New Year Address by the President of Russia

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The New Year Address by the President of Russia (Russian: Новогоднее обращение президента Российской Федерации) is a traditional speech given in Russia by the president to the citizens, and generally broadcast on Russian television.

In Russia, tuning in before midnight to watch the President's speech (Russian: новогодние обращения) has become traditional.^[1] The president gives the New Year speech from the Kremlin, a few minutes before the Kremlin Clock chimes at midnight followed by the performance of the national anthem of Russia.^[2] The speech sums up the main events of the year and discusses prospects for the coming one. The tradition is observed by most Russians, regardless of political views.^[3]

The speech is broadcast in each of the 11 time zones in the country.^[4] Because of that, the video of the speech is already available on the internet to audiences in western Russia during the afternoon of 31 December.^[1]

The tradition dates back to 1941, when the Soviet government broadcast a speech about the state of the country during World War II.^{[citation needed]} Gorbachev gave a speech in 1990 saying the 1990s would be "a decade of the drawing of the United States and the Soviet Union closer together".^[5]

Boris Yeltsin generally avoided talk of politics during his new year speeches, preferring to talk about family values and the holiday spirit,^{[citation needed]} though he did use his 1996 speech to promote economic reforms.^[6] Yeltsin famously resigned during his New Year speech on 31 December 1999.^[7] In 2013 two different speeches were broadcast: the first one was only broadcast in the Far East, while a new broadcast for the rest of the country mentioned the December 2013 Volgograd bombings.^[8]

Vladimir Putin's address on December 31, 2020 was the longest of all time - it lasted 6 minutes (not including the chimes and the anthem). On December 31, 2021, this record was broken again - the circulation lasted 6 minutes and 22 seconds. On December 31, 2022, Putin read out his New Year’s address against a backdrop of members of the Russian military; he mentioned the “protection of our people in the new regions of the Russian Federation” and the address lasted 9 minutes. One of the servicemen who was standing behind Putin during the address was later killed while in fighting in Ukraine in February 2023.^[9][10][11]

• Media related to New Year addresses of President of Russia to the Nation at Wikimedia Commons