MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. The Russian president’s press office asked journalists who would be covering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference on December 19 not to bring big banners with them.

The use of various banners, flags and soft toys by journalists to get the attention of the president or his spokesman Dmitry Peskov has become a tradition during Putin’s annual press conferences.

"Attention to correspondents working in the hall. We kindly ask you not to use banners exceeding the A4 format (210mm by 297mm), because it hampers the work of photographers and cameramen," the Kremlin press service said in a letter to journalists accredited for the conference.

The press service also confirmed the venue. Just like in past years, the event will be held in the World Trade Center Moscow on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment and will begin at noon, December 19. Admission will begin at 8:30 Moscow time, 3.5 hours before the start of the event.

Free buses will be organized from nearby subway stations.

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 event will be broadcast live by Rossiya 1, Rossiya 24 and Channel One TV channels, and by radio stations of Mayak, Vesti FM and Radio Rossii. The broadcast with sign language interpretation will be available on the Public Television of Russia.

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.