A direct line to the President will be held after the Day of Russia
Traditional direct line with President could be held on June 15, told RBC sources. This year it will be held two months later than usual.
Annual straight line is the President is scheduled for June 15, told RBC two sources close to the Kremlin, a source at one of the Federal channels, the source familiar with the progress of the organization of the event, and confirmed the Federal official. According to sources RBC, the 15th of June today is the main.
Press Secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov told RBC that he could neither confirm nor deny this date.
Preparation has been underway for a few weeks; in particular, there is a selection of citizens who will be invited to the Studio, where the President will answer questions, said two people close to the Kremlin. A source at one of the Federal channels added that there is a plan, from which regions will be the direct inclusion of citizens. Presumably, the inclusion will be from the lake Baikal region and Kaliningrad region, the source said.
That direct line this year will be held not in April as it was in the last few years, and will be migrated in late March, said Peskov. Later, Kommersant reported that Putin’s communication with citizens can be dedicated to one of the celebrations of Russia Day (June 12) or children’s Day (June 1).
The Director of “Levada-center” Lev Gudkov linked the transfer of a straight line with the unwillingness of the President to talk about protests, which took place in the country on March 26.
Peskov said that “this is the most likely view at all” because the decision to a later time was made “probably two months ago, long before these events.” “Here, no ideological or other motive there,” — said Putin’s press Secretary.
Straight line is the President has been held since 2001. In recent years, it takes place in the capital, Gostiny Dvor.
Putin answers questions from the guests in the Studio, calls and SMS messages to the hot line, also during the event, held live broadcasts from various regions of the country.
According to Mediascope (TNS Russia), in 2014 the ratings are “Direct line with Vladimir Putin” was 10.4%, it looked a little more than 7 million people. In 2015, the figures were higher: ranking rose to 12.2%, the audience amounted to 8.3 million people. In 2016, the coverage dropped to 7.1 million viewers, the rating returned to the level of 2014 is 10.3%. The authors of the study take into account the audience aged four years in cities with a population of over 100 thousand TV channels “the First channel” “Russia 1” “Russia 24” and “Mir” (except for 2014).
Given the fact that a straight line will be held in an election year, the President must designate the key moments of the future campaign: how to develop a political system, what is Economics, how will the new team, said political analyst Dmitry Orlov. Putin can respond directly to the question of participation in presidential elections, or at least not exclude this, the expert believes. But even if such statements will not, “the key vectors of the future campaign,” the President does not designate cannot, says Orlov.
Direct line is an integral part of the election campaign, which is likely to be inertia, a political analyst Konstantin Kalachev. This means that anything fundamentally new will be proposed. “It will be said, what we have achieved, something about the stability of the ruble, the development of agriculture, the success of the defense complex,” says Kalachev. A problem-based approach is hardly possible, in a straight line should work positive for the citizens to be prepared a set of good news, says the expert.