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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his televised question-and-answer session in Moscow on June 15.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his televised question-and-answer session in Moscow on June 15.

Live Blog: Putin's Call-In Show

Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking questions from Russians across the country in his annual Direct Line show, a lavish and heavily stage-managed production broadcast live by all major Russian state television networks.

-- Vladimir Putin took questions from Russians across the country in the Direct Line program, which lasted four hours.

-- Putin said there was no cause for the new sanctions against Moscow that are under consideration in the U.S. Congress, and that the aim of Western sanctions is to hold Russia back.

-- Putin said the country had pulled out of a long recession and that "the economy has moved to a period of growth."

-- The Direct Line program is one of three high-profile annual events that Putin uses to burnish his image in Russia, send signals abroad, and offer hints about future plans.

-- This year's rendition comes at a time of social tension in Russia, just days after police detained more than 1,500 people at anticorruption protests in cities across the country on June 12. In addition, Moscow has seen numerous protests in recent weeks over a controversial government plan to raze and replace thousands of Soviet-era residential buildings.

*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Moscow (GMT/UTC +3)

12:47 15.6.2017

Q: Do you know how ordinary Russians live?

A: I do. I was just telling my colleagues how my father used to check the electric meter to make sure we could afford to pay on time.

12:48 15.6.2017
12:50 15.6.2017

Q: They say you are obsessed with digital economy.

A: It is the future. We have all the preconditions.

12:51 15.6.2017

Q: Do you really believe that these questions aren’t fake?

A: None of these questions were prepared.

12:53 15.6.2017

Speaking on his annual call-in show on June 15, Putin compared Comey's move to that of NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who has been living in Russia since 2013 after leaking classified information. Putin said, sarcastically, that Russia could also grant Comey political asylum like Snowden. (AP)

Putin Compares Comey To Snowden, Offers Asylum
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12:54 15.6.2017

Putin

  • speaks Russian, German, and some English;
  • has never read a book about himself;
  • once caught a 20-kilo fish.
12:54 15.6.2017

The end is near.

12:57 15.6.2017

Q: Who will be your successor?

A: First of all, I am still working. Second, it's the voters who decide.

12:58 15.6.2017
12:58 15.6.2017

"Everything will be alright," Putin says.

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