Dear friends, we stand on the threshold of the new year, 2026. Now each of us is taking stock and reflecting on what has been accomplished and what remains to be done.

2025 was a special year for our country. It was the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland and the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory. We saw that time does not separate generations but brings them closer together.

The heroic deeds of those who defended the freedom of the Motherland during the harsh times of the Great Patriotic War and the courage of those who defend Russia from enemies today. This is all our common path.

A single moral high ground and a shared responsibility for the future of our country. The code of the Russian world.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who is celebrating the New Year at the front and who is selflessly working in the rear. We are proud of you and look forward to welcoming you home with victory.

I sincerely believe that victory is near. The entire history of our country proves that Russia's strength lies in its fidelity to our spiritual foundations.

They are in the ability to preserve the truth of history, steadfastly overcome trials, and a firm conviction in one's own rightness. The difficulties and achievements, the joys and worries of the past year have become part of our new experience, building on which we confidently move forward.

Good health and all the best to you and your loved ones. Prosperity to every family and to all the people of our great and invincible Russia. May all be well. Happy New Year!

We are not victims of external circumstances.

We are not a plaything of great powers. Our hands are not tied.

Let us not listen to the fearmongers and the doomsayers.

We should unswervingly implement the policy of One Country, Two Systems and support Hong Kong and Macao in better integrating into the overall development of our country and maintaining long-term prosperity and stability.

We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship.

The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable.

Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner, and I just had a productive call with National Security Advisors Jonathan Powell of the United Kingdom, Emmanuel Bonne of France, Günter Sautter of Germany, Rustem Umerov, and President Zelensky to discuss advancing the next steps in the European peace process.

We focused on how to move the discussions forward in a practical way on behalf of President Trump's peace process, including strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart.

We also spent time on the prosperity package for Ukraine—how to continue defining, refining, and advancing these concepts so Ukraine can be successful, resilient, and truly thrive once the war is over.

Many additional details were discussed, and we will continue this important work and coordination in the New Year.

The number of wars is high. One of them is taking place close to us.

Just a few thousand kilometers from Denmark, the Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom. For almost four years, they have endured. Standing firm and holding on to their right to exist as a free and independent country.

The war brings pain and misfortune to the Ukrainians and spreads uncertainty and insecurity in Europe. The fighting is raging on Ukrainian soil, but it is about the right to security, independence, and sovereignty.

The Ukrainians have never wanted war. Therefore, they deserve peace.

For the Finns, the threat from the East has never subsided. They live with it, but they do not succumb to it.

Queen Mary and I felt this clearly when we visited Finland earlier this year.

In Latvia, peace is still young and was brand new when I first visited the country as a student in the spring of 1992. 50 years of occupation take their toll on a people, and their reality puts my own into perspective. In Latvia, I sensed what it means when freedom is not a given.

Something is changing — not everyone wants us to be happy.

In the gray zone between peace and unrest, anonymous attacks try to create unrest, sow discord, and scare us. It's anything from websites that suddenly go down to misleading videos that spread distrust.

It could be drones that appear in the sky as diffuse warnings. What will be next, we wonder?

Turning off the newsflow may seem like a way out. Many have probably been tempted. But it is a small consolation.

Reality happens whether we pay attention to it or not. The trick is to follow without letting fear run away with us.

Be attentive "without dancing to the tune of the wrong people." "Prevent lice from getting into your fur."

Fortunately, we are good at that here in Denmark.