Chris Doss The Russia Journal --------------------------- Putin Faces Few Personal Questions June 24, 2002 By JUDITH INGRAM
MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin deftly fielded questions Monday ranging from Russia's all-out campaign to join the World Trade Organization to ways to end vote-buying in far-flung regions. But unlike previous Kremlin news conferences, Putin was not asked about his sports regimen or pet dogs.
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``My great advantage is that up to now, I can feel how the rank-and-file citizen lives,'' Putin said Monday, when asked whether he gets any feedback from the Russian people. ``I have lived in the presidential residence for two years but for almost 30 years ... I lived in a communal apartment in St. Petersburg.''
Communal arrangements are a single apartment in which several families share one kitchen and one bath. .....
He became impatient when a foreign reporter asked which members of Russia's political elite supported him.
``The people,'' Putin snapped. ``That's enough.''