MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that although he sometimes felt like "become nothing more than a mere function" during the years in office, he managed to preserve his human qualities.
"My friends from school, and from <…> say that I have not changed much. They are in a better position to judge than I am," the Russian head of state said an interview for the TASS project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin."
The final episode of the project is released on the president’s birthday, October 7.
"And I would like to not lose, you know, any human qualities. Pardon me, but the thing is that when you occupy this position, it sometimes feels like you cease to be human and become nothing more than a mere function," he said.
Putin lamented that his presidential duties have an impact on his relations with the people that are close to him, including friends.
"Clearly, there are limitations, undoubtedly there are," he said, answering to a question of whether he can afford going to a pub with friends on a Friday evening.
"Lately, I have been trying to give up beer, it makes me put on weight," Putin added jokingly.
At the same time, the president added that despite those limitations, his work is emotionally rewarding.
"There is something that makes up for these limitations. And the best reward is the emotional gratification you get from the way people trust you. It is very important," he said.
The project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin" and devoted to the 20th anniversary of Putin’s work at the helm of the Russian state, was launched on February 20, 2020. The TASS news agency has already released 17 episodes of the interview, but decided to suspend the project due to drastic changes in the global information space. Today’s episode of the interview will be the final one.
The final episode of the video interview is available at https://putin.tass.ru/en.