Putin’s Traditional Question Time for Citizens Postponed Indefinitely

The annual question time that Russian President Vladimir Putin has organized in June in recent years will not be broadcast until later this year.

 

Preparations for the 2022 edition are underway, but a concrete date has not yet been set, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said on Wednesday. A reason for the postponement is not known, but the war may be behind everything.

“The direct line with Vladimir Putin” is an hour-long live broadcast in which Putin answers questions from citizens, about current events, but also about their concerns. The program allows the president to introduce himself to the people as the caring father of the country. He promises solutions to problems that viewers report, whether it be overdue wages, road repairs or missing connections to the gas network.

In recent years, this program has been broadcast every year in June, with the corona year 2020 being the exception.

It is not clear whether this year’s postponement is related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The war has now lasted more than three months, but the Kremlin had initially expected a faster end. Since the start of the invasion, Putin has rarely been seen in public.

It is feared that too many critical questions will be fired at the president. Hence the delay.