Verbatim record of Putin’s press conference available on website

ITAR-TASS News Agency
December 23, 2004 Thursday

MOSCOW, December 23 — A verbatim record of Putin’s annual “big” press
conference that was held in the Round Room of the Kremlin’s Building
14 on Thursday has appeared on the Russian President’s official website
, the press service of the Russian head of state reports.

The press conference on Thursday set a new record: with its duration
of three hours and three minutes it lasted 20 minutes longer than
the Russian President’s previous “big” press conference.

Vladimir Putin responded to 51 questions from reporters, two questions
less than last year. The conference brought together almost 700
journalists.

Putin held his first “big” press conference on July 18, 2001. He
responded to 22 questions within 90 minutes. Nearly 500 news agencies,
newspapers and TV channels had got accreditation to cover that
conference.

During his second “big” press conference on June 24, 2003, the Russian
president responded to 37 questions and took two and a half hours
for the purpose. The number of media reporters was up to more than
700 people.

In the course of his third press conference for Russian and foreign
journalists on June 20, 2003 Putin responded to 52 questions within
two hours and 45 minutes and wound up the conference to the applause
from the audience.

This time around most of the questions were about Russia’s domestic
policy and only 15 were about international issues. Three questions
were about Russia’s relations with Georgia and Abkhazia, two about
Armenia and the United States.

Three questions were about the president’s personal life – how
the Putins usually see in the New Year, what plans the president’s
daughters have and what plans Vladimir Putin has for after 2008.

Incidentally his replies to these questions were the briefest – 30
seconds each. It took the present four minutes on average to react
to other questions.