New Year and Christmas messages from heads of states to their people is a long tradition and accounts more than 80 years. Special features of country leaders' speeches - in photo gallery by TASS
New year and Christmas messages from country leaders
Traditions of New year and Christmas speeches from country leaders - in photo gallery by TASS
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From 2000 to 2007 Russian President's New Year message was recorded on Ivanovskaya Square in Kremlin. In 2013 Vladimi Putin's New Year address to the nation was recorded not on the street but inside the Khabarovsk' culture center. Photo: Vladimir Putin during a New Year dinner in Khabarovsk
© ITAR-TASS/Alexei Nikolsky Queen's or King's Christmas Message is a broadcast made by the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms to the Commonwealth of Nations each Christmas. Photo: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II standing in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace after recording her Christmas Day message to the Commonwealth, December 22, 2008
© AP Photo/ John Stillwell, pool By 1957, the broadcast became televised. Photo: Queen Elizabeth II sits at microphone at Sandringham House as she delivers her first Christmas message to her people, 1952. The Royal Christmas broadcast followed a tradition set by the Queen’s grandfather, George V, and continued by her father the late George VI
© AP Photo French President usually finishes his New Year message with words: "Long live the Republic, long live France!" Photo: Francois Hollande addressing his New Year's wishes to the nation during a pre-recorded broadcast speech at the Elysee palace in Paris, France, December 31, 2012
© AP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure, Pool The Pope traditionally delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and to the world) blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on December 25
© EPA/ETTORE FERRARI Spanish King Felipe VI speaking during his first traditional Christmas message, Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, Spain, 22 December 2014
© EPA/ANGEL DIAZ / POOL In Germany the President congratulates people with Christmas and Chancellor usually wishes Happy New Year to the nation. Photo: Angela Merkel after the recording of her annual New Year's speech at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, December 30, 2013
© AP Photo/David Gannon, Pool German President Joachim Gauck seen after the recording of the traditional Christmas message at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, December 22, 2014
© AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool Belgium's King Philippe delivering his traditional Christmas speech at the Royal Palace in Brussels, 20 December , 2013
© AP Photo/Danny Gys, Pool North Korean leader Kim Jong Un deliveres his New Year's Day message in Pyongyang on January 1. Photo: People watching a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the Seoul Railway Station, South Korea
© AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon