In Gostiny Dvor, the announcement of Vladimir Putin's message to the Federal Assembly began. Earlier, the presidential press secretary said that the main topics of his speech would be issues related to the war in Ukraine, the economy and social problems.
TASS reports that fragments of Putin's message to parliament will be shown on large screens on the streets in different cities of Russia: "The main quotes from the speech of the head of state will be placed on large screens in real time"
They will be seen in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Samara, Tyumen, Volgograd, Sochi and other cities.
On the eve of the event, the center of Moscow was blocked:
According to the Russian Constitution, Putin must read the message every year. However, in 2022 the message did not take place. According to Kommersant, in the last months of 2022, the Presidential Administration was "pre-preparing" for the event, but in the end it "faded". According to sources, the decision was due to the uncertain situation at the front. Peskov later officially confirmed that the announcement of the message would take place next year.
At the end of last year, it also became known that for the first time in ten years, Putin's big annual press conference would not be held. The president also abandoned the traditional "straight line" – in 21 years it did not take place only once.