Spring has come and with it Vladimir Putin's annual phone-in session, complete with its Hollywood-style trailer.
Russian television aired the promotional clip ahead of the April 16 event, during which the Russian president fielded questions from across Russia in a televised event that typically lasts about four hours.
Putin begins the 45-second clip by pledging that "the enemy will not pass."
Russia's annexation of Crimea, he says, showed that people are "full of determination to fight for their land."
The video pictures Putin inspecting a navy ship, paying tribute to fallen World War II soldiers, and shaking hands with several world leaders -- all of them non-Western -- to a dramatic soundtrack reminiscent of action movies.
A deep-voiced narrator chimes in with slogans such as "the most burning issues" and "answers to the challenges of our times."
The trailer contains the customary snub to the United States, with Putin dismissing accusations that it behaves aggressively by wryly claiming the United States has military bases "across the entire globe."
A video collage also shows him appearing to stare down his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama with a smirk.
The clip ends with Putin thanking adulating crowds for their support.
You can find the video as it appears on state TV (without subtitles) here.
-- Claire Bigg