Growing poverty in Russia now affecting up to a tenth of the population, intractable government corruption and steadily rising prices are pointed issues president Vladimir Putin will seek to tackle at his annual "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin" TV program set for Thursday.
Putin will seek to use the 17th edition of this public relations program to repair his sagging approval rating, which now stands at about 66 percent compared to 90 percent over the past few years.
This year's program also comes at a time when the Kremlin has to deal with a Russian public more eager to challenge Putin's authority in street and media protests. Catalysts for this newly found courage is Putin's pension reform that impoverished Russian retirees and a hated hike in the value-added tax that drove up prices across the board.
Public anger at Putin is mounting but won't be on full display at Putin's program because all the questions Putin will answer are pre-screened. Organizers said more than one million questions were submitted this year. Most of these questions were about economic and social issues rather than political ideas, which reflect the broad concerns of the suffering Russian public.
"People are fed up of staying silent," shouted a headline last week in the pro-Putin Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Seething public discontent at Putin and his oligarchs are being fueled by a sputtering economy. Living standards, in terms of real income versus costs, are expected to decrease for the sixth year in a row, according to economists at Moscow's prestigious Higher School of Economics.
Poverty is rising relentlessly as Western sanctions levied to punish Putin for his unlawful annexation of Crimea in 2014 continue to bite and weaken the economy.
"Poverty has become a matter of shame for Russians," said Alexei Kudrin, the influential head of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation. This is the parliamentary body of financial control in the Russian Federation.
Kudrin estimated that 12 million out of Russia's population of 147 million live in poverty.
Political analysts said this reality TV show is seen as a political barometer measuring the Russian public's current mood. They said Putin this time will try to deflect or tamp down growing anger across the country at many of his policies some see as designed to boost his already enormous wealth.
