On April 14th, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with reporters after attending the "live connection" TV program that he believed that the territorial problems of Russia and Japan could finally find a solution. Xinhua News Agency/AFP
Since the first Russian president in 2001, Putin has had a live connection with the Russian people almost every year (it was not held in 2004 and 2012). This "face-to-face" way of answering questions between the president (prime minister) and the people not only shows Putin’s full confidence in his overall control of Russia, but also is a political weapon, which can enhance Putin’s personal prestige and ease domestic political pressure.
On April 15th, Putin held his 14th live connection as scheduled. Different from previous years, this year’s presidential live connection questioning method has been innovative. People can ask questions through their social networks "вконтакте" or recorded videos. This year’s live connection activity lasted for 3 hours and 40 minutes. Putin answered as many as 75 questions on the spot, covering Russian economy, diplomacy, internal affairs and people’s livelihood issues that have attracted much attention.
Russia’s economic situation is expected to improve
At the opening of the live connection, Putin first talked about the current overall economic situation in Russia. Under the double influence of the sanctions imposed by the United States and the West for many years and the continuous decline of international oil prices, the Russian economy declined as a whole in 2015, and the gross domestic product shrank by 3.7% compared with the previous year. Investment and consumer demand are weak, the national budget is forced to tighten, and many previously formulated project plans have not been effectively implemented as scheduled. The economic situation in Russia is really worrying.
Putin does not avoid talking about the current poor economic situation, but he also does not forget to cheer for the Russian people. He pointed out that the government believes that Russia’s GDP will decline by 0.3% in 2016, but by 2017, the Russian economy is expected to grow by 1.4%. Putin said that Russia’s foreign exchange reserves have now returned to the level of $387 billion at the beginning of 2014. The funds of government reserve funds and national welfare funds have been slightly reduced, but their scale still accounts for 10.5% of the country’s GDP.
When answering the question "How to improve the Russian economy", Putin said that he was firmly opposed to using the "printing machine" to revitalize the economy. He said: "What matters is not printing money, but changing the economic structure is the core. The situation is indeed very complicated, but we have made progress in this regard. "
People’s livelihood issues account for the highest proportion.
The live connection has just started for an hour and a half, and all kinds of channels have received nearly 2.5 million questions, of which the most is people’s livelihood issues. In fact, people’s livelihood issues are basically the issues that people are most concerned about in live broadcasts over the years, and this year is no exception. The main livelihood issues that people are concerned about and worried about are: rising prices, wage arrears, housing and public services. Putin admits that the domestic inflation rate in Russia was 12.9% in 2015. Compared with the previous year, the rising momentum of grain prices is "rapid". Regarding the unemployment rate, Putin said that the current unemployment rate in Russia remains at a low level of 5.6%. Although it has increased slightly, it has not increased much compared with before the crisis.
A worker from Ural trailer factory in Chelyabinsk region complained to Putin that the company had been in arrears for three months. Putin promised to instruct the Ministry of Industry and Trade to deal with such incidents, and explained to the worker that some auto companies in deep crisis owed their employees wages in order not to lay off employees.
Housing and tax issues are the focus of Russian people’s attention, and they are also the most "platitudes" in the live broadcast connection. This year’s questions in this regard are very sharp. Someone asked Putin: "Why is the oil price falling while the tax is rising?" Putin replied that this problem has existed since the Soviet era. In the near future, the government will begin to work on tax structure information to improve the transparency of tax policy.
Throw the Ukrainian issue to the United States and Ukraine.
For Russia, the Syrian and Ukrainian issues are still diplomatic dilemmas that have not been completely solved, which have bound Russia to some extent. Therefore, diplomacy is also one of the main topics of concern to the Russian people.
On the Syrian issue, Putin stressed that he hopes to achieve a ceasefire in Syria, start a political process, launch a new round of peace talks, and hold elections in advance in accordance with the Constitution. In fact, when Russia withdrew its troops from Syria, it only withdrew the main forces fighting in Syria, and still retained the military power to supervise the ceasefire and ensure the normal operation of relevant military facilities. These are all important foundations for Russia to return to Syria when necessary. From Putin’s position and practice on the Syrian issue, we can see that Putin has left a "back hand" in Syria.
On the Ukrainian issue, some netizens asked Putin: "Will there be another war in Donbass?" When Putin answered this question, he naturally kicked the ball to the United States and Ukraine. Putin said that many aspects of the Ukrainian issue depend on the Kiev authorities. If the United States wants to solve the problem, they should exert influence on their Kiev partners.
When someone asked "What is the president’s attitude towards the current Russian-Turkish relations", Putin said that Russia’s relations with its neighbors are generally good, and Russia is willing to build the best good-neighborly and friendly relations with the Turkish people. "However, there are some problems between individual politicians in Russia and Turkey. We thought they were behaving improperly, so we responded in a corresponding way. " Putin also criticized that the current Turkish leadership is not so much fighting militants as cooperating with them.
"It has not been decided" whether to continue running for president.
Interestingly, Putin’s "personal problems" have also attracted the attention of the people. A woman from Gatchina, a city in northwestern Russia, asked Putin: Will the President remarry with former first lady lyudmila? When will the first lady appear in Russia? Putin did not evade this question, saying, "I have a good relationship with lyudmila. Everything is fine with her, and so am I. "
A citizen from Crimea asked a sensitive question: Will you continue to run for the Russian president? Putin said that it is too early to express his position on this issue, and he has not yet made a decision on whether to participate in the 2018 presidential election. He said: "under the current situation, I want to reiterate that what we need to consider now is not how to work in the future, but what we should do now to live up to the people’s trust and trust in me." Putin said: "People choose members of the Duma or the president in order to make them better serve the country. My personal life here is an unimportant issue. "
Beijing, April 16th
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