Moderator quickly reads many questions about Ukraine, then connects with a caller from Kyiv. He asks about the Minsk agreements and the prospects for releasing Ukrainian citizens held by the so-called separatists in eastern Ukraine. Putin mentions the Ukrainian sailors who were captured by Russia last November. Putin says these problems have to be resolved together with the issue of "Russian citizens" being held in Ukraine. Then he switches the subject to a viewer question about when a bridge will be built over the Lena River in Siberia. "As soon as possible," he says.
Putin decides to answer the question "when will bureaucrats be paid the same as ordinary workers." Says the answer isn't to reduce salaries for bureaucrats ("we won't be able to get good people"), but to raise the salaries of ordinary workers. "Everyone should earn in correspondence with their abilities," he said, adding that the difference between income for bureaucrats and managers and income of workers shouldn't be "too great."
- By Carl Schreck
More on the health-care front from Putin's regional leaders: Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin takes the opportunity to announce that his government is launching a "large-scale program to modernize clinics."
Text question: "When will the gang from the United Russia [ruling party] go way?"
Putin interrupts the anchor and says he wants to answer the question and says that he "did not want to call a gang" those who worked in the government in the 1990s, when the country was "brought to the edge of collapse." Putin says that those in power at the time "practically destroyed Russia's armed forces and...led to the civil war in the North Caucasus, and...Russia almost lost its sovereignty."
A caller from Krasnoyarsk asks Putin to do more to build schools, nursery schools, kindergartens, and parks. Putin punts the question to Krasnoyarsk Krai Governor Aleksandr Uss. Moderator tells him to be quick. Uss says he is hearing about this caller's problem for the first time and will look into it. Says her neighborhood is a priority residential area. Putin orders Uss to go visit people there and meet with them.
Now topic switches to agriculture. A farmer in the studio says all state aid to agriculture goes to large agrofirms and asks whether it wouldn't be good to change priorities to help small farmers and create a system of locally produced products -- regional brands. Putin says "in principle" we already have this, although more can be done. Says the government definitely has to support this. Putin defends government's support of large agroproducers, saying they are the driver of the sector. Putin gives figures on the growth of the agrosector.
Putin says "thank God," some movement has happened regarding the Whale Jail and then gives the stage to Deputy Prime Minister Aleksei Gordeyev who repeats what the Far East correspondent said. Moderator listens and then says to Putin, "we should have had your Direct Line earlier and this would have been resolved already." Putin goes into a speech about how bad things were in the 1990s and praises current officials as people who have devoted their lives to making the lives of ordinary Russians better.
Putin says sanctions imposed by the West against Russia "mobilized us."
According to Putin, "China has nothing to do with Crimea and Donbas," but the ongoing pressure on Huawei is nothing but "a global power's attempt to contain another global player, China."
Putin also said that the sanctions caused $55 billion losses to Russia, but losses by Europe were much more -- $240 billion.
- By Carl Schreck
And we're off: after the low wages of a doctor in the Murmansk region are mentioned during the call-in show, and Putin says someone needs to look into this, the region's acting governor says on Facebook that he has ordered an inspection of complaints related to wages.
Moderator says that journalists preparing the program noticed that local officials "began to get working" in the weeks before Direct Line. "As soon as they learned that a situation might be on the program, they started doing something," one moderator says. They then go to a correspondent on the Pacific coast at the so-called Whale Jail where 100 beluga and killer whales are being held. Correspondent reminds that Putin ordered the situation resolved by March 1 but nothing was done. However, today, the very day of the Direct Line, the first six belugas were released.