MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted that he is not offended by the need to be held accountable for any problems on the regional or local levels during his annual televised Q&A session, pointing to the responsibility of specific officials when addressing these issues. During the Q&A session entitled Direct Line with Vladimir Putin, a moderator asked the Russian leader whether he is offended by the need to take the rap for all the regional and local problems.
"This cannot be offensive because that is what my job is. I have already said that if something happens I come from it being my personal fault in part. Of course, I am not going to have my eyes closed to something that should be done on the ministerial, departmental or regional levels. And the colleagues should be responsible for the set of issues comprising a part of their domain," Putin said.
During the program, the President also paid attention to one of the questions displayed on the TV studio screen and read it aloud. "I saw [a question] on the ticker: "the Direct Line is an intelligence agency’s show." I understand that this is an implicative question, but I can assure you that no Russian intelligence service bears any relations to today’s event," he responded.