"The questions citizens are most interested in asking about SWO"
Most of all, citizens who send their questions to the direct line are interested in topics related to the Strategic Defense Forces, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia. He noted that people, in particular, are concerned about the course of combat operations, prospects for the development of the situation on the fronts, and provision of the needs of servicemen and their families. Other topics on the agenda of the direct line include socio-economic, development of transportation infrastructure and healthcare. The Kremlin spokesman added that foreign journalists are also interested in the event, the number of which will be approximately at the same level as last year. About the preparation for the "Results of the Year with Vladimir Putin" and what role artificial intelligence has played in this - in an exclusive interview with Dmitry Peskov "Izvestia".
"In order to prepare everything, a large team works"
- Every year you inspect the hall before the event. What points do you pay attention to? What comments were there? And how do these year-end results differ from those of the past?
- The hall is always slightly modified, but the main thing for us is a comfortable workplace for the head of state, so that he was comfortable and had a good view of the hall. I make sure that I also have a good view of the hall, because we need to give journalists the opportunity to ask questions. It is also important to make the co-hosts comfortable, because the moderators of this conversation are guys who have been preparing for this event for a couple of weeks. They have probably dug through hundreds of thousands of citizens' appeals: they read them with their own eyes and had the opportunity to systematize these appeals. Every time they have their own understanding of what issues the head of state must necessarily talk about.
And then the main thing is that the journalists themselves should be clearly visible and comfortable. A large team is working to prepare everything. Among them are the channels: Channel One, Rossiya, and the President's press service. Many departments of the Presidential Administration are working to ensure that the event is organized at the highest level, as it should be.
- What does the rating of questions that people want to ask the president look like now? How has it changed? We are talking to you a day before the event. What are the popular questions now? And how much did artificial intelligence help in selecting them?
- It helped a lot, artificial intelligence learns even during the program, during the selection of questions. In general, for obvious reasons, citizens are most interested in questions about special military operations. Further there is already nuanced: it is the course of hostilities, the prospects of the situation on the fronts, providing the needs of the front and our heroes who are on the front lines, their families who are at home, subsequent employment, registration of all necessary documents, due payments and so on. There are a lot of nuances here, but it is all related to the topic of the special military operation.
Transportation infrastructure - it is clear that the country is huge. Of course, citizens want it to be new transportation, working properly, on time, everything was on schedule. Household issues, the level of economic development. All sorts of aspects related to economic development. Medicine, health care. All this is traditionally on the agenda.
"The President prepares very responsibly every time."
- What does the initial document that the president receives when he prepares for this event look like? Is it a folder? A lot of folders?
- It's many folders, there is no source document. Vladimir Putin receives direct appeals from citizens from the very beginning, each one printed on a separate sheet. The president always personally looks through quite a few appeals, which gives very good feedback from citizens. In addition, there is a large number of references - statistical indicators and references on various sectors. The President, I repeat, prepares very responsibly every time and updates his knowledge base on all sectors of our economy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a joint direct line with citizens and a big press conference with journalists in Gostiny Dvor, December 14, 2023
- Were there many foreign journalists from unfriendly countries this time? Were there those who had to be turned away for some reason?
- No, there are not many. There are some. First of all, of course, these are all those foreigners from unfriendly countries who continue to work here. They are accredited here, they have valid accreditation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And on top of that, there are a number of foreigners who have expressed a desire to come specifically for this press conference.
- So there are fewer than last year?
- No, probably at the same level.
Vladimir Putin's first big press conference was held on July 18, 2001. The first live broadcast was held on December 24, 2001. The shortest press conference in 2001 lasted 1 hour and 35 minutes. The longest was in 2008, which lasted 4 hours and 40 minutes. More than 500 journalists were accredited at the first press conference in 2001, in 2019 - 1895.
