AP News, February 1st, 2007
President Vladimir Putin voiced pride in Russia's economic growth at the start of his annual marathon news conference Thursday but acknowledged the government has much to do to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
Putin cited gross domestic product growth of 6.7-6.9 percent last year and increased spending on education and public health as signs of Russia's continued recovery from its economic troubles of less than a decade ago.
"But we still have to do very much in the social sphere, including resolving one of the main tasks that we have in this area _ that is, reducing the gap between highly paid groups of the population and the citizens of our country who still live very, very humbly," Putin said before taking the first of what was expected to be hours of questions from some 1,200 journalists.
The news conference, televised live on two nationwide state-run channels, is one of a troika of events Putin uses each year to burnish his image as a competent, caring president in control of a resurgent country with a growing economy and global clout.
With the end of Putin's second term approaching as the March 2008 election draws closer, one issue sure to be addressed was succession. The Constitution limits Russian presidents to two straight terms, and the nation has not had a normal transfer of power by popular vote in its post-Soviet history.
Putin was likely to be asked whether he will clearly support a particular protege as his chosen successor, and if so, who will it be. First Deputy Prime Minster Dmitry Medvedev and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov appear to be the front-runners for the Kremlin nod, but there are plenty of alternate theories about how Putin will end his time in office, including one under which he would not end it at all but stay in power, despite his repeated statements to the contrary.
In foreign affairs, Putin is likely to speak about Kosovo; he has said a decision on the status of the breakaway Serbian province could send a signal to separatist regions in the former Soviet Union.
Questions about Iraq and Russia's cooperation with Iran also appeared sure to arise. Russia's relations with the West are a perennial topic at the news conference, which gives foreign journalists a rare chance to directly ask a question of Putin _ and gives Putin a chance to portray Russia, as he often does, as a country under attack from ill-wishers abroad.
Putin may be even more defensive this year, following the killings last fall of two Kremlin critics, investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and former security agent Alexander Litvinenko, who blamed Putin for his radiation poisoning in a deathbed statement.
Add to that the continuing Kremlin campaign to limit foreign involvement in key economic sectors and deepened Western concerns about Russia's reliability as an energy supplier after a dispute with Belarus shut down a pipeline to Europe.
