Putin on Zelenskiy:
"I remember Zelenskiy's performances on the television show Club Of Joyful And Smart Ones in the mid-2000s. It was funny and he is certainly a very talented entertainer. But after he got the position that he has now, it is clear that he must understand that what [is faced by people in Donbas] is not funny."
Next they cut to a correspondent in Altai Krai who talks about how nicely tourism has developed in recent years. He speaks with airport workers who are happy with their jobs. Putin says he knows the airport in Gorno-Altaisk well because it was built on his personal order. Putin says that the number of air routes is increasing all the time and the government is doing its best to keep fares low. Putin notes there is no VAT for tickets between regional cities that don't pass through Moscow. Putin then goes into a speech about why the price of aviation fuel has gone up. Says the government knows what the problem is and will fix it.
Putin on Belarus:
"We are not talking about unification of Russia and Belarus. Yes, there was a treaty signed in the 1990s on creation of the union state. It was not about creation of a single statehood. It was about having a single currency, a single parliament, and so on. But many things were not done since then. Some things were not done by Russia, some by Belarus. We agreed with Alyaksandr Lukashenka recently on what to do to revise the treaty" on creation of the Russia-Belarus Union State.
Putin reads a question from someone who asks why the people weren't consulted in giving up socialism and goes into a speech about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Putin on his order to give passports to Ukrainian citizens from Donbas:
"There are several laws that simplify the obtainment of Russian citizenship by Ukrainian citizens, not only those who are residing in Russia, but also those living in other countries, including those in Ukraine itself."
Moderator asks Putin if he'll "make the first step" in establishing relations with new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Putin says that Zelenskiy must do something to resolve issues. Criticizes Zelenskiy for saying he won't talk to "separatist formations." Putin says Zelenskiy needs to lift the "blockade" between the regions outside government control and the rest of the country.
They then switch to a correspondent in Tatarstan who is in the apartment of a family of "refugees" from Ukraine's Donbas region with 10 children. One of the kids shows a shell fragment that fell on her school. Then he interviews the father who is having trouble registering as a refugee because of his large number of children. The father asks Putin to expand his order on simplifying the process of applying for Russian citizenship to include people from areas not controlled by Russia-backed separatists and who are already in Russia. Putin says he will look at the order and see how it can be improved.
"The law is not about limitations on the Internet. The majority of servers are based abroad. If the servers are switched off or are influenced, we have be to be ready to withstand it. The law is about that."
- By Carl Schreck
Another version of Bingo for Putin's call-in show (courtesy of his friends over at Khodorkovsky's media outlet): "Thaw Bingo," a reference to discussions about whether the Kremlin is loosening the screws after some recent surprising turns in politically charged criminal cases.
The ticked boxes include "Jamon" -- a reference to Western delicacies banned by Russia -- which Putin addressed earlier, and "228," the drug-related criminal statute at the center of the recent case of Ivan Golunov. Left un-ticked so far include: Navalny, Torture, Chechnya LGBT, and Katerina Tikhonova (Putin's daughter).