New Year Address by the President of Russia

In Russia, tuning in before midnight to watch the President's speech (Russian: новогодние обращения) has become traditional.

[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.

[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).