Vladimir Putin's annual question and answer session. Kremlin.ru
Leonid Bershidsky, Moscow Times: Putin’s Domestic Comeback Isn’t Working
Russian President Vladimir Putin is a man of routine, and one might have been tempted to ignore his 17th annual call-in show with voters as another pointless set piece. This year, however, the context made it more important than most of the previous ones: Putin, who’s trying to return to pedestrian domestic concerns after a long foray into great-power politics, is facing a drop in popularity and Russians’ growing fatigue.
He made a valiant attempt to show he cares, but he ultimately failed. The spirit of what happened during the more than four-hour broadcast was best described by feminist blogger Alena Popova: “The citizens of a poor country call the president of some other, rich country.”
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WNU Editor: I have been tired of him for years, but what is different now is that many members of my family in Russia are also getting tired of him (which is a first). Will this change anything. No. President Putin is there for the next few years, whether we like it or not.