"I Saw the President": A TV project featuring stories of local residents who met Putin has been launched in Karelia.

"For many, this meeting was fateful" and "influenced their future lives," say the hosts of the episodes. They even invite those who saw Fishing season "accidentally". 

The head of the republic advertised the television project Arthur ParfenchikovIn one of the videos, the head of a woodworking company says that Putin came across as "a very businesslike person" and that it was clear that "he has a general understanding of the industry's problems."

In another video, the entrepreneur Andrey Ivanov recalled: during Putin's visit to Karelia I had to wait for him outside for eight hours to show him how people were working out on the exercise machines. Apparently, the president wasn't supposed to realize it was all planned. "I foolishly told him: 'We knew you'd come here.' He smiled strangely: 'I didn't know either.'" "Andrey said. He said his heart was pounding for about five minutes after the meeting, even though Putin "seemed very simple" and "without any pathos."

He was "in a great mood" and told a "very funny" joke—that's how the rector of Petrozavodsk University remembers Putin. Anatoly Voronin. The President was also pleased that the Karelian development is being used in Germany. "Can you imagine... not German here, but ours in Germany",” Voronin quotes him as saying. "Absolute simplicity in behavior, living every second with interest... It's incomparable.", the rector stated.

A similar project was launched in Irkutsk.