Russian President VladimirPutin’s New Year’s address thatwas broadcast earlier to theinhabitants of Russia’s furthestflung time zones of Magadanand Kamchatka did not mentionthe Volgograd attacks.
MOSCOW – President VladimirPutin warned “terrorists” onTuesday they face total destruction,after Russia was hit by doublesuicide bombings in itssouthern city of Volgograd thatclaimed 34 lives.”Dear friends, we bow ourheads in front of the victims ofthe terrible acts of terror. I amsure we will toughly and consistentlycontinue to fight againstterrorists until their totaldestruction”, he said.Putin made the comments in aNew Year’s address from theFar Eastern Russian city ofKhabarovsk, which is sevenhours ahead of Moscow andwhere he met with victims ofdevastating summer floods.”In the current year, we haveencountered problems and havebeen challenged by seriousexperiences, including ones likethe inhuman acts of terror inVolgograd,” Putin was quotedas saying by Russian newsagencies.Curiously, his NewYear’s address that wasbroadcast earlier to theinhabitants of Russia’s furthestflung time zones ofMagadan and Kamchatka didnot mention the Volgogradattacks.Kremlin spokesman DmitryPeskov confirmed that Putinhad broken with a longstandingtraditional by departing fromthe traditional New Year’saddress which is normallyrecorded days in advance at theKremlin.”Here (in Khabarovsk) he madehis New Year’s wishes and thisbecame his New Year’s address.So he basically broke a longstandingtradition.”
