Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila took part in the all-Russia population census on Saturday.
The all-Russia census, the second since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, will take place on October 14-25. Its cost is estimated at some 17 billion rubles ($).
Putin told the census-taker, who arrived in his residence Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow, that he was 58 years old and cited his work as the only source of his livelihood.
"I have no other sources," the premier said and asked if his black Labrador dog Koni should also take part in the census.
Putin said he spoke only one foreign language, German, while his wife Lyudmila, a philologist, mentioned she could speak German, Spanish and French.
President Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana took part in the census earlier on Saturday.
Some 616,000 census takers are to be employed all across Russia, with an average monthly wage of some 5,500 rubles ($183). All of them are insured, and will receive up to 20,000 rubles ($667) in compensation if injured during their work.
NOVO-OGARYOVO, October 16 (RIA Novosti)
