Vladimir Putin will grant an exclusive interview to National Public Radio at 6:30 p.m., CST Thursday, hours before the visiting Russian leader concludes his summit with President Bush.
After the one-on-one with NPR's Robert Siegel, Putin will answer telephone and email questions from listeners, following the lead of Bill Clinton, who fielded caller questions on a Moscow radio and TV talk show during his visit last year to Russia.
\It's a great coup,"" NPR President Kevin Klose said in a Washington Post report. ""This is the first time, aside from Khrushchev's travels across the U.S., for the serious possibility of voice-to-voice exchange"" with a Russian chief of state, he said. ""It's amazing'the president of the Russian Federation being questioned directly by individual citizens of the United States.\
