This event features some bizarre posters as well.
The Moscow Metro has expanded a lot in recent years, but for some it is still not enough.
"When will the metro reach other cities of Russia?" this lady asks.
- By Mike Eckel
The first question from a foreign (non-Russian) correspondent comes from Der Spiegel, about the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, the ethnic Chechen man who was gunned down in Berlin in August.
German prosecutors have said Russian (or Chechen) security agencies were involved and have kicked out two Russian diplomats as punishment.
The German government has come under criticism for not reacting more strongly to the killing -- particularly as more evidence has emerged pointing to who ordered the hit on Khangoshvili (who fought in the Second Chechen War before moving to neighboring Georgia).
The issue popped up recently during Putin's trip to Paris, and earlier, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to London.
In Paris, Putin called Khangoshvili a terrorist, and he repeated the allegation that he was involved in unspecified bombings in the Moscow subway, though he presented no evidence to back up the assertion. He also had said Moscow had asked Berlin to extradite Khangoshvili, but had not given a formal extradition request.
In his answer to the Der Spiegel correspondent, Putin repeated these assertions:
"He was a bloody murderer," he said.
"Cooperation [with German authorities in the investigation of the killing] must be a two-way road.... There are many Islamic States fighters currently in prisons in Syria. The majority of foreigners there are from Central Asia; Russian nationals are the second among them. They are murderers, terrorists. Imagine them walking in European cities, including Berlin..."
Putin also raised the issue of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, where two brothers of Chechen ethnicity, the Tsarnaevs, planted bombs that killed three people and wounded several hundred others.
The investigation into the bombings turned up that the FBI had been in touch with Russian law enforcement as early as 2011, and the FBI had investigated the older Tsarnaev, Tamerlan.
"In the past, U.S. authorities warned about the Tsarnaev brothers, saying that they posed a threat, but our warnings were ignored. We also asked the U.S. to extradite them. It was ignored and they carried out the well-known terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon. People died," Putin said.
Tamerlan died in a shootout with police days after the bombing. Dzhokhar has been sentenced to death after being found guilty by a U.S. federal jury.
- By Mike Eckel
Another question touching on Soviet history.
A couple months ago, the European Parliament passed a resolution that touched on the origins of World War II -- in particular, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which dismantled Poland and carved out, briefly, spheres of influence in Eastern Europe between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
With the anniversary of the pact, and the beginning of World War II, being marked this year, Russian officials have recently tried to spin the pact, trying to put Moscow's decision to sign it in a more positive light.
The European Parliament resolution was met with an angry denunciation by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Putin also criticized the resolution, calling it "unacceptable" and "the height of cynicism."
Putin suggested that the section of the Russian Constitution limiting the president to two-consecutive terms in power be amended to scrap the word "consecutive."
This could potentially pave the way for him to serve beyond 2024, and might just be the moment he put an end to speculation about his future (there are different interpretations of what he meant going around).
As Putin notes that “nobody really knows” what causes climate change, Muscovites record their warmest December in 133 years. No snow and plus temperatures. He also gets the figures wrong...
Russia's development strategy for the Arctic, which was signed in 2008 by then-President Dmitry Medvedev and ran to the year 2020, is currently being updated to get things up to 2035. Related legislation is expected to go into effect next summer.
- By Mike Eckel
Will Putin stay in power after 2024?
That's when his current term ends-- and, under the current constitution, it should be his final term. Period.
However, for months, if not years now, there's been growing speculation about whether the Kremlin may seek to tweak the constitution in some way to allow for Putin to stay on. How next year's election for the State Duma plays out will tell us alot about what the Kremlin wants to do.
Asked about the possibility of changing the constitution, Putin is, basically, coy:
"Yes, it's a living document, and it should reflect the will of the people," he says.
But while he says there's no need to change it, he also suggests he's open to taking out the word "consecutive" from the document.
This Kremlin pool reporter concludes that would mean he wouldn't be able to run for the presidency again.
I'm not entirely sure that's correct... Stay tuned.
"If there is no START, there will be nothing in the world that will contain an arms race and that, I think, is bad." -- Putin
Seeing as Putin is talking a lot about technological advancements ...
"In images released by his press service, it can be seen that Putin, who's 67, obviously a "boomer", has Windows XP operating system both on his computer in Kremlin and at his official Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow."