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During Putin's annual President Line show which he does at his own discretion, where he spends about 3 full hours of answering people's questions live and directly on television - no cuts or edits (which no leader in the world does) with mobile stations established all over the country and neighbouring republics where people can gather around these digital broadcast stations directly linked by satellite to Kremlin for live viewing on giant screens (aired few days ago, can be full viewed and full transcript read on http://www.president-line.ru/ ). If you speak Russia and have seen the recent one, you can truly understand that Putin does care for Russia and its people.
Here was one of the questions asked to him (I found an English translation):
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A mechanic from Siberia asks Russia's president Putin about Madeleine Albright's complaint that Siberia has too many resources to belong only to Russia.
A 'Sort of Political Erotica'
The most internationally resonating remarks might have come when a mechanic from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk asked Mr. Putin about comments he said were made some years ago by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who suggested that Siberia had too many natural resources to belong to one country.
"I know that some politicians play with such ideas in their heads. This, in my view, is the sort of political erotica that might satisfy a person but hardly leads to a positive result," Mr. Putin responded. "The best example of that are the events in Iraq -- a small country that can hardly defend itself and which possesses huge oil reserves. And we see what's going on there. They've learned to shoot there, but they are not managing to bring order."
"One can wipe off a political map some tyrannical regime … but it's absolutely pointless to fight with a people," he said. "Russia, thank God, isn't Iraq. It has enough strength and power to defend itself and its interests, both on its territory and in other parts of the world."
Mr. Putin went on to say he believes one of the U.S. "goals is to establish control of the country's oil reserves," and that a concrete date must be set for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Unless such a date is set, he added in an echo of some U.S. war critics, "the Iraqi leadership, feeling [safe] under the reliable American umbrella, will not hurry to develop its own armed and law enforcement forces."
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President Vladimir Putin answered questions from around the country in a live television and radio broadcast.
The Hot Line with the President broadcast lasted for two hours and fifty-four minutes.
Over this time, Mr Putin answered more than 50 questions asked via live linkups to different parts of the country, by telephone and also sent in to the Hot Line website.
The great majority of questions – 41 of those asked – were about Russian domestic issues. Nine people asked questions about international issues and two questions were personal in nature.
In total, the President received more than 2.3 million questions, of which around 2.2 million came in by telephone and 100,000 via the Internet. People could also send their questions by SMS during the broadcast.
Direct television linkups were organised with the towns of Baltiisk, Bryansk, Irkutsk, Kaspiisk, Kondopoga, Naberezhniye Chelny, Nakhodka, Tver, and the village of Podgorodnyaya Pokrovka in Orenburg Region.
Residents of Sevastopol also put their questions to the President during the live broadcast.
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Little of the marathon three-hour session was devoted to Putin's political future after his expected departure from office next year.
A man from Kazan, however, asked Putin why he had decided to lead the ticket for United Russia -- the country's dominant pro-Kremlin party -- in the Dec. 2 State Duma elections.
After a lengthy tangent about the beauty of the Kazan Kremlin, Putin said he had made the decision to ensure continuity after the 2008 presidential transition.
"In 2008, here, in the Kremlin, there will be a different person," Putin said. "Under these conditions, it is extremely important to preserve the stable course of our government."
Putin criticized the work of previous Dumas, saying they had passed populist bills that were unrealistic to implement and praised the current Duma, dominated by United Russia and often criticized as a rubber-stamp legislature.
"It is extremely important that the Duma after the 2007 elections be competent," he said. "United Russia was the key element in the efficiency of the Duma in recent years. That's why I chose to head its ticket."
Analysts and opposition parties said Putin violated campaign laws, which bar parties from campaigning until Nov. 3.
"If someone from the opposition had praised a party, he would have violated the law, but not the president," said Yury Korgunyuk, an analyst at the Indem think tank.
Central Elections Commission chief Vladimir Churov said he had "no objections" to Putin's remarks about United Russia, RIA-Novosti reported.
At no point did Putin identify his preferred successor, nor did anyone directly ask him the question. In a meeting with reporters afterward, though, he hinted at his vision for the country's power structure after 2008.
"Right now, our center for decision making is the head of state -- the president. And according to the Constitution, the government is the main executive body," Putin said, Interfax reported. "Taking powers away from the government or giving it extra powers is inappropriate."
Putin also said he would not miss the presidency and that he was "building plans for the future."
He also compared himself to former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"Roosevelt laid out his plan for the country's development for decades in advance," prompting criticism from the U.S. elite, Putin told reporters, RIA-Novosti reported.
In one of his few nods to other politicians during the call-in session, Putin praised the anti-corruption efforts of Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.
But Zubkov alone cannot solve the problem, he added. "As a society, we must become intolerant of these things, from petty bribes on the road to big-time government kickbacks," Putin said.
Putin touched on another hot-button issue -- security in the North Caucasus -- while speaking to questioners from Botlikh, Dagestan, a town that was attacked by Chechnya-based rebels in 1999.
While admitting that work still needed to be done, especially in terms of lifting the North Caucasus out of poverty, Putin stressed that the region's security had improved under his presidency.
"Terrorists who are trying to blow up the situation in the North Caucasus today have no chances," he said.
Not all of the questions addressed to Putin were serious.
A woman from Kazan asked him how he found time to study foreign languages. Putin replied that he occasionally took English lessons of 10 to 15 minutes, saying it was good to speak to foreign leaders without a translator sometimes.
The most surreal moment came when the call center put a woman directly in touch with Putin.
"I don't want to speak to you, I want to speak to Putin," she told a call center representative, who assured her that Putin was listening. When the president spoke, the woman did not initially believe it was him.
Putin finally convinced her, but then she seemed to forget her question. "Thank you," she said emotionally, and hung up.
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Last edited by Magnetonium on Oct-20-2007 at 21:00
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