The program, known as the “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin”, is an annual marathon broadcast where Russians can send their questions directly to the president by email, text message or even call directly. Several radio and TV channels broadcast the event live.
Questions about the pandemic seem to be a dominant theme during this year’s broadcast on Wednesday, writes the news agency Tass and refers to the fact that the majority of the 700,000 questions that have come in advance are about the fight against covid-19 or about the vaccination.
Many other issues are also about the environment or about rising food prices. The selection of the question to which the President answers is made by the administration.
The question program is known to last for several hours. In 2017, Putin answered questions for a full 4 hours and 47 minutes.
There are only a few months left until there is a new parliamentary election in Russia. The governing party United Russia falls on the polls and has about 30 percent support, a decrease of 10 percentage points from the previous election in the lower house, called the Duma, in 2016.
Putin has far higher support. Among voters, about 60 percent say they will vote for him.
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