MOSCOW, December 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is expected to make an annual State of the Nation Address to both houses of national parliament, the Federal Assembly, Thursday December 12, the Kremlin press service said.

“The President will read out the address in St. George’s hall (of the Grand Kremlin Palace) at 12:00 hours Moscow Standard Time (08:00 hours GMT),” the press release said.

A total of 1,100 persons have been invited to attend the ceremony. Their list includes members of both houses of parliament (the Federation Council and the State Duma), senior government officials, chief justices of the Constitution, Supreme and Arbitration Courts, regional governors, speakers of regional legislatures, heads of Russia’s four traditional religious confessions, and civic society activists /heads of regional public chambers and editors-in-chief of largest mass media outlets/.