The student spoke about the circumstances that inspired him to ask Putin a question.

Daniil Pushkarev, a Moscow student who asked Russian President Vladimir Putin about the relevance of books in modern society during the "Results of the Year" press conference, told Izvestia on December 20 about the circumstances that inspired him to do so.

"I had this idea by chance. I was at a literary fair, I just went to [messenger] MAX and asked this question for fun. I didn't think that he would get caught there, that something would happen. <...> There was a bar on top [in the messenger] that you could ask the president a question," he said.

The young man, who is a member of the literary club, admitted that he began to read quite recently, after he realized that he lacked knowledge of history and classical literature, which were necessary to maintain more meaningful conversations with others. Up to this point, Daniel preferred watching movies and other video content.

"I started to get interested. I started going to the club. <...> Books are a great way to learn something. <...> Books are very important, plus, as Vladimir Vladimirovich said, books should be those that form a worldview," he added.

The student clarified that he was pleased with the answer — Putin did not criticize modern, in particular, vertical content formats, but stated the need for books to compete with them. According to Daniil, the President outlined the value of literature. The young man stressed that the cultural policy of the state should be aimed at popularizing reading.

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A day earlier, during the "Results of the Year", which were summed up in a straight line format combined with a press conference, Putin stated the need to more actively instill in the younger generation a love of reading. According to him, the number of people reading books is decreasing, so children need to understand the value of literature through vivid and creative approaches.

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