The Kremlin has denied Russian media reports that President Vladimir Putin will be using ICQ messenger to receive questions from Russians during his annual call-in show later this year, the state-run TASS news agency reported Wednesday.
During the show ?€?new formats of collecting information will be applied, but ICQ will not be used,?€? Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying.
Putin's call-in show traditionally takes place in April and lasts for several hours. Peskov did not specify the date for this year's event, saying only that ?€?in line with traditions, we will announce the exact date when we get closer to it, and the questions will be collected over a week,?€? TASS reported.
The Kommersant business daily reported earlier this week that the show would take place on April 14, and also said Putin would be using ICQ.
This year will mark the 14th time Putin holds his call-in show, TASS reported. Russians sent in more than 2 million questions to the president last year, and Putin spent 3 hours 55 minutes answering 90 of them, the report said.
This was not a record time, however: The longest call-in show took place in 2013 and lasted for 4 hours 48 minutes, TASS reported.