Three hundred people will be gathered in the studio for a question and answer session with Putin.
The Russians will have an opportunity to talk with their prime minister in the next couple of days. Strictly speaking, this applies only to the lucky ones who will manage to get through to the anchors of the live broadcast "Conversation with Vladimir Putin" at noon on December 3. MK has found out the details of the preparations for the event.
For Putin, a live broadcast has become a traditional format for communicating with the public since his presidency. Having become prime minister, he did not change the tradition and conducted a session in his new post on December 4 of last year. The broadcast "Conversation with Vladimir Putin Continued" will air again exactly a year later. When asked whether Putin will answer questions as the prime minister or United Russia leader, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov replied: "These titles are difficult to separate, but Mr Putin will primarily speak as the prime minister because the concept [of communication] is linked with what he was doing all year."
As in 2008, the studio will be set up in Gostiny Dvor. The format of Putin's communication with the public as prime minister is somewhat different from that of his presidency. Last year, people asked him questions not only by using mobile television facilities in the regions and calling special centres, but also through the Internet. Moreover, in 2008, more than 400 people were invited to the studio and given the opportunity to ask questions from the hall. Basically, this year's session will see the same forms of communications used, as people can ask questions to the prime minister by dialing a toll-free telephone number (8 800 200 4040), sending a text message to 04040 or visiting the website www.moskva-putinu.ru. However, the format will still undergo some changes. Peskov told MK that the novelty is that live broadcasts are organised at the plants visited by Putin. If it is impossible to broadcast live in some places, local people are invited to come to the Gostiny Dvor studio. It would be logical to assume that in both cases these are regions with problematic enterprises like Pikalyovo and Togliatti, to name but a few.
Last year's session took place when the crisis was at its peak. The conversation lasted for three hours and 8 minutes during which Putin answered 72 questions. All in all, about 2.2 million people asked questions on the eve of and during the live broadcast.
The housing problem was the number one issue in 2008. Jobs at a time of growing unemployment came next. This time people asked the following questions: will the government increase military pensions? When will the funds received from the transport tax be invested into road repairs? Isn't it time to reform the Interior Ministry in view of the numerous video addresses by policemen on the Internet? What measures are being taken to find the terrorists who blew up the Nevsky Express train?
Putin is bound to use his off-colour remarks during the session. Last year, when asked whether he promised "to hang Saakashvili by one of his body parts?" he specified: "Why only one?"
There was another typical story. Dasha Varfolomeyeva from Buryatia asked Putin to send her a Cinderella dress. Before long the prime minister invited her, her sister and her mother to come to Moscow. He not only gave dresses to sisters but also invited them to his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo and arranged their cultural entertainment in the capital.
Natalya Galimova
