MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin's State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly will take place next year, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
"The president, of course, will not be announcing the address before the New Year, because now the schedule is already very tight," the Kremlin spokesman said. According to Peskov, Putin’s State of the Nation Address "will take place as early as next year."
Peskov declined to comment on the reason for the postponement, noting that "insignificant shifts" did not affect the fact that the message would be delivered. "The fact is that the address will be delivered. We will inform you more when [the time comes]," the Kremlin spokesman assured.
He responded negatively to a question about whether Putin had discussed the topic of the necessity of the annual address with the Constitutional Court. "No, there were no consultations," Peskov noted, recalling that there had been cases before when the address was moved over to the following year.
The previous address of the head of state to parliament was announced in April 2021.
In most cases, the Presidential State of the Nation Address is delivered every year, but there were exceptions. For example, Putin did not deliver his address to parliament in 2017 (it was postponed until March 1, 2018). As First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko noted at the time, the address to the Federal Assembly is the head of the state’s right, who can implement it "when he deems it necessary".