Direct line of Vladimir Putin may pass in the last months of the year

The direct line of Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place this year and, most likely, will take place in November-December, says a Kommersant source in the presidential administration. However, while these are preliminary plans. According to the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, there are no exact dates for the direct line. If it happens at the end of the year, it will inevitably be included in the context of the upcoming presidential elections as a session of communication with voters, although the president is unlikely to choose this platform to announce his participation in the elections, experts say.

According to Kommersant’s information, the direct line of Russian President Vladimir Putin is tentatively planned to be held in November-December this year. According to an informed source close to the presidential administration, it was originally assumed that it would take place earlier, possibly even this summer. But a couple of weeks ago, it became clear that at this time it was no longer worth waiting for, says the interlocutor of Kommersant. “Now it is tentatively planned to hold it in November-December,” explains a source in the presidential administration. According to him, the choice of such a time period is connected with the situation in the special military operation zone. It is better to wait for certainty with the situation at the front, the interlocutor of Kommersant explains. According to him, it is desirable that the event take place before the announcement of the presidential election, because it will be more difficult to hold it after the official campaign has begun.

Presidential elections should be officially called just in December of this year. According to the law, they themselves must pass on March 17, 2024. And their appointment by the Federation Council should take place from 8 to 17 December. As previously reported by Kommersant, the Kremlin is already preparing for the upcoming vote on the election of the head of state. This year’s regional campaigns are seen by the Kremlin’s domestic bloc as the last test before it. One of the key campaign lines in the campaign of the main candidate from the government, according to Kommersant’s sources, should be the principle of “it was-before-will be.” As part of it, from November 4, 2023 to April 24, 2024, the international exhibition-forum “Russia” will be held at VDNKh – the president has already signed a decree on its holding.

According to the document, it is held “in order to demonstrate the most important achievements of the Russian Federation in various sectors of the economy, including industry, energy, agro-industrial complex, transport, construction, science and culture, the positive experience of developing the subjects of the Russian Federation, and promoting further international cooperation of the Russian Federation.”

So far, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly announced his participation in a future presidential campaign. The last time he did this was at a meeting with veterans and workers of the GAZ automobile plant on December 6, 2017. Then the presidential elections were officially scheduled for December 15, 2017. According to an informed interlocutor of Kommersant, this time the president is also likely to announce his nomination after November.

The direct line format has been held since 2001 and is a session of the president’s communication with ordinary citizens and public opinion leaders. Russians both send their questions to the president in advance and, in some cases, ask them live. During the direct line, the practice of including correspondents of federal channels from the regions is used, who also help citizens ask their questions from the field. Unlike the address to the Federal Assembly, the president has no obligation to draw a direct line somewhere, but for Vladimir Putin, this format has actually become traditional and annual. The direct line was held even from 2008 to 2012, when Vladimir Putin served as prime minister. If at the beginning the direct line was carried out mainly in the last months of the year, then since 2017, summer time has been assigned to it. In 2020, when the world and Russia faced the coronavirus epidemic, the direct line was not drawn: its elements were simply included in Vladimir Putin’s big press conference. The last time the direct line took place was in 2021. In April, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that this year the direct line will take place. In June, he explained that “routine preparations” are underway for the format, since this is a very difficult event both from a technical and substantive point of view, but did not name the timing of its implementation. “There are no exact dates for the direct line. We have not announced them. As soon as clarity comes, we will let you know, ”Peskov answered the question of Kommersant about whether to expect a direct line in December this year.

The head of the Civil Society Development Foundation, Konstantin Kostin, recalls that when and how to hold public events, whether it be the announcement of a message, a press conference or a direct line, of course, only the president himself decides, given a large number of various factors: “Whether it will be November or December – time will tell. Another thing is important – a straight line, if it is at the end of the year, of course, will carry the context of the upcoming elections. However, any programmatic speech by the president — and the straight line is one of those — always reflects systemic trends.” According to Mr. Kostin, the topic of the next presidential elections in Russia is indeed more and more on the agenda of the political life of Russia – “and, it seems, the world.” Mr. Kostin also notes that the direct line is a fairly flexible format and provides enough opportunities for signals to basic support groups: “After all, unlike the same big press conference, in fact, this is a direct communication with the people.” According to political scientist Vladimir Shemyakin, the direct line is part of the system of traditional events built by the presidential administration, which allow the president to speak to a wide audience at the right time with a detailed statement of his position. “Among such events are the St. Petersburg and Eastern Economic Forums, a direct line, a press conference, a message from the president to the Federal Assembly,” the expert lists, adding that there are still meetings with proxies as part of the presidential election campaign. Mr. Shemyakin doubts that the direct line will be used by Vladimir Putin to announce his nomination for the elections. Less formal formats are often used to announce the start of the presidential campaign, such as meetings with labor collectives, residents, he says: “I won’t be surprised if this time it will be at a meeting with military personnel or residents of new regions.”

Andrey Vinokurov