FX.co ★ The annual press conference of the Russian President

In 2016 1437 journalists were accredited to the press conference. Only 20-25 members of the media had a chance to ask a question.

At 12:05 Vladimir Putin was asked the first question in the frame of the present press conference. The journalist of the Mayak radio asked the President about the state of the Russian economy. The Head of the RF answered that GDP had declined at slower rate against the last year's drop by 3.7%. According to the Russian leader, in 2016 the recession would total about 1%. Putin also made of the meritable inflation rate of the year. The politician stated that by the end of 2016 they would reach 5.5%, and according to the President it would let the economy come out of the inflation indicators 5% and 4%.

Photo: the journalists are waiting for the press conference.

According to the media sources, the Russian head were preparing to the meeting with journalists during the whole day. Someone notes with irony that it was certainly felt as answering the questions the President used the readings of national measure over and over again.

Photo: a female adorer of Putin before the press conference.

The second question was also of the global value and was dedicated to agricultural subsidies in the RF. The journalist, who brought up the topic, suggested to the Russian Head to make the crisis response measure constant. Putin promised that next year the agriculture would gain support in the sum of 216 billion rubles from the government. The President also mentioned the rural workers' achievements – in 2016 they threshed 119 million tons of the grain.

One of the media personnel asked Putin about the technological changes in Russia, noting that the country lagged far behind other states in such sectors as social relations and industry engineering. The President didn't agree with the journalist's opinion and stated that the government took steps to rebuild the economic structure in a new way. The politician also mentioned that Russia dominated in many lines of activity. The Russian Head addressed everybody with an appeal to join the technological revolution, not to give up.

The member of one of the media sources of Tatarstan asked the President about DIA for legal bodies, and also about the actions of the Central Bank on the recovery of banking sector. Vladimir Putin indirectly favored the CB actions to revoke licenses, declared that the system would be in disbalance if there was “money-laundering" business instead of the financial institutes.

Answering the question about the relations between Russia and the USA and also about the retiring Barack Obama's administration, Vladimir Putin declared that the U.S. current administration tried to find giulty on the side, taking no notice of their injudicious actions. The politician added that the U.S. authorities' actions led to division of the American nation.

The question about hacking attacks from the BBC's international correspondent was highly interesting. The member of the media asked Putin if he would reply to Barack Obama's demand to steer cleer of the U.S. presidential race. The Russian Head mentioned that the key point of the situation with hacking attacks is the information getting out in the course of such campaigns.

The correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda put very loaded question. He asked Putin about his friends who were pegged for the heads of the regions. The member of the media inquired why the Head of the Russian Federation used such practice. In return he heard that only three contacts of Putin held positions of the local heads. Putin added that he confided the officials.

During the press conference Vladimir Putin answered many important and not so important questions. For example, he was asked about the name of under-costraction bridge across the Kerch Strait, about his attitude to animals, the Russia's relations with Europe and Ukraine, the opposition of Moscow and Beijing to global challenges and threats, about tax system and so on. Answering the question of the journalist from the edition «Ъ» about the reasons why exactly Vladimir Putin must take up the presidential post following the election's results in 2018, the politician withheld comments and said that it would remain to be seen.