When Russian President Vladimir Putin answered questions for more than four hours during a marathon session broadcast live Thursday on all major television channels in the country, he was in the type of environment he relishes.
He was front and centre during the year-end news conference and speaking at length in a carefully curated event designed to make him look powerful and in control.
According to the event organizers, 2.5 million questions were submitted ahead of time, and while a few of those were posed to Putin, most of those he fielded during the news conference came from Russian journalists who were
