2023 Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly
Putin announces New START's suspension From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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][lower-alpha 1]
.jpg) Vladimir Putin delivering the speech at Moscow's Gostiny Dvor | |
| Native name | Послание президента Федеральному собранию |
|---|---|
| Date | 21 February 2023 |
| 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 |
| Type | Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly |
| Participants | Vladimir Putin |
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][lower-alpha 2]
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][lower-alpha 3] 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]
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- Address concerning the events in Ukraine, delivered by Putin one year previously, to the day
- 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]
- Russian officials were informed about the trip hours before it began.[17]
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