☦️ 7 января Президент России В.В.Путин поздравил православных христиан, всех граждан России, празднующих Рождество Христово

✍️ В.В.Путин: Сердечно поздравляю вас с Рождеством Христовым.

Этот чудесный праздник озаряет мир светом добра и любви, дарит миллионам людей надежду, радость приобщения к отеческим духовным традициям, передающимся из поколения в поколение.

С чувством глубокого удовлетворения отмечу огромный, поистине уникальный вклад Русской православной церкви, других христианских конфессий в единение общества, в сбережение нашего богатейшего исторического, культурного наследия, патриотическое, духовно-нравственное воспитание молодёжи.

Религиозные организации уделяют неустанное внимание делам милосердия и благотворительности, заботятся о тех, кто нуждается в помощи, поддерживают участников и ветеранов специальной военной операции, многое делают для гармонизации межрелигиозного и межнационального диалога в нашей стране. Такая важная, востребованная работа достойна самого искреннего признания.

Желаю православным христианам, всем, кто празднует Рождество Христово, здоровья, успехов и всего наилучшего.

Владимир Путин

☦️ Russia's President Vladimir Putin congratulated Orthodox Christians and all Russians celebrating Christmas (January 7, 2026)

✍️ Vladimir Putin: This wonderful holiday illuminates the world with the light of kindness and love, giving millions of people hope and the joy of communion with the spiritual traditions of our forebears, passed down from generation to generation.

I would like to note with deep appreciation the immense and truly unique contribution made by the Russian Orthodox Church and other Christian denominations to strengthening social unity, preserving our rich historical and cultural heritage, and fostering the patriotic and moral upbringing of young people.

Religious organisations devote tireless attention to works of mercy and charity, care for those in need, support participants and veterans of the special military operation, and do much to promote harmonious interfaith and interethnic dialogue in our country. This important and much-needed work deserves the most sincere recognition.

I wish Orthodox Christians and all those who celebrate Christmas good health, success and all the very best.

☦️ Рождественское поздравление Святейшего Патриарха Московского и всея Руси Кирилла (6 января 2026 г.)

💬 Дорогие братья и сестры!

Сердечно поздравляю всех вас с великим праздником Рождества Христова и наступившим Новолетием!

Если мы мысленно перенесемся в Вифлеемскую пещеру, то увидим в яслях лежащего Бога-младенца Иисуса и склонившуюся над Ним Деву Марию.

За минувшие две тысячи лет на этот евангельский сюжет было создано множество икон и картин, литературных и музыкальных произведений. А каков же смысл произошедшего?
Зачем и для чего безначальный, бесконечный, невидимый и непостижимый Бог пришел на землю, истощенный грехом, утомленный войнами и враждой, обидами и несправедливости?

Люди, взывая к небу на протяжении веков, спрашивали и до ныне продолжают спрашивать: «Где ты, Боже? Почему молчишь?»
Но Бог не молчит.

❗️Он отвечает. Однако отвечает не собранием сочинений поэтики, не созданием идеальной законодательной системы, не построением государства всеобщего благосостояния и равенства. Он отвечает безграничной жертвенной любовью, отвечает своим пришествием в мир, проповедью Евангелия, распятием и воскресением.

Отвечает голосом, созданной им церкви, и голосом совести, вложенной в душу каждого человека. Всем нам дано божественное откровение, явившееся в полноте истине, в родившемся Иисусе Христе. Веруя в Него и руководствуясь Его заповедями, мы находим ответы на извечно мучившие людей вопросы о смысле жизни и о своем предназначении.

Мы знаем, веруем и проповедуем, что с нами всегда пребывает Господь, который, как пишет апостол Павел: «Вчера и сегодня и во веки тот же.»
Он не отстраненный наблюдатель и не жестокий каратель, не абстрактная идея и не безразличная сила, а живой, любящий и милующий Отец. И какими бы тревожными, непредсказуемыми, трудными, безысходными ни казались подчас обстоятельства нашей жизни, Христос был и неизменно будет нашим Спасителем.

Он и есть тот самый единственный и неиссякаемый источник всех благ, несокрушимое основание, опираясь на которое только и возможно созидать настоящую, исполненную неприходящего смысла и достоинства человеческую жизнь.

С праздником всех вас, мои дорогие!
С Рождеством Христовым!

Полная версия послания

☦️ Nativity Message of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ (January 6, 2026)

💬 Dear brothers and sisters!

I wholeheartedly congratulate all of you with the great feast of the Nativity of Christ and the beginning of the New Year!

If we picture ourselves standing in the cave of Bethlehem, we will see the divine Infant Jesus lying in a manger, and the Most Pure Virgin Mary leaning over Him in reverence and love.

Over the past two thousand years, this Gospel scene has inspired countless icons and paintings, literary works and musical masterpieces.
But what is the true meaning of this event?
Why did the eternal, infinite, invisible and incomprehensible God come to a world exhausted by sin, weary from wars and strife, wounded by injustice and sorrow?

For centuries, people have cried out to heaven and still continue to ask: «Where are You, God? Why are You silent?»
But God is not silent.

❗️He answers. But not with volumes of philosophical writings, nor with the creation of a perfect legal system, nor by building a utopian state of universal equality and prosperity.
He answers with boundless, self-giving love.
He answers through His coming into the world, through the preaching of the Gospel, through the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

He speaks through the voice of His Church, established by Him, and through the voice of conscience that He placed within every human soul.
To all of us has been given divine revelation, fully manifested in the truth of the newborn Jesus Christ. By believing in Him and living according to His commandments, we find answers to the eternal questions of life’s meaning and our true purpose.

We know, believe, and proclaim that the Lord is always with us. He who, as the Apostle Paul writes, is «the same yesterday, today, and forever.»

He is not a distant observer or a cruel judge. He is not an abstract idea or an indifferent force, but the living, loving, and merciful Father. And no matter how troubling, unpredictable, difficult, or hopeless our circumstances may seem, Christ was, is, and always will be our Savior.

He is the one and only inexhaustible source of all blessings, the unshakable foundation upon which alone a true, meaningful, and dignified human life can be built.

I warmly wish all of you a joyful feast!
Merry Christmas!

Full message

☦️ Message de Noël du patriarche Cyrille de Moscou et de toutes les Russies (6 janvier 2026)

💬 Chers frères et sœurs bien-aimés,

Je vous adresse mes vœux les plus sincères à l’occasion de la grande fête de la Nativité du Christ et du commencement de la Nouvelle Année.

Si nous nous représentons dans la grotte de Bethléem, nous voyons le Divin Enfant Jésus couché dans une crèche, et la Très Sainte Vierge Marie inclinée sur Lui avec amour et vénération.

Depuis deux mille ans, cette scène évangélique a inspiré d’innombrables icônes, tableaux, œuvres littéraires et compositions musicales. Mais quel est le sens profond de cet événement ? Pourquoi le Dieu éternel, infini, invisible et inconnaissable est-Il venu dans un monde accablé par le péché, épuisé par les guerres et les querelles, meurtri par l’injustice et la souffrance ?

Depuis des siècles, les hommes crient vers le ciel et continuent de demander : «Où es-Tu, Seigneur? Pourquoi Te tais-Tu ?» 
Mais Dieu ne se tait pas.

❗️Il répond – non par des traités de philosophie, ni par l’institution d’un système juridique parfait, ni par l’édification d’un État de prospérité universelle. Il répond par un amour infini, total et sacrificiel. Il répond par Sa venue dans le monde, par la prédication de l’Évangile, par la Croix et par la Résurrection.

Il parle par la voix de Son Église, fondée par Lui, et par la voix de la conscience, qu’Il a déposée dans l’âme de chaque être humain.
À chacun de nous a été donnée la Révélation divine, pleinement manifestée dans la vérité du Christ Jésus, né en ce monde. En croyant en Lui et en suivant Ses commandements, nous recevons les réponses aux grandes questions sur le sens de la vie et notre vocation véritable.

Nous savons, nous croyons et nous proclamons que le Seigneur est toujours avec nous, Lui qui, selon les paroles de l’apôtre Paul, est «le même hier, aujourd’hui et pour l’éternité».

Il n’est ni un observateur distant, ni un juge impitoyable, ni une idée abstraite, ni une force impersonnelle, mais un Père vivant, aimant et miséricordieux. Et quels que soient les temps incertains, troublés, difficiles ou même désespérés que nous traversons, le Christ a été, est et sera à jamais notre Sauveur.

Il est la seule source inépuisable de tout bien, le fondement inébranlable sur lequel peut s’édifier une vie humaine authentique, pleine de sens, de valeur et de dignité.

Je vous souhaite à tous une fête lumineuse et bénie.
Joyeux Noël!

Message complet

☦ С Рождеством!
🎄 Merry Christmas!
🎁 Joex Noël!

⚡️Russia's Ministry of Transport:

On December 24, 2025, the vessel Marinera was granted temporary permission to sail under the State Flag of the Russian Federation, issued in accordance with Russian legislation and the norms of international law.

Today, at around 15:00 Moscow time, in the open sea beyond the territorial waters of any state, US naval forces boarded the vessel. Communication with the ship was subsequently lost.

In accordance with the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the high seas are governed by the principle of freedom of navigation, and no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered under the jurisdiction of other states.

⚔️ On January 8, 1942, the #BattleOfRzhev commenced – one of the most large-scale and brutal battles of the Great Patriotic War, lasting 438 days.

The chronology of the battle includes four offensive operations carried out by Soviet forces of the Western Front (Commander – Georgy Zhukov) and the Kalinin Front (Commander – Ivan Konev) against Germany’s Army Group Centre. Their objective was to liberate Rzhev, Sychevka, and Vyazma, thereby eliminating the Rzhev-Vyazma salient.

In the Rzhev sector, the Wehrmacht deployed one of its largest groupings – 1,569,000 personnel, around 13,000 artillery pieces, and 1,100 tanks. These forces were tied down in prolonged fighting with the Red Army and could not be redeployed to other key sectors of the front – the Caucasus and Stalingrad.

In the winter of 1943, following the crushing defeat of Nazi forces at Stalingrad, when the strategic initiative finally shifted to the USSR, the German command decided to abandon the Rzhev-Vyazma salient. The pursuit of the retreating enemy, from March 2-31, 1943, pushed the front line 130-160 kilometres farther away from Moscow.

On March 3, 1943, Rzhev was fully liberated.

🕯 The offensive and defensive operations conducted by the Western and Kalinin Fronts were of decisive strategic importance in achieving the turning point in favour of the Red Army across the entire Soviet-German theatre of war. The feat of Soviet soldiers is eternal and shall never be forgotten.

In 2020, at the initiative of Great Patriotic War veterans and the Russian Military Historical Society, and with the participation of President of Russia Vladimir Putin, the Rzhev Memorial was unveiled at the site of the fierce battles of 1942-1943 – a 25-metre figure of a soldier, rising above the field and seemingly dissolving into a flock of cranes, symbolising the souls of fallen soldiers – perished, yet never forgotten.

#Victory81 #WeRemember

⚡️ Comment by Foreign Ministry Official Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on certain Western countries’ plans to continue the militarisation of Ukraine (January 8, 2026)

💬 Maria Zakharova: On January 6 in Paris, participants of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, led by the UK and France, signed a declaration titled Robust Security Guarantees for a Solid and Lasting Peace in Ukraine.

The document turned out to be extremely far from a peace settlement. The declaration is not aimed at achieving a lasting peace and security but rather at continuing the militarisation, escalation and further conflict aggravation.

Its core element is the deployment of “a multinational force” on Ukrainian territory that the coalition will have to form to contribute to the “rebuilding” of the Ukrainian armed forces and “support deterrence” [against Russia] following the cessation of the hostilities.

The document also includes clauses on further consolidation of Ukraine’s and NATO’s military industrial sectors.

As clarified by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, who signed the corresponding trilateral statement along with Zelensky, London and Paris plan to establish their own military bases in Ukraine post-ceasefire and build weapon and military equipment storage facilities.

⚠️ The Russian Foreign Ministry warns that the deployment of military units and the setting-up of military facilities, storages and other Western infrastructure on Ukrainian territory will be qualified as foreign intervention that directly threatens the security of Russia and other European countries.

All such units and facilities will be considered as legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces.

Warnings to this effect have been repeatedly made at the highest level and remain relevant.

❗️ We also reaffirm that a peaceful resolution of the conflict is solely possible through the elimination of its root causes, the re-establishment of Ukraine’s neutral non-aligned status, its demilitarisation and denazification, and Kiev’s observance of the language, cultural and religious rights and freedoms, including those of ethnic Russians, Russian-speaking people, and members of ethnic minorities, and through the recognition of the current territorial realities that emerged as a result of the peoples’ exercised right to self-determination.

All these goals will, undoubtedly, be achieved either by political and diplomatic means or in the course of the special military operation, in which the Russian Armed Forces are maintaining full initiative on the battlefield.

The new militarist declarations of the so-called Coalition of the Willing and the Kiev regime are forming a true Axis of war.

Its participants’ plans are becoming increasingly more dangerous and destructive for the future of the European continent and its residents, who are also forced by Western politicians to pay for such ambitions out of their own pockets.

⚡️ Russia's Foreign Ministry statement regarding the forcible seizure of the oil tanker Marinera

Read in full

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses grave concern over the illegal use of force by the United States Armed Forces against the oil tanker Marinera on January 7.

The Marinera, which was temporarily authorised to fly the Russian flag on December 24 in accordance with international and Russian law, was transiting peacefully through international waters of the North Atlantic en route to a Russian port.

US authorities, including through official communications with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were repeatedly provided with reliable information confirming the vessel’s Russian registration and its civilian, non-military status.

There could have been no doubt regarding this fact, nor any basis for alleging that the tanker was sailing “without a flag” or “under a false flag.”

International maritime law explicitly grants the flag state exclusive jurisdiction over its vessels on the high seas. Stopping and inspecting a vessel in international waters is permitted only under narrowly defined circumstances, such as suspected piracy or slave trading – neither of which apply to the Marinera.

In all other cases, such actions require the consent of the flag state, which in this instance is Russia.

❗️ Not only did Russia refuse to provide such consent, it formally protested to US authorities in recent weeks over the continued pursuit of the Marinera by a US Coast Guard vessel, demanding an immediate end to the pursuit and the withdrawal of unlawful demands made to the Russian ship’s captain.

Under these circumstances, the boarding and de facto seizure of a civilian vessel on the high seas by US military personnel, along with the detention of its crew, can only be viewed as a gross violation of fundamental principles and norms of international maritime law and the freedom of navigation.

This constitutes a serious infringement upon the legitimate rights and interests of the shipowner. The lives and health of the Marinera’s crew, which includes citizens of several countries, are now at risk.

We consider the threats of legal action against them on absurd grounds by US authorities to be utterly unacceptable.

<...>

❌ References by the United States to its domestic “sanctions legislation” are without legal foundation. The unilateral restrictive measures imposed by the US and other Western countries are illegitimate and cannot justify attempts to assert jurisdiction, let alone the seizure of vessels, on the high seas.

Suggestions from certain US officials that the seizure of the Marinera is part of a broader strategy to establish Washington’s unlimited control over Venezuela’s natural resources are profoundly cynical.

We categorically reject such neo-colonial ambitions.

Alongside the US administration’s disregard for the accepted norms of international maritime navigation, Washington’s readiness to provoke acute international crises, including in Russian-American relations, which are already severely strained, is both regrettable and alarming.

The Marinera incident can only lead to a further escalation of military-political tensions in the Euro-Atlantic region and a dangerous lowering of the threshold for using force against civilian shipping.

<...>

☝️ We call on Washington to return to the established norms and principles of international maritime law and to immediately cease its unlawful actions against the Marinera and other vessels engaged in lawful activities on the high seas.

We reiterate our demand that the United States ensure appropriate and humane treatment of the Russian citizens on board, fully respect their rights, and facilitate their swift return home.

⚡️ Comment by Foreign Ministry Official Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on developments regarding Russian nationals on board oil tanker Marinera (January 9, 2026)

💬 In response to our appeal, US President Donald Trump has made a decision to release two Russian nationals from the crew of the oil tanker Marinera, which was previously detained during the operation in the North Atlantic.

We welcome this decision and express our gratitude to the US leadership.

We are beginning immediate action on all issues related to ensuring the prompt return of our fellow citizens to their homeland.

🔊 Audio by Maria Zakharova (in Russian)