Putin assured that "there are no Russian instructors" in Ukraine. Russia wants to build constructive relations with Ukraine and the West, it has no intention of threatening its partners.
President Putin's annual broadcast Q&A session: LIVE UPDATES
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that there are no Russian Armed Forces units in eastern Ukraine. "Such claims are nonsense," Putin said during his annual call-in live broadcast on Thursday.
"There are no Russian units, Russian special services or Russian instructors in the east of Ukraine. All of these people are local residents. The fact that these people have taken off masks in the direct sense of the word proves this best of all," he said.
"What I can tell my Western partners is that these people have nowhere to go. They will not leave. They are the owners of this land. And it is necessary to talk to them," the Russian president said.
The current instability in Ukraine can be settled only through a dialogue rather than using military methods, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"Order in the country can be established only through a dialogue, in the course of democratic procedures, rather than through the use of the armed forces, tanks, and aviation," Putin said during a Q&A session on Thursday.
Using force against people in eastern Ukraine is another serious crime of Kiev authorities - Putin
The decision to send tanks and combat aircraft to eastern Ukraine is another serious crime committed by the authorities in Kiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "Instead of realizing that something has gone wrong in the Ukrainian state and making attempts to start dialogue, they have intensified their threats to use force and have even decided to send tanks and aircraft against the civilian population. It is another very serious crime on the part of the current Kiev authorities," Putin said during his annual call-in live broadcast on Thursday.
President Putin's annual broadcast Q&A session: LIVE UPDATES
Russian President Vladimir Putin has opened his 12th live question-and-answer session Thursday noon with the topic of latest developments in Ukraine, which he described as a government coup. Presidential press-secretary Dmitry Peskov speculated on the eve of the event that this time Crimea, Ukraine and Russia’s social problems would be in focus. More than two million questions poured in over one week.
The duration of the marathon dialogue with the nation kept growing with every year to reach a record of four hours and 48 minutes. Questions will continue to be received till the very last minute of the broadcast.
Russian President Vladimir Putin opens his 12th live Q&A session
This year questions can be asked in more ways than ever before - by putting through a telephone call, via a text messaging service, by e-mail, or by sending a pre-recorded video clip. There will be several video linkups with various regions of Russia. People in the audience will be able to put questions to the president in person.
This year two newly-incorporated territories of the Russian Federation — the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol — will participate in the event for the first time. Their residents are invited to use a special free long-distance telephone line.
Russian president's annual televised Q&A session will be held at noon
Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual "direct line" call-in live televised broadcast will begin at noon Moscow time on April 17, the Kremlin press service has reported. The program will be broadcast live on the Channel 1, Rossiya 1 and Rossiya 24 television stations, as well as the Mayak, Vesti FM and Radio of Russia radio stations.
"In line with the traditions established by the previous programs, the head of state will answer questions from Russian citizens concerning issues of the country's social, political and socioeconomic life, as well as the international situation," it said.
"As in previous years, both guests invited to the program studio, citizens of our country with whom Putin will communicate during live link-ups with Russian regions, as well as people who will make phone calls or send SMS-messages to the unified messages processing center will be able to submit their questions to the president of Russia.
In addition to that, pre-recorded video questions will be accepted for the first time this year," the Kremlin press service said. "The most interesting and relevant questions received by the unified messages processing center and the program website will be suggested to Putin during the live broadcast," it said.
It will be Putin's 12th call-in live broadcast, and his eighth one as president of Russia. Like before, the intrigue of the upcoming session is whether Putin will set another record in terms of the session's duration. In 2013, the live program lasted a record four hours and 47 minutes, which is 20 minutes longer than the year before. Putin answered 85 questions during that session.
Ukraine and Crimea to be main topics of Putin's live Q&A session
This is the 12th live with Russian President. Each year the duration of the broadcast increases. Thus, the year 2013 saw a record as the broadcast lasted for four hours and forty eight minutes. President’s press service couldn’t specify the duration of the upcoming broadcast.
This year, many of those, who managed to contact the press service, stated their support to Putin’s action in the Crimea and in Ukraine, Peskov said. Peskov himself looked through tens of thousands of messages and found that nobody blamed Putin for his actions.
“People say as follows – ‘Thank you for the Crimea!’ Many of them ask about the ways they can help to raise money for the construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait. Such enthusiasm is seen in the majority of the messages,” Peskov said.
He is sure that the Crime and Ukraine will be the main issue of the live broadcast.
How does Vladimir Putin get prepared to the broadcast?
Vladimir Putin reads a lot of information on different issues, freshens up the knowledge of the statistics, looks through the reports of different ministries and departments, Peskov said. “President Putin himself looks through all questions and pays attention to everything that concerns public opinion,” Peskov said. The spokesman also thinks that “a successful broadcast with the President is the one that people watch, listen to, discuss, and the one that results in a range of the President’s commissions”.
The way, the live is broadcasted
The reception of the questions began a week ago and will continue till the end of the broadcast. There are different ways of asking the President a question – via telephone call, SMS text message, e-mail message and via video services. One can ask his or her question via the website of the broadcast, and support the questions asked.
The Crimea and Sevastopol citizens will be able to ask their questions for the first time ever. These regions are provided with special telephone number which is free of charge. However, the Crimea citizens can’t use the common telephone number to ask their questions, but this problem will be fixed next year.
Vladimir Putin will answer the most popular and interesting questions. The studio with several tens of guests will hold several teleconferences with different regions of Russia.
Read more:
Things can be put in order in Ukraine only via democratic procedures rather than army use - Putin - News - Politics - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podca