MOSCOW. Dec 2 (Interfax) - A special program titled "A Conversation with Vladimir Putin," to be broadcast live by the VGTRK national television and radio company, will differ noticeably from the format of Putin's previous phone-in's during his tenure as president.

The program will be broadcast from a studio at Gostiny Dvor center on Ilyinka street in downtown Moscow, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

More than 400 guests have been invited to the studio, primarily those who visited the public reception offices of the United Russia party, led by Putin. Staff members of the public reception offices - a link between citizens and the party - will also be among the guests.

The live broadcast will include questions asked by guests in the studio, live questions from regional audiences, questions arriving from a call-center, which will receive phone calls and SMS messages, and questions asked through the Internet, Peskov said.

Switches to regional audiences will give "the maximum coverage of the country's vast geography," he said.

Peskov declined to predict how long Putin's live talk with citizens will last this time, noting that "the conversation will be extensive, as previously."

Putin appeared in a live phone-in last autumn in 2007 when he was president. That live question-and-answer session lasted for a record three hours, during which Putin answered more than 60 questions.