An unidentified source in the presidential administration told RIA-Novosti on 20 June that President Putin's new website -- http://www.president.kremlin.ru -- registered more than 10,000 hits in its first three hours of operation, according to strana.ru. The source was quoted as saying that there were "several dozen" hacker attacks on the site during the same period, but all of them were stymied by the Federal Agency for Government Communication and Information (FAPSI), which handles security for the site.

According to Interfax, President Putin suggested that the site could be improved by adding an English-language section. In the site's photo-album section, viewers can see snapshots of a solitary, jacketless Putin walking alone down a dock on a lake in Pskov Oblast; Putin dressed in casual wear ringing a church bell in Karelia; and, of course, Putin skiing.

(RFE/RL 21.vi.02)