- 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."
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."
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.
Moderator read questions about how a breakthrough is going to be made with the economy. Putin goes into a speech about how much better things are now than they were in the 1990s. Lower inflation, fewer debts, no wage arrears, no pension arrears, etc.
Moderator goes into the production room and shows a whole monitor full of governors "who are awaiting possible inclusion in the program."
A call-in viewer asks about some high-profile corruption cases where billions of rubles in cash were discovered when searches were carried out in the houses of senior law-enforcement officials. Putin says he feels "responsibility" for this "lawlessness." Putin says there are two sides to blame for every bribe -- one side pays, another receives. Moderator asks what words Putin used when he heard about those billions of rubles. Putin says "better not to repeat them." Putin then says this problem exists in "many other countries, practically all of them." Mentions the United States. Moderator asks if the fight against corruption is proceeding and Putin says yes.
- By Carl Schreck
Putin has long avoided publicly saying the name of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, prompting jokes that the anticorruption activist and Kremlin critic is Russian officialdom's version of Voldemort from the Harry Potter series.
Navalny's name, however, did appear on screen during today's call-in show thanks to an SMS question reading: "Is it true what Navalny says? What is going on? It's just criminality."
The general director of the Yandex Internet company, in the audience, asks Putin about driverless cars. Can the government improve the legal framework to let Russia move to the forefront in this area, she asks. Putin says, yes. Putin talks about Skolkovo and says the government needs more such innovation centers. Putin says that Yandex competes in Russia with international giants like Google -- "and that is partly thanks to the government."
Moderator says that Putin has spoken many times about the need to reduce state/law enforcement pressure on business, but nothing is done. "What are the limits of your patience," she asks. Putin says work is proceeding and things are getting better and you shouldn't pay too much attention to a "few high-profile incidents."