Russian President Vladimir Putin is barely leaving his Novo-Ogariovo residence due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nor did he do it today on the occasion of his annual press conference: sheltered during 4 hours and 29 minutes behind a screen he answered 60 questions and sipped Siberian herbal tea.
In his country residence on the outskirts of Moscow, the president of Russia feels comfortable. She only usually leaves her home for ceremonial and commemorative events. It is unknown if he is afraid of catching the coronavirus at 68 years old or if he has discovered the comfort of teleworking. No one has dared to ask him. However, Putin has not yet been vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V, since, at the moment, only people between 18 and 60 years old can be vaccinated, but this Thursday he promised “to do it as soon as they allow it.”
“It is not complete isolation. From time to time I have face-to-face meetings with my colleagues. I work with many people from the government, from the presidential office, who sit about three or five meters from me, “the president explained.
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Putin’s refusal to leave his office in Novo-Ogariovo, from where he holds countless videoconferences and receives the heads of large state corporations, has raised certain suspicions in the countrySo speculation has begun that the Russian leader might have an identical office in his summer residence in Sochi, on the shores of the Black Sea.
Two identical offices?
The Russian research outlet Proekt has even claimed that the Kremlin is “hiding Putin’s whereabouts” and that “to do so they have built a copy of their office in the Moscow region in Sochi, “with its cream-colored armchair and dark-wood work table.
“There are no identical offices, the president has many offices in different cities, he uses them and you can see everything,” said his spokesman. Dmitri Peskov. Perhaps that is why today the arrival of Putin to his office in Novo-Ogariovo could be seen on television screens.
Sitting at a work table with two microphones and a large world map behind him, the president did agree to receive about 27 journalists and photographers who normally follow him in his “bubble studio.” The press had to save two weeks quarantine in a Moscow hotel, according to the Meduza portal.
Javier Espadas. Moscow
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In total, 774 journalists were accredited for the annual press conference, when more than 1,500 normally attend. Only 237 worked at the “World Trade Center” conference center, the usual venue for the conference in recent years, from where their spokesperson conducted the press conference. The rest were distributed in studios in different cities of the country: Saint Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk and Vladivostok.
For 4 hours and 29 minutes, more then in the corridor as many minutes, Putin answered 60 questions; only three were from foreign media on this occasion. But he narrowly failed to break the 2008 record, when he spoke for 4 hours and 40 minutes.
He talked about everything: about the Russian vaccine, of the opposition leader Alexéi Navalni (without naming him by name, as usual), of the president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, who has not yet decided if he will run for re-election in 2024 now that the Constitution allows him, recycling, of the march of the economy, criminal cases and treason and the price of food.
Mask and discipline
The journalists were wearing their masks permanently and after two hours, Peskov reminded them to change them. Normally, to get the attention of the spokesman or Putin himself so that they can ask, the room is filled with posters with phrases and denunciations of all kinds and some even dress in regional costumes. It’s quite a show.
One of the most commented posters was that of Alexandra Bezukladova, which had the phrase “I am pregnant” written on it, without being pregnant
This year it was all discipline. One of the most talked about posters was that of Alexandra Bezukladova, which had the phrase “I’m pregnant” written on it, without being pregnant. The Presidency team managed to maintain elements of the so-called “Direct Line”, in which citizens can ask, although on this occasion they had to send their questions – 13 were read – in advance through a special mobile application.
And it was to the citizens that very at the end of the press conference he wanted to give a year-end gift: families with children up to seven years of age will receive for the New Year a single payment of 5,000 rubles for each minor, that is, about 68 dollars or 56 euros. Meanwhile, Putin, in line with his self-isolation, confessed that will celebrate the New Year “at home”.
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