MOSCOW, January 29 (RIA Novosti) - Nine hundred and thirty-three journalists have been accredited to attend the Russian president's news conference on January 31, the Kremlin's official website said Sunday.
The Kremlin event will be the fifth news conference in the open question-and-answer format since the beginning of Vladimir Putin's presidency. He held the first such conference in July 2001 on the eve of a Group of Eight summit for the leaders of the world's most industrialized nations. The president then answered 22 questions in the presence of about 400 reporters.
The annual news conference has become a traditional element of Putin's presidency. Although the event is scheduled to run for an hour and a half, it typically runs well over time to between two and three hours.
The January 31 news conference will start at noon Moscow time (9.00 GMT). The list of accredited journalists has been published on www.kremlin.ru website.
