MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. The myth about the "manual" administration style in Russia is greatly exaggerated, an enormous amount of systematic work is done by the government and regional authorities, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual news conference on Thursday.
"The myth about 'manual' administration style is greatly exaggerated," the head of state said when asked whether he believes tackling some citizens’ issues at the presidential level is effective. Putin stressed that a huge amount of work is done by the federal government and regional authorities.
Putin recalled that he had served as Russia’s Prime Minister for four and a half years (in 1999 and in 2008-2012) and is aware of "what a huge amount of colossal routine work" is done by the government. "This is the most difficult work in the management system, and <…> it is impossible to deal with every issue in detail. The same situation can be seen in regions. This is beyond our reach, sometimes we even do not know what happens there, which is bad, course, we need to know everything," the head of state said.
As for news conferences and Q&A sessions, "despite the fact that they are often criticized for being too formal," this is a manifestation of a feedback when people can get in touch with the top officials directly, Putin stressed.
"Yes, when this happens, the so-called manual control mode is switched on. Its aim is to systematize this work in the future," the president said. Putin recalled that during his regular meetings with the governors, he always forwarded the questions he received from citizens to them.
"So, all that has a continuation, and in this sense, I see nothing wrong here. However, this is only an addition to the general systematic work," Putin concluded.