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Elderly women watch a live broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual question-and-answer session in the village of Yelna, Ivanovo region, on June 7.
Elderly women watch a live broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual question-and-answer session in the village of Yelna, Ivanovo region, on June 7.

Live Blog: Putin's Annual Call-In Show

Russian President Vladimir Putin fielded questions on June 7 from across the country in an annual call-in show that lasted for more than four hours, one of a handful of live performances he holds every year to burnish his image.

-- Russian President Vladimir Putin painted an upbeat picture of the country's economy and accused the West of seeking to thwart its progress, setting a familiar tone for his new term in a marathon call-in show broadcast live on state TV.

-- The Direct Line broadcast on June 7 came a month after Putin was sworn in to a new six-year term following a landslide election that foes said was marred by fraud and international observers said did not present voters with a genuine choice.

-- The event was closely choreographed, with Putin fielding selected questions from among more than a million submitted and sending signals about an array of domestic and foreign policy issues.

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

12:20 7.6.2018

"We've been going for more than three hours, and the questions keep coming," the moderator says.

12:19 7.6.2018

Putin says more weapons are in the pipeline and he'll be talking about them soon.

12:19 7.6.2018

12:17 7.6.2018

Next question is about the ultramodern weapons that Putin mentioned in his state-of-the-nation address earlier this year. Putin repeats a lot of what he said about how great the weapons are and about how Russia was forced to develop them by the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM treaty.

12:17 7.6.2018

12:16 7.6.2018

Kremlin live-tweet: "It's important to simplify the procedure of obtaining citizenship for refugees from the DNR and the LNR." [A reference to areas of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by Russia-backed separatists]

12:14 7.6.2018

Describes the Syrian operation as "invaluable experience."

12:12 7.6.2018

Putin now discussing the silver lining of the war in Syria, saying the action was a great experience for the Russian military, better than any training. As an afterthought, he said it was a "necessary and noble" intervention that has "stabilized" Syria.

12:10 7.6.2018

In response to the woman who says she fled eastern Ukraine, Putin says the government will try to solve the citizenship problem.

12:08 7.6.2018

Amusing cartoon by Russian political cartoonist Sergei Yolkin showing Putin walking his "direct line."

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