The 14th annual televised Q&A session officially known as 'The Direct Line with Vladimir Putin' was broadcasted yesterday by TV-channels First Channel, Russia 1, Russia 24 and radio stations Mayak, Vesti FM, and Radio Rossii. The head of the state answered 80 questions. The session was lasting for 3 hours 40 minutes. More than three million questions were received during the session.
Housing and public utilities and social problems were traditional leaders among all issues.
Summing up results of the Q&A session, Georgy Fedorov, the President of the ‘Aspect’ Center for Social and Political Studies, expressed a view that social problems were not suppressed: “For the first time we heard about such serious social problems as unpaid wages up to six months. We saw serious issues concerning medicines, shutting down healthcare facilities in rural areas. We heard a lot of old questions, for example, regarding Sakhalin where it was actually admitted that we still have slavery there, when these women actually worked for food and were kept almost violently.”
Recall that Vladimir Putin was asked about the Strategy 2020 and closing 426 schools, more than 300 hospitals, and 215 kindergartens in Russian villages. President answered: “Regarding a reduction in the number of social institutions, some optimization may be necessary. Our country’s peculiarities are the fact that in some of our vast areas, the distance between towns may be quite significant. Under these circumstances, we must, by all means, preserve the social services network, even if, unfortunately, somebody thinks it is excessive. This includes hospitals, or more commonly, paramedic centers and outpatient clinics. In some areas, they can be incorporated into district hospitals, but where this is impossible, the paramedic centers must be retained. A pregnant woman cannot travel hundreds of kilometers on unpaved roads to have a baby. Factors like this should be considered before any action is taken. Unreasonable reduction of the facilities is unacceptable. When it comes to the social development plan for rural areas, nothing can be included without thinking, let alone implemented. We must focus on other indicators, and on setting positive examples. We had a task to ensure a sufficient number of preschool facilities in the country. This task is now 99 percent complete. This result sets an example for other objectives. It is absolutely inadmissible to reduce social facilities where they are in high demand.”
According to Georgy Fedorov, “the fact that such sharp questions were raised is very good. The bad thing is that the social issues concern each person in our country. And so, the economic crisis can develop into a social crisis. A lot of people have crossed over the line of not just poverty, but they have deepened into poverty. This is bad and we must fight it.”
