Putin won't answer the question about the boy. I finally realized that today, when I put myself in the shoes of PUTIN'S CHIEF PR MAN and tried to come up with a good answer to that question. I couldn't think of anything decent. For some reason, it also seems unlikely that the brilliant young men (c) olshansky will come up with anything either. Maybe you can think up that mega-answer? So: you're a crooked PR operative sitting in the Kremlin. At last you've been given a task that can't be solved by your usual methods: a report on Channel One, a talking-points memo, an editorial meeting, a call to Dobrodeyev, a phone directive to Kashin, a letter to Kononenko, firing Olshansky, or some secret game involving all the top bloggers. You have to come up with a short text that will serve as Putin's answer to the question: Tell us, what motivated your action—the kiss on the stomach of the boy Nikita? Accordingly, this must be an answer worthy of the President of a Great Country. It must address the substance of the matter and in no way imply a desacralization of the President's image. Please don't write options like: "I like touching boys' bodies with my lips." My version is this: Question: - Tell us, what motivated your action—the kiss on the stomach of the boy Nikita? Answer: - (laughs) I know this question received the highest number of votes. I think on the internet that's called a flash mob. You know, kissing children is one of the duties of the president of any country. Notice that at practically every meeting, parents bring their children up to presidents, and the presidents take them in their arms and kiss them. I can say with confidence that this is one of the pleasant duties of a president (laughs). Although it often happens that a child handed over by his parents gets scared, which is perfectly natural. And so you have to keep smiling and talking to the little one while at the same time enduring his nails digging into your ear. But that's nothing—there are worse things in a president's job.