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President Vladimir Putin holds his annual televised question-and-answer session in Moscow, April 17, 2014.
President Vladimir Putin holds his annual televised question-and-answer session in Moscow, April 17, 2014.

Live Blog: Putin's 'Direct Line' To The Nation

Final Summary

-- The annual "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin," in which the Russian president takes choreographed call-in questions from around Russia, is over. It lasted just under four hours (3:58)

-- Putin admitted that the so-called green men in Crimea were indeed Russian soldiers, but said they were just there to protect the integrity of the referendum vote.

-- Putin said he "hopes" he does not have to invade eastern Ukraine, but says Russia would be within its right to do so. He says the upcoming election in Ukraine cannot be seen as legitimate. He also consistently referred to eastern Ukraine as natural Russian land that had become part of Ukraine through errors of history.

-- Edward Snowden asked, through a recorded video, whether Russia used mass surveillance. Putin said Russia's surveillance is done only through legal means. He spoke to Snowden, he said, "in one professional [spy] language."

*Note: Times are stated in terms of local time in Moscow.
10:32 17.4.2014
Question about Putin's "inner circle" who have been hit by sanctions.

Putin: Those people are my close friends. They earned their capital before we knew each other. They have nothing to do with Crimea.

Says one friend, Timchenko, couldn't pay for his wife's surgery because he couldn't get money from his bank account.

More on how sanctions affect Putin's inner circle here.
10:35 17.4.2014
Earlier, a question from the far East:

Q: I own a car and pay transport tax, but there are no roads here.
Putin: Why do you own a car if there are no roads (chuckles)?
10:43 17.4.2014
Q: Why hasn't Russia switched off gas to Ukraine?

Putin says Moscow may shift to a pre-payment plan with Ukraine. He will wait a month to see if anything can be negotiated.
10:51 17.4.2014
Earlier, Putin claimed his close friends earned their money before he came to power. But Ilya Yashin, an opposition activists points out that this isn't exactly true.

He looks at Timchenko, a long-time friend of Putin who also has Finnish citizenship.

Tweet translation:
Putin: My friend Timchenko became rich before I came to the Kremlin.
Now the facts: In 1999, Timchenko was worth 327,000 euros. Now he's worth 8.9 billion.
Finish resident Timchenko controls 1/3 of Russian oil exports. Of course, friendship with Putin has nothing to do with this. He's just a talented businessman.
10:55 17.4.2014
Putin on U.S-Russia trust:

Trust has been lost but it is not our fault. It is because of double-standards. The West can act however it wants, but we are not able to protect our own interests. Look what the West did in Kosovo.

We need to keep a common language and pay greater attention to international law.

(we wrote about the differences here)
10:56 17.4.2014
Reset ended after Libya, says Putin
Says the U.S. misled Medvedev, who was then President, on its UN resolution.

Moscow did not use its seat on the Security Council to veto the resolution.
10:59 17.4.2014
11:02 17.4.2014
11:05 17.4.2014
Putin: You are a former spy. We will talk one professional language. Our intelligence efforts are strictly regulated by our law. We have to get permission to stalk any particular person.

Of course, we know that terrorists and criminals use technology so we have to use means to respond to these, but we don't have uncontrollable efforts like [in the U.S.]. Our special services, "Thank God" are strictly controlled by society and the law.
11:08 17.4.2014
Putin asked if there will be another first lady.

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