MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/ A record-breaking number of journalists - 1,895 - have been accredited to highlight Russian President Vladimir Putin’s traditional annual news conference due to start at noon on December 19, the Kremlin said posting the list of accredited journalists on its site on Friday.

Regional media outlets traditionally submitted the longest list of accredited journalists. The list also includes journalists working for federal and foreign media. Applications were filed by the Russian media outlets registered at Roskomnadzor, the Russian state communications regulator, and by foreign journalists who have the Russian foreign ministry’s accreditation.

Putin’s first such news conference in 2001 drew more than 500 journalists. The number of journalists accredited to his subsequent news conference grew from about 700 in 2002 and in 2003 to as many as 1,364 in 2008.

The number of journalists accredited to annual news conferences during Putin’s third presidential term never dropped below 1,250. Last year it saw a record of 1,702 reporters covering the event.

History of event

Since 2001 Putin has held the major year-end news conference every year, except for the period of his premiership in May 2008-May 2012. He resumed the tradition after his election for a six-year term in 2012. The forthcoming major news conference will be the 15th. On all previous occasions the head of state answered media questions for several hours in a live broadcast. The event was invariably the focus of attention of the mass media and the public at large.

The first news conference in 2001 was also the shortest one (1 hour and 35 minutes). The longest one in 2008 lasted for 4 hours and 40 minutes. Starting from 2004 all news conferences continued for more than three hours. The duration depends on the president.

Last year’s presidential news conference was on December 20. It lasted 3 hours and 43 minutes. Putin answered questions from 53 mass media outlets.