Vladimir Putin's New Year's address was watched by the minimum number of people over the past three years. It is reported by RBC with reference to the data of the monitoring service Mediascope. The company is engaged in measurements of television and Internet audience in Russia. Less congratulations were watched only in 2018 and 2019.
On all TV channels, the congratulations were watched by a total of 44.6% of the country's population. The study was conducted in large cities of Russia with a population of more than 100 thousand people among all who are over four years old. In 2021, 45.1% of Russians watched Putin's New Year's greetings, in 2020 – 45.5% of the total population.
Putin's New Year's greetings differed from the traditional ones. This time he was not alone in the frame, there were people in military uniform behind him. The woman behind him often turns out to be "public" in photographs with Putin, each time she is in a new role – sitting among the fishermen, standing behind Putin at the Christmas service in the Novgorod monastery as an ordinary parishioner.
During the broadcast of Putin's New Year's greetings on New Year's Eve, there was a massive shelling of Ukraine. A large-scale air alert was announced in the country. A number of explosions thundered in Kyiv, shells also hit residential buildings.