Putin, who is barred by the Constitution from running for a third consecutive term, will cede his powers after the March 2 presidential election to his successor, widely expected to be current First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
The seventh annual presidential news conference in the Kremlin will start at noon Moscow time (9 a.m. GMT).
No special topics have been selected. In recent years, Putin has answered questions related to Russia's domestic and foreign policies, as well as fielding queries of a more personal nature.
Putin held his first large news conference in the run-up to a Group of Eight summit in July 2001, when around 400 journalists took part, with the president answering 22 questions.
The number of journalists and questions, as well as the length of the presidential news conference, has increased every year. Last year, over 1,100 journalists attended the annual event, during which the president answered 66 questions over a three and a half hour period.
The first two hours of the event will be aired live on the state-run Rossiya and Channel One television channels, as well as the Mayak and Radio Rossii radio stations. The president's official website www.kremlin.ru will broadcast the news conference in Russian and English in full.
