Medvedev Asks For Feedback On Kremlin Blog

President Dmitry Medvedev announced the innovation on his latest video blog posting.

The Kremlin is offering Russians a new way to have their voices heard in the corridors of power: by posting comments on the president's blog.

President Dmitry Medvedev announced the innovation on his latest video blog posting, part of increasingly sophisticated Kremlin public-relations drive.

"I hope you can say everything that you want," Medvedev said on Monday during a video blog of his New Year's skiing trip to south Russia. "I will read them with great interest."

By Tuesday morning, the blog had 137 comments, mostly positive, but a few offering mild criticism of the government's reaction to the global financial crisis.

All comments are checked by a moderator who can deny users access, the site's rules said.

Ildar80 from the Altai region said the government had started down a "road to nowhere" in its reaction to the financial crisis. He then congratulated Medvedev for correcting this mistake in November.

Introduced in October following a PR overhaul during Russia's war with Georgia, Medvedev's video blogs (blog.kremlin.ru) have been used to explain his reaction to the global financial crisis and to encourage physical exercise.