WEEKLY TELEPHONE TRANSMISSION ON POUTINE

MOSCOW. KREMLIN. PUTIN

The program will be dedicated to the president, whose popularity has been on the decline since the announcement this summer of a reform project increasing the age of retirement.

Indeed, it was Sunday night that Rossia 1 viewers were able to discover the Russian head of state in full mushroom picking in Siberia, where he spent his holidays. The traditional staging of a president full of health vis-a-vis the wild nature! It is also seen climbing in great sporting mountain and then in great discussion with minors or with school children.

If Vladimir Putin is already omnipresent on the official channels, the program "Moscow, Kremlin, Putin" proposes a new format for this staging of the president.

"This is a project of (the public broadcasting company) VGTRK, not the Kremlin," said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, about Vladimir Putin, who is already on the official channels, the program "Moscow, Kremlin, Putin" proposes a new format for the staging of the president.

The Russian leader sees his occupations, his agenda of the past week dissected in prime time, on the public channel Rossia-1.

Not bored! A propaganda show? "What's important for us is that the information about the president and his agenda is shown correctly and without distortion," he added, adding that Vladimir Putin would not participate personally in this program.

It should be noted that the popularity of the Russian President - who was already president in 1999 - has been eroded by his stance on increasing the retirement age. In June, its popularity rating dropped to 64 percent from 80 percent in May, according to the VtsIOM polling institute.

Not surprising, however, that most of Sunday's program was devoted to supporting the president's position on the pension reform project, announced in June, which prompted tens of thousands of people to protest.

Last week, Vladimir Putin made a concession by proposing to increase the age of retirement for women from 55 currently to 60 years (against 63 in the original text). The increase in the retirement age for men remains at 65, compared to 60 years today. On Sunday, despite concessions from the Kremlin, thousands of Russians again took to the streets against the reform project.

Dmitri Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, is on the set answering the presenter's questions.

And the security of the President? "The bodyguards are adequately armed, just in case. But if bears see Putin, they are not idiots, they know how to stand. "