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Putin quizzed on THAT kiss
04/07/2006 22:15 - (SA)
Moscow - Organisers of an online
conference with President Vladimir Putin have invited internet users
to quiz him on Russia's democracy, its newly assertive role in the world and his personal qualities.
With two days to go to the webcast, Russians are more
interested in why he kissed a boy on the stomach; whether he
will despatch humanoid robots to defend Russia and what he
thinks of the return of giant mythical octopus Cthulhu.
Putin, who has a yearly televised phone-in with citizens and
occasional multihour news conferences, seems to relish lengthy
discussions of his views on almost any topic.
But, he rarely has to tussle with some of the more off-beat
questions posted on Russian website www.yandex.ru and the BBC's www.bbc.co.uk - which are jointly running the web cast. The kiss
"What did you achieve by kissing the little boy Nikita on
the stomach?" was the runaway favourite question.
Almost 11 500 people had asked for it to be forwarded to the president.
Just six days ago, Putin stunned Russia by stopping a young
boy walking through the Kremlin, asking his name, lifting up his
T-shirt and kissing him on the stomach.
It was not clear what had prompted 8 600 Russians to ask
Putin if he planned to employ "giant, humanoid war robots" or why 7 300 people were interested in the Cthulhu, a cosmic cephalopod invented by novelist HP Lovecraft and which is said to be sleeping beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Other, if less popular, themes raised in the 87 000
questions sent to Yandex focused on the more-serious issues of
Russians' lives - the size of pensions, military conscription,
rising xenophobia and corrupt officials.
Harry Potter character
For many foreigners writing questions in English to the BBC
website, Putin's personal life and Russia's separatist war in Chechnya were the main topics of interest, as well as the
obstacles to getting a visa to visit Russia.
But a fair number of foreigners found their own unusual
questions to ask.
"I think that the character Dobby in the Harry Potter movie The Chamber of Secrets looks a lot like you. "Do you know if this is on purpose and do you agree with me that you look alike?" asked AM Venema from the Netherlands.
The websites will stop accepting questions from 13:00 GMT on
Thursday, when Putin will get a chance to answer some of them in
a live webcast.
- Reuters
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