Over 2.3Mln Questions Received for 'Direct Line' With Putin

Presenter at the the Rossiya 24 channel broadcasting the session said that over 2.3 million questions from the Russian public have been received for the traditional live Q&A session with President Vladimir Putin.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Over 2.3 million questions from the Russian public have been received for the traditional live Q&A session with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, a presenter at the the Rossiya 24 channel broadcasting the session said.

"As of now, we have received almost 1,2 million calls, 400,000 text messages. The total number of questions has exceeded 2.3 million," the presenter said, adding that the Direct Line call centers were located across the country and operated in a 24/7 mode, receiving questions from the public.

Thursday's Direct Line is Putin’s 14th Q&A session. Six Russian channels and broadcasters are transmitting the Direct Line, according to the presidential website.

The first Direct Line with Putin was broadcast live by Russian broadcaster on December 24, 2001. At that time, Putin received 400,000 questions.

The 13th Putin’s Q&A session in 2015 was watched by 8.4 million people and lasted 3 hours and 57 minutes. The Russian leader answered 74 questions out of almost 2.5 million that were collected from various means of communication.