Putin Checks In

Via Kim Andrew Elliott (emphasis added):

Putin (briefly) visits RIA-Novosti and Russia Today. "Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday. ... RIA Novosti Editor-in-Chief Svetlana Mironyuk gave Putin a guided tour of the agency's two-floor multimedia newsroom, the only one of its kind in Russia, which was inaugurated in January 2008. ... The concept behind the newsroom is to help the department's 300 journalists and editors improve their efficiency through prompt exchange of information, better planning and tight coordination. ... RIA Novosti's main website www.rian.ru and foreign-language news portals have more than 5.5 million visitors per month. Putin also visited the offices of the English-language newspaper The Moscow News and Russia's first 24-hour English-language news channel, Russia Today, located in the same building." RIA Novosti, 24 February 2009. 

"Reaction among the staff to Putin's entrance ranged from big smiles to rabbit-in-the-headlights paralysis. No one dared to step forward and press the flesh with him, perhaps sensing that the brief description given by [RIA Novosti's editor-in-chief Svetlana] Mironyuk of the newspaper's work was all he had time for." The Moscow News, 26 November 2009.

Here is how RT covered the event, start at the 30 second mark: 

A few comments.

• It is interesting to note that RT was "inspired" by Putin.  
  
• What was Putin looking at?  It appears that he is getting a tour of RT's YouTube page.  Did RT care what they were filming when he was there?  
• What is the story?  RT does not explain why Putin decided to drop by.  I will try and find a better answer for that question.