🗓 On December 29, President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing April 19 as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People, perpetrated by the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

The draft law to introduce this Day of Remembrance was developed by Russia's State Duma Committee on Defence in November 2025. The authors of the initiative proposed commemorating the victims on April 19, as on this date in 1943 the first legal act was issued that officially documented the Nazis’ policy of exterminating civilians in the occupied territories – Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 39 “On punishment measures for Nazi villains guilty of killing and torturing the Soviet civilian population and captured Red Army soldiers, for spies, traitors to the motherland from among Soviet citizens and for their accomplices”.

Decree No. 39 laid the legal foundations for bringing to justice Nazi criminals and their accomplices, including Italian, Romanian, Hungarian and Finnish military personnel. Materials collected during investigations conducted on the basis of Decree No. 39 formed a key part of the evidentiary base at the Nuremberg Tribunal, the Khabarovsk Trial, and other judicial proceedings against war criminals from the Axis powers.

💬 Speaking at a meeting of Pobeda (Victory) Organizing Committee on July 2, 2020, Vladimir Putin noted:

“The Nazis planned to colonize the Soviet land, to kill or turn into slaves and to take away the languages and culture of all who lived here – the Slavs and people of other ethnicities. These crimes of the Nazis and their minions and the genocide against the peoples of the Soviet Union do not have a statute of limitations. This assessment must remain firm in our legislation and in the international law system”.

🕯 Losses caused by the actions of the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War amounted to no fewer than 27 million Soviet citizens, while the total estimated demographic losses of the USSR approached 50 million people.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

✉️ President of Russia Vladimir Putin extended his holiday greetings on Christmas and the upcoming New Year 2026 to Heads of foreign states and governments:

Among them were:

🤝 President of the Republic of Abkhazia – Badra Gunba;
🇦🇲 President of the Republic of Armenia – Vahagn Khachaturyan;
🇦🇲 Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia – Nikol Pashinyan;
🇦🇿 President of the Republic of Azerbaijan – Ilham Aliyev;
🇧🇾 President of the Republic of Belarus – Alexander Lukashenko;
🇧🇷 President of the Federative Republic of Brazil – Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva;
🇨🇳 President of the People’s Republic of China – Xi Jinping;
🇨🇺 President of the Republic of Cuba – Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez;
🇪🇹 President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia – Taye Atske Selassie;
🇪🇹 Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia – Abiy Ahmed;
🇭🇺 Prime Minister of Hungary – Viktor Orban;
🇮🇳 President of the Republic of India – Droupadi Murmu;
🇮🇳 Prime Minister of the Republic of India – Narendra Modi;
🇮🇩 President of the Republic of Indonesia – Prabowo Subianto;
🇰🇿 President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Kassym-Jomart Tokayev;
🇰🇬 President of the Kyrgyz Republic – Sadyr Zhaparov;
🇰🇵 Chairman of State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – Kim Jong-un;
🇱🇦 President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party – Thongloun Sisoulith;
🇲🇳 President of Mongolia – Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh;
🇲🇲 Chairman of the State Administration Council and Prime Minister of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar – Min Aung Hlaing;
🇳🇮 Co-presidents of the Republic of Nicaragua – Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo;
🇷🇸 President of the Republic of Serbia – Aleksandar Vucic;
🇸🇰 Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic – Robert Fico;
🇿🇦 President of the Republic of South Africa – Cyril Ramaphosa;
🤝 President of the Republic of South Ossetia – Alan Gagloyev;
🇹🇯 President of the Republic of Tajikistan – Emomali Rahmon;
🇹🇲 President of Turkmenistan – Serdar Berdimuhamedov;
🇹🇲 National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan – Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov;
🇹🇷 President of the Republic of Turkiye – Recep Tayyip Erdogan;
🇺🇸 President of the United States of America – Donald Trump;
🇺🇿 President of the Republic of Uzbekistan – Shavkat Mirziyoyev;
🇻🇪 President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela – Nicolas Maduro;
🇻🇳 General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam – To Lam;
🇻🇳 President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – Luong Cuong;
🇻🇦 Pope Leo XIV.

Greetings were also sent to a number of former heads of foreign states and governments, including Raul Castro, Robert Kocharyan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Serzh Sargsyan, and Gerhard Schroeder.

🇷🇺 Уважаемые соотечественники!

Сообщаем, что в связи с государственными праздниками Посольство Российской Федерации в Канаде и Консульский отдел Посольства будут закрыты с 31 декабря 2025 года по 9 января 2026 года включительно.

❗️Приём посетителей возобновится 12 января 2026 года.

🎄Поздравляем с наступающими праздниками и желаем всего наилучшего!

🇷🇺 Dear Compatriots,

Please be informed that, due to public holidays, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Canada and the Consular Section of the Embassy will be closed from December 31, 2025, through January 9, 2026.

❗️Regular operations will resume on January 12, 2026.

🎄We extend our warm wishes for the upcoming holiday season!

🎄 С Наступающим Новым Годом!
☃️ Happy New Year!
🎁 Bonne année!

🎄 President of Russia Vladimir Putin’s New Year Address to the Nation

💬 Esteemed citizens of Russia, dear friends,

In these final moments before the New Year, we feel time itself moving forward. The future lies ahead of us – and what it will become largely depends on us.

We rely on our own strength. On those who stand beside us, who are dear and close to our hearts, and we are always ready to lend a shoulder in return. This mutual support gives us confidence that all we have planned – our hopes and aspirations – will definitely come true.

Of course, each of us has our own dreams – personal, special and distinct in their own way. Yet they are inseparable from the destiny of our Fatherland, from a sincere wish to be of benefit to it. For together we are the people of Russia.

The labour, successes and achievements of each of us form new chapters in Russia's thousand-year history. And the strength of our unity determines the sovereignty and security of the Fatherland, its development and its future.

The New Year is, above all, faith in all that is good – in kindness and good fortune. It is a unique and magical holiday, when hearts open to love, friendship and compassion, to attentiveness and generosity.

We seek to bring joy and warmth through our care to those who need support and attention. And, of course, through word and deed, to stand by our heroes – the participants in the special military operation.

You have taken upon yourselves the responsibility to fight for your home country, for truth and justice. Millions of people across Russia, I assure you, stand by your side on this New Year’s night. They are thinking of you, sharing your trials, and believing in you. We are united by a sincere, selfless and devoted love for Russia.

💪 I congratulate all our soldiers and commanders on the coming New Year! We believe in you and in our Victory!

***

Dear friends, in just a few moments we will hear the chimes of the Kremlin Clock, and the New Year will commence. We welcome it together with those closest to us – with our children, parents, friends and comrades-in-arms. Even those who are far away right now – you are still with us in spirit.

I wish everyone good health and happiness, mutual understanding and well-being. And, without fail, love – the kind that inspires.

May our traditions, our faith and our memory unite all generations and support us always in every endeavour. Together we are one big family – strong and united. And therefore we will continue to work and to create, to achieve our goals and to move only forward – for the sake of our children and grandchildren, for the sake of our great Russia.

🎉 Happy New Year 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣, dear friends!

#CSTO2026

🇷🇺 On January 1, Russia is assuming the chairmanship of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (#CSTO)

❗️President of Russia Vladimir Putin recently presented the priorities of Russia’s chairmanship:

🔹 to consolidate the CSTO member states, shaping favourable conditions for their safe and steady development;

🔹 to improve the performance of the CSTO bodies;

🔹 to strengthen the role of interparliamentary cooperation in collective security;

🔹 to develop collective security resources with due consideration for the anticipated changes in global military and political affairs and in the CSTO collective security regions;

🔹 to expand cooperation in military medicine and biological threat protection;

🔹 to enhance the coordination of efforts to counter international terrorism and extremism, illegal drug and arms trafficking;

🔹 to advance the CSTO’s potential in combating transnational organised crime, the legalisation of criminal income, and the funding of terrorism;

🔹 to intensify cooperation in international cybersecurity;

🔹 to enhance efforts against illegal migration;

🔹 to prepare for the 2️⃣5️⃣th anniversary of the CSTO and the 3️⃣5️⃣th anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty, both marked in 2027.

***

👩🏻‍💻The official website of Russia’s CSTO chairmanship will be launched on January 1, with regular CSTO news and updates.

📹 We are also presenting a video marking the start of Russia’s CSTO chairmanship. We thank our colleagues from the Mir International Television and Radio Company for producing the video.

In the first hours of 2026, during the New Year celebrations the Kiev regime committed yet another terrorist act against civilians in Russia's regions.

For more than 70 residents the New Year became a tragedy: the Neo-Nazis attacked a café and a hotel in the Kherson region of Russia using UAVs.

24 people were killed, over 50 were wounded and have been hospitalized. Among those affected — six kids from the age of 6 to 17, one child was killed.

There is literally zero doubt that the attack was preplanned as the drones were directed to a place where civilians celebrated the New Year.

First photos of this heinous war crime were published by the media on-site.

© Tavria TV