Putin calls the war in eastern Ukraine a "great tragedy." More than 10,300 people have been killed in the war between Russia-backed separatists and Kyiv's forces in the war since April 2014. Kyiv and the West accuse Russia of supporting the separatists with arms and personnel. Russia denies providing backing them despite significant evidence of such support.
Ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, soccer's governing body FIFA issued its ranking of international teams and Russia came in a shockingly low 70th place. It is the lowest-ranked team that qualified for this year's tournament. The opening game of World Cup 2018 will be Russia (70) versus Saudi Arabia (67) in Moscow on June 14.
Down to southern Russia, where the correspondent on the scene is speaking to people who say they fled the war between Russia-backed separatists and Kyiv's forces in eastern Ukraine. One woman complains about bureaucratic hurdles in obtaining employment and basic public services. She asks Putin to help her and people like her to obtain Russian citizenship.
The anchor teases a question that he says tens of thousands of people are interested in, but doesn't say what it is. He says they'll get to it later. Hmmm...
Deju vu. The question from the woman in Stavropol Krai about her flood-damaged house is an exact replay of a question from Valentina Sakovskaya of Stavropol Krai last year. You can find her story in this rundown of some of the promises Putin made during last year's Direct Line and how they played out. In short, Sakovskaya hit the jackpot by being able to talk to Putin, getting more than 1 million rubles in flood assistance. Nonetheless, locals seem to be in the same boat, forgive the pun, as they were last year.
The show now heads back to the Moscow business center where the bloggers we met earlier are -- according to the correspondent -- still working diligently. One blogger asks Putin if Russia will have its own cryptocurrency. Putin doesn't express much faith. "We should be very careful with this," Putin says, adding that Russia should nonetheless "pay attention to this" because it's a global phenomenon.
A woman in the southern city of Stavropol gives Putin a video tour of the damage her family’s home suffered in flooding last year: “These are the terrible conditions we’re living in.” She says she asked for help from the governor, but his assistant rebuffed her. Putin says “such problems get solved,” but that he doesn’t know all of the administrative details about the rights she has to emergency assistance. Putin appears to criticize the regional government for the situation. “I want to assure you that we will take care of your situation specifically,” Putin says.
The opposition Khodorkovsky Center notes that all the officials who are asked to speak in the Direct Line program, besides being boring, spend a lot of time thanking Putin.
"And how can we do without that?"
Speaking via video link with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Putin says he knows about "all of the arguments" about a massive, controversial residential renovation program in Moscow and hopes that the program will be implemented. Sobyanin thanks Putin for his support.