17.06.2017, Russia.
The President of Russia Vladimir Putin’s TV phone-in is his attempt to establish direct communication with the people without mediation from the elite, the leader of the Essence of Time movement, Sergey Kurginyan, said during the Evening with Vladimir Solovyov TV show broadcasted on June 15 on the air of the Russia One channel.
The political analyst pointed to a precedent of direct communication between a national leader and the people, “That was Roosevelt’s fireside chat. Mass communications had just appeared for the first time. Roosevelt was daring enough to take the risk of speaking directly with the people. Over the radio, of course, because there was no TV then. And he talked for a long time. Why? Because the American people were extremely outraged at the elite, and the elite was outraged at Roosevelt. This coupled problem led to Roosevelt’s attempt to use those talks as a way to establish contact with the people. A sort of a direct contact. And he did so for quite a long time.”
According to the leader of the movement, Vladimir Putin, even after many years in power, remains a “living person” who is “neither haughty nor technocratic” in his attitude to the problems of “a financially struggling or a completely impoverished person”. In contrast, the system he is trying to deal with is absolutely different; it is dominated by “ruthless cold-eyed people, haughty and technocratic at the same time”.
“This gives rise to a natural conflict, and we see it all the time, between Putin and the system. But the system does not exist on its own; it was fostered by a certain political class, and it exists inside that class. When we ask, ‘where is the money?’ the answer is, the money is with the crocodile who ate it. Where else could it be? And all the time Putin deals with this class… how can you say… as with a bad wife, whom he tolerates, educates, scolds…,” the leader of Essence of Time stressed.
Sergey Kurginyan said that the relations between the elite and the President are characterized by mutual patience. “The question is whose patience runs out first. And I think it will be the elite’s,” the leader of Essence of Time said.
Vladimir Putin’s TV phone-in is a yearly TV show where the president answers questions submitted through a message processing center. The tradition of the TV show continued through the years when Vladimir Putin led the government as the Prime Minister (2008-2011). The latest TV phone-in took place on June 15, 2017. Over a period of 4 hours, the President answered 73 questions. In total, the President was asked more than 2 million questions.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
