article_snippet.sent: Putin almost daily appearances on state television often show Putin in formal meetings with subordinates, or visiting dignitaries.
article_snippet.sent: That is why this annual Q&A session -- in which Putin will spend hours fielding questions from the general public on live television -- is such a widely anticipated event which provokes such excitement.
article_snippet.sent: In recent years, sitting in a shiny studio surrounded by a hand-picked audience of soldiers, doctors, teachers, factory workers and so on, Putin has held forth on subjects from parenting to food prices, to relations with America.
article_snippet.sent: At one call center in Moscow, where the public are encouraged to pitch the public Putin questions, officials say more than 200,000 questions were submitted in the first hour after lines opened.
article_snippet.sent: The Kremlin says The Kremlin will have to sift through well over 1.7 million emails, video messages and texts to decide who gets to ask what on the big day.
article_snippet.sent: Last year saw NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, granted asylum in Russia, address Putin by videolink.
highlights_snippet.sent: Putin to spend hours fielding questions from the general public on live television .
  