It is traditionally the highest-rated broadcast of the year on Russian television: the president’s annual New Year’s greeting, shown in the last minutes before the clocks across Russia’s 11 time zones strike midnight.
RFE/RL: The New Year’s messages of Soviet and Russian leaders over the decades
Russian President Vladimir Putin seen during his traditional televised New Year address to the people of Russia in the Kremlin in Moscow, 31 December, 2004.
