As Russian president Vladimir Putin was addressing his year-end press conference, journalist Kirill Bazhanov proposed his girlfriend as he knew she was watching the television. Dressed in a red bow tie, the journalist was holding a poster reading “I want to get married”. “I know that my girlfriend is watching the press conference now. Olechka, marry me!” he said in the middle of Putin’s press conference. “You’re ready to go to the registry office!” Putin exclaimed.Bazhanov also invited Putin to the wedding as after an hour of his dramatic proposal on television, the hosts delivered the news that Olechka said ‘yes’. Bazhanov’s proposal came with a question on living cost in Russia as he and his girlfriend reportedly had been together for eight years, but did not dare to start a family because of the economic conditions. “Kirill was just asking about the material conditions for young families. And that’s right – a man should be the breadwinner. Now we’ll pass the hat around and collect at least enough for the wedding,” Putin said.On serious issues, Putin offered to suspend long-range strikes deep inside Ukraine during any potential presidential election held by Ukraine, as he again called for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to face a wartime vote. More than 3 million questions and requests were submitted to the show, according to a meter on a Russian state-run news channel. During the four-and-half-hour presser, Tajik journalist Shamsudin Boboyev caused a brief commotion when he tried to give Putin a book. Two security officials stopped him from going onstage, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested Boboyev should simply describe the gift, which would be given to him later.Toward the end of the session, a journalist who noted that Putin had said earlier he believed in love at first sight asked him if he was in love. The Russian leader, whose private life remains closely guarded, answered simply, “Yes.”
