The prime minister's family takes part in the census.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila took part in the census late on Saturday. Kommersant special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov describes how Vladimir Putin explained his absence from home on the night of October 14, 2010.
The census taker was a woman of about 24. She showed no signs of being nervous as she waited for Vladimir Putin to come home. She introduced herself as Yevgeniya and said that she did have a whistle and a flashlight like all census takers, but she would not use them, no matter how hard I tried, because she was asked to do this wherever she went. Yet, she gave me the impression that I could have persuaded her.
Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila entered an office in one of the houses at the prime minister's residence in Novo-Ogaryovo at about 10 p.m. Much to the chagrin of the cameramen, both were dressed in beige and blended in with the colour of the sofa. Not only Yevgeniya was there waiting for them but also their dog Connie.
"I'll put down all the information according to the time of the start of the census, that is, at midnight of October 14, 2010," the girl said.
In the meantime, the dog was lying on the sofa, enjoying the attention and the camera flashes. Connie got so comfortable with cameras that she may even miss them sometimes. But maybe she just wanted her belly to be scratched.
The census taker asked whether the prime minister and his wife shared a residence, which they confirmed.
"What's you name?" she asked Vladimir Putin. She is probably the only person in the country to ask him such a question.
"What is your gender?" she went on.
Putin took this question seriously. I was tempted to write "and, after some hesitation, he replied" but he did not hesitate.
In the meantime, Lyudmila could not help laughing at this question and tears even appeared in her eyes. Likely, she found this question very funny.
"Were you here at midnight on October 14?" Yevgenia asked. "If you were not at home, what was your reason for being away?"
She asked the prime minister the standard census questions, but not every journalist or, say, investigator would ask these kinds of questions.
"On the night of October 14?" the prime minister asked.
Finally he admitted that he was away from home. After a dramatic pause, he added: "I can tell you where I was. I was meeting with members of the International Olympic Committee in Sochi."
In other words, he had an airtight alibi.
Lyudmila Putin was asked the same questions. She was in the right location during the start of the census.
Putin replied to the questions about his date of birth (he is 58 years old) and birthplace, his marital status (registered marriage), nationality (Russia) and ethnicity (Russian). He said he speaks German (at this point his wife whispered something to him reproachfully) and he added: "I speak some English as well."
"Are you employed or do you do something else?'
"I'm employed," Putin replied. He gave the same answer to this question when he was president.
"Will Connie take part in the census?" Putin asked Yevgeniya.
This question was not pointless – after all, this was a census of the population rather than of the people.
"Are you related to Putin?" the census taker asked.
"I'm his wife," Lyudmila replied.
"I must assign your wife a number," Yevgeniya said with a worried look.
"What do you mean?" Lyudmila replied.
Putin also looked surprised.
"Well, I asked you questions after Mr Putin, so you'll be number two."
It became clear that Yevgeniya was referring to her records where Putin was number one and his wife was number two.
"Connie is number one!" Putin laughed.
When Yevgeniya asked Lyudmila what foreign languages she knew, she mentioned German, Spanish and French.
"Not very modest," Putin said in a hushed voice.
When asked about her employment, Ms. Putin humbly mentioned only one job: "I've looked at this question in advance. I'm a housewife."
"Is this your only source of income?" the census taker continued. "Were you looking for a job during the past month?"
"No," Lyudmila admitted honestly.
"Could you name a reason, just one?"
Lyudmila was explicit: "This idea did not even occur to me."
The survey finally came to an end and Yevgeniya warmly said goodbye to the couple.
Now Kommersant readers should remember the main thing – everyone will have to go through this.
This topic is special and I've rewritten it twice, just in case