By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The number of registered users to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s personal video blog passed 3,500 Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman said here.
The Russian president has had a video blog on the Kremlin site since the autumn of 2008, but visitors who register may now leave their own comments. The interactive service on the president’s personal web-page was launched Monday.
“As of 5 p.m., 3,519 people had registered on the website, and 168 were refused registration due to the blog’s rules,” the spokesman said. “Another 443 are waiting for confirmation of their registration.”
Comments are only accepted in Russian and visitors could be denied access if they use abusive or foul language, or words that could promote hatred or discrimination towards minority groups or minors.
Visitors may also be denied access if they attempt to use the site for commercial or advertising purposes. Comments will be edited before being published to avoid grammatical and spelling mistakes, the site said.
In order to leave a comment on the president’s personal video blog, visitors have to register with the official Kremlin site. The registration process requires users to provide a screen name as well as their name, age, education, e-mail address and the country or region where they live.
By Tuesday evening, there were 603 comments left on the site and another 132 were waiting to be edited, the spokesman said. There are 10 employees who handle the traffic on the president’s website.
The president’s press secretary, Natalya Timakova, said the president planned to respond to some of the comments.
“Some of the more interesting comments left may be answered by the president himself,” Timakova told RIA Novosti.
Medvedev has promoted the use of computers and Internet in schools throughout Russia, and has three computer screens on his desk in his Kremlin office.