The Direct Line with Vladimir Putin will start on the 20th of June, next Thursday, at noon. It's a special annual program to be broadcast live by TV-channels Rossiya, Rossiya 24, Pervyy, NTV, OTR, MIR; radio stations Mayak, Vesti FM, Radio Rossii, online broadcasting is taken up by the flagship resource of the Russia Today International News Agency, Ria.Ru. Clearly, Vladimir Putin won't have time to answer everyone. Yet, it doesn't mean that it's no use calling or texting, since we remember that, in recent years, each Direct Line yields a so-called green file that appears in the president's hands during his meetings with governors. It contains the complaints by the residents of the region. That's how the problems get resolved quickly.
Olga Armyakova reporting on what troubles Russians the most this year.
"Hello! You've reached the editors' office of the program Direct Line with Vladimir Putin".
It's hard to immediately decipher this multi-voiced never-ceasing noise to understand what troubles the country. Yet, they hear everyone here, and they always talk about the most important things.
"There're so many calls, so many video dialogues. I mean, people call and they want to talk to an operator on camera, to see the operator and look them in the eyes, to make sure they've been understood and heard".
But sometimes it's very difficult to get to the bottom of things through emotions, to clear up all the details and, most importantly, help formulate the question. This round-the-clock telephone marathon is picking up speed with every hour. No matter who's asking a question and from where, it must be heard. The conversation is not stopped even when the operators change their shifts. This is what the Direct Line is about: distinguishing each voice among millions of them, giving an opportunity to speak up about the most acute problems that have been amassing for years.
But there's one eternal or even endless problem: the roads.
"This is the road from Irkutsk to Angarsk. It's raining. Asphalt is being laid".
"Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, it's the city of Saratov, Moscovskaya street where, once in a month, they remove a new layer of asphalt to lay it again. Please find out what's going on here".
Video questions have become a separate genre. They're like field reports presenting the problem in the closeup. Here's a case of dilapidated housing.
"We'd like you to draw your attention to the problem of our house. It's 117 years old. This is the condition of the foundation. We're asking to solve the issue of redevelopment of our house".
People from various cities and regions are asking literally all sorts of questions since it's their chance to reach the president directly. Phone calls never cease.
But there're other means of communication: there're thousands of messages on the To Putin in Moscow website.
"There's an enormous dump in our town. It's accumulating day by day. The whole town smells if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction. When will the garbage processing issue be solved?”
Among the most popular topics are pensions, taxes, housing, and education, and, naturally, healthcare services.
“Spinal muscular atrophy is a rare genetic disease. This disease in children and adults is successfully treated with the medication Spinraza. When will this medication be finally registered in Russia?"
The video call from Altai Krai is more like a cry for help, when there's nobody else to address. But some people do know how to solve the issue and immediately propose the solution.
"In the western part of Russia, trial projects have been implemented to equip ambulance cars with dashboard cameras. I'm asking if this project can be implemented everywhere?"
The Direct Line is basically a large-scale sociological survey. What does the life of the nation consist of? What problems do they encounter in the regions?
"Why do plane tickets in Yakutia cost from 30 to 40 thousand rubles?"
"We're children from Yekaterinburg. We're studying in the Khimmash Culture Center. They want to demolish our center. Long live our Khimmash!"
There are so many questions that it seems impossible to address all of them. That's how the famous President's Green File was born: it's a sort of a regional problems map. Solving them is under special control.
This is what is always left behind the scenes, as the access to this place is strictly limited. It's the reverse yet basically the most important side to the Direct Line—the technical one. This is what the data processing center looks like where every message to Vladimir Putin is being received over the wires. A multi-layered protection system and cloud data storage guarantee the security to make sure that no message in this global chain is lost.
Andrey Levakov, Rostelekom: Last Direct Line, we had several cyber attacks. Now, we're expecting to see more of them. But...
- How are you preparing?
- Taking serious measures. The security system is designed to repel any attack.
Serious preparations are also being made in Gostiny Dvor. This set makes it difficult to recognize the studio which will host live the long conversation with Vladimir Putin, since each year it's constructed anew. Now, they are only starting to mount the equipment. This is possibly the spot for the desk at which the president will be sitting. While you can already make out the outlines of the audience tribune in front of it.
There's always a call center installed right in the studio. Calls and addresses for the president will be received until the last second of the broadcast. There's hardly any time left, it's coming up on the 20th, at noon sharp.
Olga Armyakova, Konstantin Morozov, Alexey Karpukhin, Andrey Kreshnev, Stanislav Nazarov, Pavel Alexeev, Tatiana Stepovaya, and Oleg Tobin, Vesti, News of the Week.
