On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held his traditional televised question-and-answer session, in which he responded to questions and concerns from people across the country.

Such televised conferences, in which Russians are invited to ask questions by phone or send them via Internet, have been held every year since 2001. To handle the vast Russian landmass, several TV crews were stationed in different regions to handle live audience. Over two million questions were submitted this year.

The Russian people queried Putin on a variety of issues, which included international politics, economics and the culture. But a large number of those who managed to get through to the president complained about personal problems and asked when they would be solved. Many people were probably motivated to participate in the live session by the fact that many people who managed to speak with the president in previous broadcasts received quick and substantial help - one of the most vivid examples was a gas pipeline to a remote village that was built after one individual had telephoned Putin and requested assistance.

In this year's Q&A session, Putin spoke with a diverse audience, including a disabled man who had to undergo annual medical tests to get his prosthetic limbs, a mother of eight who received a tiny governmental subsidy to raise her children, and even a resident of an island in the Russian Far East who could not get a job on the continent due to travel difficulties.

The Russian president promised that all of these problems would be solved, mostly by special presidential decrees: Regulations will be changed for the disabled, pensioners will get better subsidies, and families will have more money to support their children. The Far East inhabitants were promised two bridges by 2012 when their island will host the APEC summit.

Other questions were also complaints, but of a different kind - several Russians chose to draw the president's attention to international problems, particularly to the U.S. campaign in Iraq; they expressed concerns that Russian interests might be harmed. One man even recalled a statement he attributed to a western diplomat that Russia is unjustly using the mineral resources of Siberia for itself alone. Putin assured the audience that Russia is not Iraq, which he called "a small country which could not defend itself" and said that his country will defend its interests both on its own territory and abroad.

Replying to a question from a military officer about when new weapons systems will be ready, Putin said that the Russian military will receive the latest weapon systems very soon. Putin mentioned four nuclear submarines Russia planned to build, as well as a fifth-generation fighter jet and state-of-the-art strategic missiles, a comment probably aimed to deflect worries about America's plans for deploying an anti-missile system in Eastern Europe.

At the same time, Putin stressed that relations with neighbouring countries will remain healthy. He spoke to people in Kazakhstan and promised political and economic cooperation, as well as support for its Russian-speaking population.

On Ukraine - the country whose pro-Western course has become a source of problems to Russian politicians and companies - Putin commented that regardless of the winningparty, they would have to build friendly relations with Russia, which was the main source of this country's economic wealth. At the same time, the president said he did not believe that the CIS could develop into a union similar to the EU.

Some people expressed worries about inflation and economic stability. Putin assured them that the government will fix the problems and blamed the recent rise in consumer prices on the agricultural policies of the European Union. He said that Russia would not suffer from a bank crisis, financial default or a monetary reform in the near future.

Of political questions one of the more interesting ones was about the so-called "Putin's Plan" - the slogan used by the United Russia party in their electoral campaign. Putin, who heads the United Russia electoral list, but is not a member of any party, admitted that the use of the term by the United Russia was partially a public relations trick, but said that the plan existed - it was a general program for the nation's development and could be understood by reading his annual addresses to the Federal Assembly. He also said he had objected to giving the plan his name.

Speaking to villagers and military officers in the Caucasus republic of Dagestan, Putin praised their efforts in countering terrorism. He went on to report that the work of the Federal anti-terrorist center was yielding substantial results - the number of terrorist attacks decreased from 250 in 2005 to about 130 in 2006 and only 25 terrorist attacks were registered in 2007.

The conference, which will be the last for Vladimir Putin as Russia's president, was the longest of all and lasted over three hours.

By Kirill Bessonov