Russian President Vladimir Putin will for a second year in a row combine his annual press conference and televised call-in show next month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
“The unified format, which will combine the annual press conference with elements of a direct line, will take place in the second half of December,” Peskov told reporters, saying he would announce a date for the event later.
“As usual, we will collect citizens’ questions and answer them,” Peskov said.
Putin will also “answer in detail journalists’ questions from Russian, regional, federal and foreign media in attendance,” the spokesman added.
Putin held a combined press conference in December of last year when he touted Russia’s economic growth, railed against the West and vowed to continue the war against Ukraine.
Previously, Putin’s call-in show was combined with an end-of-year press conference due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Neither of the two set-piece events was held in the tumultuous year of 2022, when Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the West unleashed an unprecedented flurry of sanctions in response.
In 2021, Putin held the “Direct Line” call-in show in June and an end-of-year press conference in December.
First launched in 2001, Putin’s call-in program aims to cast the Russian leader as a “problem-solver-in-chief,” as he personally addresses the complaints of ordinary citizens that regional and local officials are accused of ignoring.
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