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I'm Maxim Polyakov, a correspondent for the online magazine '7x7'.

Yesterday, Vladimir Putin held yet another Direct Line event, where he answered questions from citizens. Many of the inquiries focused on the war, the economy, and the country’s future. However, not all questions made it to the president. In this newsletter, I’ll delve into what was left behind the scenes of the Direct Line and describe how Putin carefully chose his words when confronted with uncomfortable questions.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Officials Playing Along with the President

For months, residents of Krasnodar have been protesting the city’s general development plan, which they deem disastrous. However, city officials are pushing it through regardless. Activist Vitaly Cherkasov recently attempted to submit a collective complaint from residents against the plan at the Presidential Reception Office in Krasnodar. The office refused to forward the documents to Moscow, stating that the complaint would instead be reviewed within Krasnodar Krai.

“The Russian Post only accepts collective appeals to the president if the package weighs no more than half a kilogram. This poses a problem given the number of signatures collected from residents of the Yubileyny district regarding the proposed construction of a transit road through their residential area as part of the new general plan,” Cherkasov explained.

No Electricity, No Appeal

On December 18, around 40 residents of Koryazhma, a town in northern Russia, gathered near the main Christmas tree to record a video appeal for the Direct Line. They intended to ask Putin to halt the construction of a waste sorting complex located just 800 meters from residential buildings. The gathering had been announced in a VKontakte group uniting those opposed to the project. However, right before they began recording, the lights in the town square were turned off — a move activists described as an attempt by local authorities to prevent them from reaching out to Putin.

Despite the setback, the residents managed to record their video and later filed a police complaint against the town administration’s actions.

Koryazhma residents have been protesting the construction of the landfill since spring 2022. The facility is expected to process up to 70,000 tons of waste from seven districts of Arkhangelsk Oblast. Locals fear that the landfill could contaminate underground water sources and rivers in the region.

Future of Kursk Oblast

Tatyana Ziborova, a resident of Kursk Oblast who left her home three months ago after the Ukrainian army’s incursion, asked Putin when the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) would be driven out of the region.

“I don’t want to specify a date. Our guys are fighting; combat is underway as we speak. These are serious battles, and the AFU's incursion into Kursk Oblast did not make any military sense. Naming a specific date isn’t appropriate. After all, our soldiers hear my words, and if I set a date, they might advance without regard for losses. The most important thing is that everything will be restored — there’s no doubt about it. [...] A day or two won’t make a significant difference in this case,” Putin said.

Ziborova also asked whether residents of the Bolshesoldatsky District would receive housing vouchers, as they had been previously denied due to claims that the AFU had not entered the district. Putin assured her that “everything will be restored” and that residents “will be issued vouchers to repair their homes.”

Environmental Disaster in the Black Sea

During the Direct Line, Putin was shown a video from the Black Sea coast, where two tankers collided, resulting in a major fuel oil spill. A local resident reported that tons of fuel oil in the sea and on the shore had already caused bird deaths. Putin was asked if the cleanup efforts could be accelerated to minimize the spill’s negative effects.

The president described the incident as both an “environmental disaster” and a “catastrophe” and echoed investigators’ statements about the possible fault of the tankers’ captains, who had failed to seek storm shelter in time. According to Putin, some of the fuel oil had settled on the seabed and might resurface in May due to rising temperatures, causing renewed contamination of the water and shoreline.

“We need to plan for the recovery now — to find a way to bring the sunken tankers ashore and prevent further spills. This is a massive undertaking, and I expect no time to be wasted,” Putin said.

Following his remarks, the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that no new contamination sites had been detected. Nearly 900 tons of contaminated soil had been removed from the area.

Quick Resolution

Kaluga Oblast Governor Vladislav Shapsha promised that German citizen Lev Deibel “would definitely be granted Russian citizenship” less than an hour after Putin’s Direct Line. The Migration Service asked Deibel to “submit the necessary documents.” “He received his residence permit in 2020, so there should be no obstacles to obtaining a Russian passport,” Shapsha wrote.

Lev Deibel had appealed to Putin during the Direct Line, requesting help in obtaining Russian citizenship. He returned to Russia from Germany and settled in Tarusa, Kaluga Oblast. According to Deibel, officials repeatedly denied his citizenship request, telling him that “only Putin can grant it.”

Fake Photo

Alexander Poltorabatko, head of Krasnensky District in Belgorod Oblast, published a photo report showing village administration officials supposedly watching Putin’s Direct Line. However, the screen in the photos displayed footage of Putin speaking at the “Russia Calling!” investment forum held two weeks earlier. After the post drew criticism, Poltorabatko deleted it and later uploaded a new photo showing his subordinates actually watching the Direct Line.

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