Before this year’s “Direct Line” even starts, a construction worker from Vostok Cosmodrome, Anton Tyurishev, planned to organize a protest to draw attention to his comments last year in the same setting where he highlighted his unpaid wages. According to Tyurishev, he is still owed money. He has now been arrested.
Inside Moscow Gostiny Dvor, where the call-in is taking place.
Top three questions from last year, according to the Russia-24 state TV channel:
16 percent -- questions about housing and communal services
10 percent -- questions about human and citizen rights
9 percent -- questions about the state, society, and politics
Overall, 8.5 million people watched the “Direct Line” with Vladimir Putin last year.
For the first time, Russian citizens can ask the president questions through the VK social network. After filling out a questionnaire, an image of winking Vladimir Putin appears to let you know that the question has been successfully submitted.
More than 2 million questions have already been submitted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has entered Moscow Gostiny Dvor.
Putin takes the first question from a woman from Omsk, complaining about the state of the roads in the city.
There are a lot of questions about roads from many Russian regions, Putin says.
After taking a tour around the call center and answering the first question, Putin takes his seat. The room greets him with a standing ovation.
Putin agrees. Last year prices rose by about 14 percent, this year -- by 2.2 percent. But that’s the consequence of import substitution, which in the end only benefits Russian farmers. Eventually, when the market is full of local produce, the prices will go down, Putin says.