Kremlin: Putin's Big Press Conference Planned for December

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The big press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin is planned for December, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"We are looking to December," Peskov said, when asked if the president will hold his traditional meeting with reporters in November or the following month.

This year, the press conference will not be combined with some other formats, as the president already held his Direct Line Q&A session in the summer, the Kremlin spokesman added.

Putin has been meeting with journalists at a big press conference every year since 2001. There was only a hiatus when he served as prime minister - from May 2008 to May 2012. However, after being elected head of state for a six-year term in 2012, he resumed the practice of holding such events.

In December 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the format of the press conference was changed: some of the journalists were with the president at his residence near Moscow in Novo-Ogarevo, while some communicated with him via video link from the World Trade Center, where these press events usually take place.

The shortest of these press conferences, the first meeting of Putin with journalists in 2001, lasted 1 hour 35 minutes. The longest, in 2008, lasted 4 hours 40 minutes. Since 2004, each has lasted at least three hours.