Putin scraps annual year-end news conference

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual year-end news conference will not take place for the first time in 10 years, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed.

Addressing media persons here on Monday, Peskov said that there won't be a news conference before the New Year, "but we expect that the President will still find an opportunity to talk to (reporters), as he does regularly, including during his foreign visits", the state-run TASS News Agency reported.

The Kremlin spokesman also did not give out a possible date of Putin's address to the Federal Assembly, saying that "we will inform you in due time".

In November, Peskov had said that the dates of Putin's annual news conference and other major events would be known after the date of the address to the Federal Assembly was set.

Over the past 10 years, Putin's annual press conferences in Moscow attended by dozens of journalists, both Russian and foreign, usually lassed for hours.

In June the Kremlin also postponed the President annual televised marathon phone-in with members of the public and did not set a new date for it.