Putin Is a Very Good Psychologist for the Masses

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will hold the traditional annual televised communication with Russian citizens on December 3. This time the program will be titled “A Conversation with Vladimir Putin. Continued.”

Photo: Putin Is a Very Good Psychologist for the Masses

This time, many questions, which people want to put to the head of the Russian government, are closely related to the recent crash of the Nevsky Express passenger train.

Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the government, said that operators had already received a great deal of questions to the prime minister, but their amount was comparable to that of last year’s televised communication.

Last year, Putin was answering people’s questions for three hours and eight minutes. The PM answered 80 questions asked over the phone, the Internet and through text messages.

People are mostly interested in actual issues, such as the struggle against terrorism, the national security and details of the Nevsky Express train crash. People want to know which measures the government takes to find those who committed the terrorist act on the railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg, in which dozens of people were killed, RIA Novosti news agency said.

Many Russians still remember the tragedy at Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant, and they want to ask the prime minister who is going to be accountable for the tragedy and how those people are going to be punished.

Traditionally, there are many questions about the social sphere: people wonder about the plans of the government to raise pensions, others ask about possibilities to use the so-called mother’s capital. The capital (about $10,000) is awarded to women after the birth of a second child. The law stipulates many restrictions on how women can use this money, for example it is not allowed to spend the money on buying a car. However, women can spend it to improve their living conditions – pay the mortgage, etc.

Putin’s press secretary said that the prime minister was very serious about his preparations to the on air communication with people. “He’s looked through many questions, he asks for information from ministers and often calls back to specify details,” the press secretary said.

TV cameras will be installed in a number of Russian cities where the nation’s major enterprises are located. Putin ordered to send a camera to Naberezhniye Chelny, the home city for Russia’s KamAZ enterprise. A camera will also appear in the city of Togliatti, the home for Russia’s largest, albeit troubled, car maker AvtoVAZ.

The special program “A Conversation with Vladimir Putin. Continued” will start on December 3, 2009, at 12:00 Moscow time. It will be broadcast by Russia’s major TV and radio channels, such as Rossiya, Vesti, Mayak and Russia’s Radio.

One may ask a question to Putin through a form on moskva-putinu.ru website.

It will be Putin’s eighth televised communication with the nation. The first program took place during his presidency in 2001. The tradition was slightly changed after Dmitry Medvedev’s election as Russia’s President. Putin decided to continue his annual practice as the prime minister.

Experts said last year that Putin decided to continue the on air communication with people because he proved to be a very good “psychologist for the masses.”