brought under control? Why are there so many contract killings in Russia?

The call-in show fills a void in Russia's still burgeoning multi-party political system. With most parties still rudimentary and independent news media few and far between, traditional channels of communication between the government and the governed tend to be ineffective in Russia, an analyst said. Mr. Putin sees the session as an opportunity to respond directly to voters' concerns. Complaints against local authorities were immediately attended to after they were aired in previous call-in sessions. The broadcast also has a great therapeutic effect on the population because people feel the President is reaching them personally, analysts said.

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