As moderators are questioning Putin about the state of the economy, the quotation from a viewer on the screen says: "Why does this country have money for tanks, bombs, warplanes, and machine guns but it has no money for people?"
And in this photo, the question in the corner is similar: "When will Russia begin to allocate money for Russia?"
Putin says the government has been looking at changing Russia's income tax system to a progressive tax, but suggests it won't do so because wealthier citizens would "start to use various methods to hide their income." Russia currently has a flat 13-percent income tax rate.
"There is a clear understanding what needs to be done, and how," Putin says of his domestic program, though he doesn't go into details.
Each year, Internet wags come up with BINGO cards for Putin's Direct Line, featuring terms that he uses predictably every year. This year, the rumor is that Putin will call local and federal officials to upbraid them on live television in response to complaints by their constituents. So this witty BINGO card appeared showing officials who are likely to spend some time in the hot seat:
Putin says "responsibility should be absolute" for members of the government who formulated his ambitious domestic plans for his fourth presidential term and are tasked with implementing them.
Putin says much of the government was left in place in his new term, while bringing in some new qualified people, so as to avoid delays in development plans.
Putin goes heavy on economics in his opening comments, adds that there are positive developments in boosting life-expectancy, wages. Concedes that not everyone is feeling positive effects of what he describes as an increasingly stable economy, but says that the statistics don't lie.
Some of the Russian television monitors seem to be paying their respects to the Ukrainian flag:
Putin starts off by saying Russia is moving in the right direction: "solid economic growth," growing industrial and agricultural production, and historically low inflation.