Questions flood in for Putin's annual phone-in

MOSCOW, Oct 22 (Reuters) Russians submitted more than 300,000 questions for President Vladimir Putin within the first 24 hours of phone lines opening for his annual televised question-and-answer marathon, organisers said today.

The organisers' Web site, www.president-line.ru, said a total of 305,735 queries had been submitted by 1000 hrs Moscow time today, with three days to go before Wednesday's televised session.

The most popular subjects to date included student funding, the minimum wage, economic reform, relations with Russia's neighbours and soaring housing costs, the Web site said.

The phone-in will be Putin's fifth. In previous years, he has answered almost 60 questions in a three-hour programme, a format he claims to enjoy, and -- in a touch of populism -- he usually makes at least one questioner's wish come true.

Last year, after a pensioner told the president she had to lug water home in buckets, the local government sent in plumbers and budgeted 80 million roubles (3 million dollar) to fix the problem.

After another phone-in, a town near the Chinese border received a giant Christmas tree after a poignant plea from a child.

Halfway through his second term as president, Putin remains wildly popular in Russia and his dominance of the political scene means there is little political opposition to the Kremlin.

The Levada Centre, a Russian polling firm, says that at least 75 per cent of those polled approved of his actions in surveys conducted in each of the last five months.

REUTERS DKA BD1456