Nothing Putin does in the media is “spontaneous.” His whole image in front of the Russian people is created to make him look strong. Those tigers he hunted? He shot it in a cage, and then it was moved outside the cage for the photographs. Multiple animal rights groups knew and complained about it, and then were promptly exited from Russia. And on and on.
Now , I don’t have any illusions that our political leaders in the US aren’t doing some of the same press style games… but the only reason Ed Snowden gets through is to ask a question he was either told to ask, or Putin expected him to ask. And if it went in a direction Putin didn’t like, well… even LIVE shows aren’t really “live.” There would be some “connection issues.” And then Mr. Putin would say “What I think you’re asking me is…” and continue on with his script.
