President Vladimir Putin is hosting his annual Direct Line call-in session with regular Russians. More than 1.8 million questions have been submitted to the president via telephone, social media, email or video recordings, state-run media reports.

The Q&A session is broadcast live on Channel One, Rossia-1 and Rossia-24 and radio stations Mayak, Vesti FM and Radio Russia.

Now in its 16th year, the Direct Line is a tried-and-tested format. This year, however, there is no live audience and Putin is forwarding some questions to regional officials.

The call-in conference began at noon, Moscow time. So far, Putin has answered questions on the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, the ban on Telegram and domestic affairs such as high fuel prices.

