2023 Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly

On 21 February 2023, almost a year after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian president Vladimir Putin delivered an address to the Federal Assembly, at Gostiny Dvor in Moscow, Russia.^[3][5] This was the first Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly since the start of the invasion; Putin did not deliver such an address in 2022.^[6][7][a]

Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly

Vladimir Putin delivering the speech at Moscow's Gostiny Dvor
Native name	Послание президента Федеральному собранию
Date	21 February 2023 (2 years ago) (2023-02-21)
Time	12:05 MSK (09:05 UTC)[1]
Duration	105 minutes[2][1]
Venue	Gostiny Dvor
Location	Moscow, Russia
Coordinates	55.7540°N 37.6255°E / 55.7540; 37.6255
Type	Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly
Participants	Vladimir Putin

External media
Images
Television display in Luhansk[3]
Screen on Volgograd business center[3]
Digital billboard in Sevastopol[3]
Display on Leninsky Prospekt, Moscow[3]
Video
The speech, in its entirety (in Russian)[4]

Overview

During the address, Putin asserted that the West had started the war, and that Russia had been using force to end it.^{[9][10][11][12]} He stated that the Ukrainian people were hostages of the Ukrainian government.^{[6][10][13][12]} Putin also said that the West had planned to turn a local conflict into a global one, and that the conflict represented an existential threat to Russia.^[9][10][12] He added that it was impossible to defeat Russia, and vowed to continue fighting in Ukraine.^[6][10][12] He also praised the people of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia for the choice they made during the previous year's annexation referendums.^[10][12] Near the end of his speech, Putin announced that Russia would be suspending its participation in the nuclear disarmament treaty New START.^[14][1][12]

Putin's address was simultaneously broadcast on television and in schools and government buildings, as well as displayed on large screens in public places in Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine.^[3] It was delivered a day after U.S. president Joe Biden had made a surprise visit to Kyiv, his first to Ukraine since the start of the invasion.^{[15][16][17][b]}

On the same day but after Putin's address, CNN reported that U.S. officials had stated that a test of the Sarmat, a Russian intercontinental ballistic missile, appeared to have failed shortly before the address.^[18][19] (It was initially reported that the missile test had apparently occurred while Biden was in Ukraine, but a U.S. official later stated that the test had occurred on 18 February 2023, three days before Putin's speech.^[20][18]) Prior to the test, Russia had informed the U.S. of the intended missile launch, as required by New START.^[20][18][c] U.S. officials stated that such a test was considered routine, and not an escalation of the conflict.^[20][18][24] Putin did not mention the missile test during his speech.^[25][18][21]

Biden also delivered a speech in Warsaw, Poland, hours after Putin had made his presidential address.^[26][11][15] The following day, Putin made a brief appearance at a rally at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow commemorating Defender of the Fatherland Day.^[27][28]

Gallery

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See also

• Address concerning the events in Ukraine, delivered by Putin one year previously, to the day

Notes

1. The Russian constitution requires the president to address the Federal Assembly annually.^[7] TASS reported that Putin stated that there was no address in 2022 "because the situation was unfolding very quickly and it was difficult 'to fix the results at a specific point, as well as specific plans for the near future.'"^[8]
2. Russian officials were informed about the trip hours before it began.^[17]
3. Russia had notified the U.S. of the missile test via deconfliction lines.^[19][21][22] The U.S. also used deconfliction lines to notify Russia of Biden's visit to Kyiv.^[18][23][17]