In New Year speech, Putin tells Russians ‘everything will be fine’
Al Jazeera
The ‘upbeat’ address was delivered exactly 25 years since the Russian president took over from predecessor Boris Yeltsin.
President Vladimir Putin has said in a New Year address that Russia would move forward with confidence in 2025 and that Russians should be “proud” of what the country had achieved during his quarter-century in power.
The three and a half minute seasonal message was delivered on Tuesday, exactly 25 years since Putin took over from predecessor Boris Yeltsin, who resigned unexpectedly on the last day of 1999.
“And now, on the threshold of the New Year, we are thinking about the future. We are confident that everything will be fine, we will only move forward. We know for sure that the absolute value for us was, is and will be the fate of Russia, the wellbeing of its citizens,” Putin said.
Putin, 72, paid tribute to Russian soldiers fighting in the war in Ukraine, describing them as heroes. “We are proud of your courage and bravery. We believe in you,” he said.
“In your [Russian soldiers’] honour, in honour 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, 2025 has been declared the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland in Russia,” he added.
