The Kremlin said Tuesday that it had launched preparations for President Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference and “Direct Line” call-in show.
“We’re preparing in the same way as last year and previous years, in a combined format,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily briefing, confirming his previous comments made on Sunday.
“It will be both a Direct Line and an annual major press conference of the head of state,” Peskov said.
Putin’s call-in show and end-of-year press conference have been combined since they were merged due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Peskov did not name the exact date for this year’s event. Last year’s was held on Dec. 19, 2025.
On Sunday, Peskov said a “matured” neural network developed by state lender Sberbank would help the Kremlin field a much larger volume of public requests prior to the event. The Kremlin claimed that more than 3 million queries were submitted to last year’s show.
First launched in 2001, Putin’s call-in program aims to cast the Russian leader as a “problem-solver-in-chief,” as he personally addresses the complaints of ordinary citizens that regional and local officials are accused of ignoring.
