Putin and his infamous yellow Lada thinking about the high price of gasoline in this meme:
Moving on to this month's World Cup set to kick off in Russia this week. First up is famous Russian soccer coach Valery Gazzayev, who tells Putin significant steps are being taken to improve the country's soccer program. He says everyone understands how busy Putin is, but hopes soccer will stay on Putin's mind. Wishes Putin "strong health." Hopes that "God will watch over" him.
Putin says Russia has spent "big money" on stadiums and other soccer infrastructure, and that this should be used to boost youth sports and the entire sports system in Russia.
Putin warns that would be unacceptable for open-air markets to sprout up at all of these stadiums "as they did in the 1990s."
Many commentators are focusing on the innovation of inviting federal and local officials to respond to complaints. The old historic Russian trope of the "good tsar and the bad boyars," referring to the Russian nobility who dominated the everyday life of the Russian peasants. Traditionally, serfs would say "if only the tsar knew of our troubles, he'd do something." Putin has long continued this tradition and with this year's Direct Line, seems to be pushing it into high gear.
First question from social media asks whether Putin will announce an amnesty at the beginning of his first term. Putin says it's up to parliament to introduce an amnesty, that he has supported amnesties in the past.
But Putin gives no indication that any sort of amnesty is in the works. Asked about a "tradition" of amnesties for a president's new term, Putin says: "We don't have such a tradition."
Next question from the mother of three kids asks about government allocation of land plots for multi-child households.
Some "questions" are easier to answer than others:
Putin throws it over to the governor of the Tomsk region, where the mother-of-three called in from. The governor promises to meet with the woman and "settle this issue in the nearest future" and brief Putin on the matter.