Russian President Vladimir Putin Delivers New Year Address to the Nation

The Russian leader recorded his traditional end-of-year speech, wishing happy holidays to his compatriots and listing the most important changes and challenges that the country faced in 2022.

Dear citizens of Russia! Dear friends!

2022 draws to a close. It was a year of difficult but necessary decisions and important steps towards attaining full sovereignty for Russia and consolidating Russian society.

It was a year that put many things in place. It separated bravery and heroism from treachery and cowardice.

It showed that there is no greater force than love for your family, loyalty to your friends, comrades and to your motherland. It was a year of truly pivotal, fateful events that lay the foundations of our collective future, of our true independence.

This is what we are fighting for today. We defend our people who live on our historic lands as new regions of the Russian Federation. We build and create together. The fate of Russia is what matters the most.

The defense of our motherland is our sacred duty to our forefathers and ancestors.

Moral and historic correctness is on our side.

The outgoing year brought massive fundamental changes for our country and for the world. It was full of upheavals, worries and turmoil.

People walk down the stairs at the Savur-Mogyla war memorial complex with a bas-relief of Vladimir Zhoga, leader of the Sparta Battalion rebel military group in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), seen in the background, as Russia's military operation in Ukraine continues, near the city of Snezhnoe, Donetsk People's Republic
©Sputnik // Go to the mediabank

But just like during all the troubled times in Russia’s history, our multinational people showed bravery and supported the defenders of the motherland, our soldiers and officers, all participants of the special military operation, with words and actions.

We have always known, and today we once again confirm it, that the sovereign, independent future of Russia depends on us, on our strength and our will.

For years, western elites hypocritically assured us that their intentions are peaceful, including their attempts to resolve the difficult conflict in Donbass.

Meanwhile, they encouraged the neo-Nazis who continued to perpetrate military and openly terrorist actions against the civilians in the people’s republics of Donbass.

The West lied about peace while preparing for aggression, and today, it openly admits it.

The West cynically uses Ukraine and its people to weaken and divide Russia. But we never have and never will allow anyone to do that.

Russian soldiers, militiamen and volunteers now fight for their native land, for truth and justice, for ensuring the guarantees of peace and safety for Russia.

All of them are our heroes. Their lot is the hardest today.

I sincerely wish a happy New Year to all participants of the special military operation: those who are here with me today; those who are at the frontline and those who undergo training before heading into battle; those who are having their injuries treated at hospitals and those who already returned home after fulfilling their duty; everyone who is on standby duty at the strategic military units, and all personnel of the Russian Armed Forces.

Russian serviceman is seen in the southern sector in the course of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, at the unknown location
©Sputnik / Alexey Maishev / Go to the mediabank

Dear comrades, thank you for your valiant service.

All our vast country is proud of your resilience, bravery and willpower. Millions of people are with you in heart and spirit.

And during the New Year's Eve celebrations, toasts will be raised in your honor.

Many thanks to all those who help our soldiers in the field: to drivers and train operators who transport supplies to the front, to doctors and medics who treat wounded soldiers and civilians.

I thank the workers and engineers of our armament factories and other industrial facilities who work tirelessly, and the construction workers who erect civilian structures and defensive positions and help rebuild the ruined cities and villages of Donbass and Novorossya.

Dear friends!

Since the events in Crimea in 2014, Russia lives under western sanctions. But this year, a veritable sanctions war was declared upon us.

Those who initiated this war expected a total collapse of our industry, finances and transport. But that did not happen because of the "safety margin" that all of us helped create together.

Everything we did and everything we do in that area is aimed at reinforcing our sovereignty in the most important sphere – the economy.

And our fight for ourselves, for our interests and for our future certainly serves as an inspiring example for other countries in their aspirations towards a just, multipolar world order.

I believe it is important that in the outgoing year, qualities like mercy, solidarity and compassion became especially significant among our people.

A Russian serviceman guards the area of Mariupol, Donetsk People's Republic.
© Sputnik / Maxim Blinov / Go to the mediabank

More and more people feel the urge to help others. They unite voluntarily, without any formal directives.

I want to thank you for your attentiveness, responsibility and kind-heartedness, for how you, people of different ages and levels of well-being, actively join the common cause. For how you set up warehouses and secure transport to deliver shipments to our troops in the combat zone, to the suffering residents of cities and villages there.

For how you help organize vacations for the children from the newest regions of the Russian Federation.

You, my dear, provide tremendous support for the families of the fallen soldiers. They gave up their lives while protecting others.

I understand how hard it is for their wives, sons, daughters and parents who raised true heroes.

We will do our utmost to help the families of our fallen comrades, to help raise their children and to give them decent education, to help them obtain a profession.

I sincerely share your pain and I ask you to accept my sincere words of support. Dear friends, even during the most difficult times our country celebrated the coming of a New Year.

It always remained our favorite holiday and it always had a magical ability to help people discover their best qualities, to multiply the importance of traditional family values, the energy of generosity, benevolence and trust.

While celebrating New Year's Eve, everyone seeks to make their kin happy, to give them attention and emotional warmth. To gift them what they always desired, to see delight in the eyes of the children and to feel the gratitude of our parents and our elders. They know how to treasure these nuggets of happiness.

A general view shows the St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower on a sunny autumn day, in Moscow, Russia
©Sputnik / Alexei Danichev

Friends! This is the best moment to leave all personal grudges and misunderstandings in the past. To tell the people dearest to you of your feelings, of love, of how important it is to always care for one another.

Let these heartfelt words and noble feelings give us all the spiritual strength and confidence that we will overcome all obstacles and preserve our country as great and independent. We will go only forward and prevail for the sake of our families and for Russia, for the future of our only and beloved motherland.

Happy New Year to you, dear friends! Happy new 2023!