Another caller raises the topic of the new law on Russia's "sovereign Internet." Asks Putin to "honestly" answer why this law was adopted. Putin said the law is not about limitations on the Internet. Putin raises the U.S. actions against Chinese tech company Huawei in his explanation of why this law is needed.
Another caller asks about a recent law introducing fines for posting "fake news" on the Internet. Putin defends the law, saying it is targeted at "the intentional distribution of information known to be fake."
On the recent law against defaming officials: "The law is not about banning criticizing officials. The law is about preventing desecration of Russia's state symbols.... Nobody has the right to misuse that law" to persecute people.
Moderator then summarizes a lot of questions about the problem of fining or jailing people for posting things on the Internet that are "insulting" to the government or government officials. A blogger asks Putin where is the boundary between insult and criticism. Putin says people must have the right to draw attention to problems, but says the law is aimed to prevent people from insulting the flag and other state symbols. Again, he says this happens in "many other countries," mentions Germany. But he then says officials shouldn't use the law to prevent people from criticizing officials at any level.
Moderator segues to a discussion of the abuse of Criminal Code Article 228 on illegal drugs and about the fact that many cases are fabricated by police. 26 percent of all prisoners in Russian prisons are serving under Article 228, Putin says. He says, though, that drugs are a hug problem and there can't be any "liberalization" of drug laws. But he says there needs to be a system of control over police to make sure they aren't violating people's rights. He said he will talk with FSB, prosecutor-general, and others to figure out how to introduce such a system.
Putin orders the government to start the process of adding Daghestani veterans of the Chechen war who fought alongside Russian federal armed forces against Chechen separatists in 1999 to the list of the veterans of military operations, calling them "opolchentsy" (people's militia, or rebels), the same word the Kremlin uses for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Next question is about palliative care and end-of-life pain management. NGO head in the audience says doctors are often tried for drugs offenses for helping patients to manage their pain if a dose or two is unaccounted-for. Asks Putin to help resolve this problem. Putin says a system of accountability needs to be worked out. Putin asked the NGO head to submit a proposal.
Putin again returns to the bad old days of the 1990s and how the country was falling apart. "But we managed to avoid that," Putin says.
- By Carl Schreck
The editor-in-chief of Russia's state-controlled international network RT claims the official app for Putin's call-in show was paralyzed by a DDoS attack "from Ukraine," but that everything has been fixed now.