Months later on November 15th, 2001, Putin participated in an NPR radio and web simulcast event to answer questions directly from American audiences. On March 6th, 2001, Putin hosted an online press conference through three major Russian websites, and the British news site BBC News Online, during which he answered 20 pre-selected questions out of 24,000 queries submitted by Russian and European Internet users in real time. Having entered power at a time when Internet usage was rapidly growing across the nation, Putin put extensive efforts towards promoting his image as a web-savvy leader. Following the presidential election held in March 2000, Putin was formally inaugurated president. Immediately after taking office in January 2000, Putin signed a law into effect which granted various security agencies like FSB and Foreign Intelligence Agency direct access to all online transactions. Vladimir Putin became the acting president of the Russian Federation on December 31st, 1999 after Boris Yeltsin's unexpected resignation from the office. Request editorship to add more information. Editor's note: This section is incomplete.
