Vladimir Putin’s New Year Greetings to Russian People: “We Will Only Go Forward!”
Putin has been in power for 25 years: “I’m proud of what has been accomplished in a quarter century”
Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) addressed the Russian people with a traditional New Year’s greeting. In a speech lasting 3 minutes and 35 seconds, delivered exactly on the 25th anniversary of Putin’s rise to power, he praised the achievements made during his rule. “Yes, we still have a lot to resolve, but we can be justifiably proud of what has already been accomplished. This is our common heritage, a reliable basis for further development,” the Russian President emphasized.
In his speech, delivered exactly 25 years after coming to power following his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, the Russian President chose not to mention the nearly three-year conflict in Ukraine and focused on his wishes for his fellow citizens in the coming year: “We are confident that everything will be fine, we will only go forward. We know for sure that the absolute value for us was, is, and will be the fate of Russia and the well-being of its citizens,” Putin said.
Putin was appointed acting President on New Year’s Eve in 1999, when Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned. The televised New Year’s Eve performance, continuing a tradition started by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, is one of the invariable components of New Year’s celebrations in Russia and is watched by tens of millions of families across the country and abroad. The President’s New Year’s address is broadcast on all channels of Russian television shortly before midnight in each of Russia’s 11 time zones.
Full text of Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s speech (31.12.2024)
Dear citizens of Russia, dear friends!
In just a few minutes, the new year 2025, which completes the first quarter of the 21st century, will take effect. In Russia, this period was filled with many large-scale events, including historically significant ones. We set big goals and achieved them, overcame adversity more than once, because we were together. This is how our unity, our belief in ourselves and in our strength, in our abilities was reinforced.
Yes, we still have a lot of work to do, but we can be justifiably proud of what has already been done. This is our common asset, a solid foundation for further development. Our country – independent, free, and strong – was able to respond to the most difficult challenges. And now, at the cusp of the New Year, we are thinking about the future. We are sure that everything will be fine, we will only go forward. We know for sure that the absolute value for us was, is, and will be the fate of Russia and the well-being of its citizens. Sincere feelings for the Motherland fill our lives with high meaning. And striving to contribute to the protection of its sovereignty, security, interests, and free development has become a matter of honor for us.
On this New Year’s Eve, the thoughts and hopes of relatives and friends, millions of people all over Russia are together with our fighters and commanders. You are true heroes who have undertaken the great military labor to defend Russia, to provide our people with strong guarantees of peace and security. We are proud of your courage and bravery, we believe in you! In your honor, in glory of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory and as a tribute to the memory of our ancestors who fought for the Motherland at all times, the coming 2025 is declared in Russia the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland. We are the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the generation that crushed Nazism. We are faithful to the covenants and traditions of our veterans.
Dear friends, we always treat the meeting of the New Year warmly and cordially. And we hope that our dreams and thoughts, our best intentions will definitely come true. There’s not much time left until the New Year arrives. In these minutes, the closest people to us are our family, children, parents, grandchildren, our friends, and comrades-in-arms. I wish well-being and prosperity to each of our homes, to each of our families, and to our beloved country – Russia!
When we’re together, everything will come true!
Happy New Year, dear friends!
Happy 2025!
