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 Putin used a televised phone-in, an annual event when he fields
questions from ordinary citizens around the country, to strike a
conciliatory tone on foreign policy, saying Russia wanted friendly
relations with the rest of the world.
Early questions to Putin focused on the economy, which shrank 3.7
percent last year, a result of falling prices for oil made worse by
the effects of international sanctions imposed on Russia over the
conflict in Ukraine.
"I understand it's difficult," Putin said in response to a question
about inflation, which was 12.9 percent in 2015. Prices were pushed
up by an embargo on food imports from Europe that the Kremlin
adopted in retaliation for the Ukraine sanctions.
"The rise in food prices is a temporary phenomenon. Prices will
stabilize," he said.
 In response to a question from a woman called Yekaterina, from the
Siberian city of Omsk, he said extra money would be ring-fenced to
pay for fixing potholes in the roads. He promised measures to make
medicine cheaper in pharmacies.
LIBERAL ECONOMIST
The Russian president offered an olive branch to investors battered
by the slowdown, saying he thought highly of former finance minister
Alexei Kudrin and hoped Kudrin would play a role in advising on
economic policy.
Markets see Kudrin as a champion of liberal economic policy and
fiscal prudence, and worry that he no longer has Putin's ear.
On foreign policy, Putin did not deploy the kind of bellicose
rhetoric that he has in the past.
He denied that Russia was surrounded by adversaries, said he favored
a peaceful, negotiated resolution of the conflict in Syria, and said
Russia was a friend to Turkey, even if it had differences with
Turkey's leaders.
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Russian-Turkish relations have been poisoned since Turkey's air
force in November last year shot down a Russian warplane near the
Syrian-Turkish border.
Asked who he would save if Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and
Ukraine's pro-Western leader Petro Poroshenko were both drowning in
front of him, Putin was uncharacteristically diplomatic.
"If someone has decided to drown, then it's already impossible to
save then. But we are of course ready to extend a helping hand, a
hand of friendship, to any partner of ours that itself wants that
help," Putin said.
Putin, who is divorced, dodged a question about whether he was going
to remarry. He said he thought people were interested in his
performance as president rather than his personal life.
But he told the questioner: "Maybe one day I will be able to satisfy
your curiosity."
(Additional reporting by Jack Stubbs, Lidia Kelly, Dmitry Solovyov,
Maria Kiselyova, Gleb Stolyarov and Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by
Christian Lowe; Editing by Jason Bush)
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