Russia is still known for a great deal of innovative programming, but one area where there is concern it is falling behind is in AI. Judging by Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s Eve address, there are no grounds to worry, as this year’s was of a such blandness that it could have been generated by a large language model.
Everything felt much more low-energy in Putin’s address than previous years, from rhetoric to delivery
In his 1999 New Year’s speech, former president Boris Yeltsin made the shock announcement that he was standing down, and his recently-appointed prime minister, the relatively unknown Vladimir Putin, would become acting head of state.
We haven’t seen any such excitement since, but in fairness, this is a brief ‘father of the nation’ address, pre-recorded and screened locally as each of the country’s 11 time zones nears midnight’s chimes from the Kremlin bells and then the national anthem. It is hardly the place for detailed policy discussion, especially after the four-and-a-half-hour press conference Putin gave earlier in the month.
It is nonetheless watched across the country, a ritual observance at most New Year’s Eve parties, even if often with irony. As such, it is a chance for the president (and before that, the general secretary, as this is a tradition dating back to the 1970s) to convey authority, reassurance and optimism, as well as perhaps some sense of the year ahead.
Ever since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin has avoided the usual summary of national highs (and a few unavoidable lows) but even so, this year’s address was striking in its lack of meaningful content.
There were bland platitudes: ‘the future lies before us’ and ‘a unique and magical holiday when hearts open to love, friendship, compassion, sensitivity, and generosity.’
There was the inevitable invocation of Russia’s ‘thousand-year history’ and the need for strength, unity and hard work to write new chapters and protect ‘the sovereignty and security of the Fatherland, its development, and its future.’
Of course, there was also a genuflection to the soldiers fighting in his ‘special military operation’:
‘You have taken on the responsibility of fighting for your native land, for truth and justice. Millions of people across Russia – I assure you! – are with you on this New Year’s Eve. They are thinking of you, empathising with you, hoping for you…We believe in you and our Victory!’
Yet what was more interesting was what was not there. None of the usual references to the Great Patriotic War – World War Two – despite this being the 80th anniversary of victory and his having declared 2025 the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland in last year’s address. Nor, beyond this ‘belief in victory,’ did Putin even hint at an end to the war in Ukraine, beyond a very generic promise that ‘everything we have planned – our hopes and plans – will come true’ if Russians pull together. On a purely subjective level, everything felt much more low-energy than previous years, from rhetoric to delivery.
At least this time he wore a red tie with his black suit, compared with the funerial black and black look last year. Already, some online are speculating that this could be anything from an homage to Donald Trump to a warning of bloody retribution for the alleged Ukrainian strike on his Valdai residence. But if his sartorial choices are the main topic of conversation, then that is proof enough of the surpassing colourlessness of his words. It felt as if he was running this on autopilot.
At his lengthy ‘The Results of the Year’ marathon, Putin did seem a little less focused and on top of his brief than in the past, however impressive a feat of endurance it nonetheless represented. It was hard to avoid wondering if he was getting tired of the rituals that were meant to connect monarch and subjects. Why, after 25 years in direct or indirect power, did he still need to go through the motions? He opened this year’s New Year’s Eve address noting that ‘we all feel the passage of time.’ Maybe, for Putin, it is weighing on him more than most.
