NOVO-OGARYOVO, January 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended an overnight Orthodox Christmas service at the Church of the Image of the Savior, located at his presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow.
The president also invited to his residence families of soldiers, who died in the special military operation.
Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that on the eve of the holiday Putin had "a fairly thorough conversation with the families, talked to both widows and children" in Novo-Ogaryovo, and afterwards invited them to a festive dinner.
"One of our most beloved and eagerly awaited Christian holidays unites millions of people around the ideals of kindness, mercy and fairness," the president’s official website quoted Putin as saying in his holiday greeting statement on January 7.
"These fundamental values have played a special role in the history of our country, serving as strong spiritual and moral pillars of our society for centuries," Putin continued.
"It is noteworthy that the Russian Orthodox Church and other Christian denominations in Russia make a tremendous and inspiring contribution to preserving our rich historical and cultural heritage, to strengthening the institution of the family and fostering patriotic values in the younger generation," the Russian president said.
"Certainly, the efforts of our religious organizations to support our heroes serving in the special military operation and the residents of Donbass and Novorossiya deserve the deepest and most sincere respect," Putin added.
As a rule, Putin celebrates Christmas outside Moscow, while on Easter he usually goes to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. However, last year he attended an overnight Orthodox Christmas service at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Moscow Kremlin.
In 2022, he also marked Christmas at the Church of the Image of the Savior in his presidential residence and in 2021, the Russian head of state attended a Christmas service at the Church of St. Nicholas on Lipno Island near Veliky Novgorod.
On three occasions, in 2012, 2019 and 2020 Putin went to a Christmas service at the Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg, where he was baptized in infancy.
In 2018, Putin celebrated Christmas in St. Petersburg, at the Church of Simeon and Anna on Mokhovaya Street, where his own father was baptized.
In 2017, he attended a Christmas service in the St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery in Veliky Novgorod, and in 2016, at a rural Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God near Voronezh. Before that Putin for two years in a row went to Christmas services near Sochi: the Church of the Holy Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, built near Olympic Park, and the Holy Trinity St. George's Monastery in the Lesnoye village, the Adler district.
In other years, Putin went for Christmas to the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God in the village of Turginovo, the Tver Region, the church of the Holy Martyrs Alexander and Antonina in the village of Selishche, the Kostroma Region, the Candlemas Church in the village of Solomennoye in Karelia, the St. Procopius’s Cathedral in Veliky Ustyug and the New Jerusalem Monastery. In 2006, Putin went to a church in Yakutsk, where outside air temperatures on that day fell 50 degrees below freezing.
Besides last year, Putin marked Christmas in Moscow in 2001 at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and in 2000, when he, while serving as Russia’s acting president, appeared at the Christmas service in the Trinity Church on Sparrow Hills.