We're about 3 minutes away from the start. The Kremlin is readying the trolls!
According to Russia 24, 1,437 journalists were accredited for the press conference this year. It's a record.
Along with a state-of-the-nation speech and a 'direct line' call-in show, the press conference is one of three major annual set-piece events Putin uses to bolster his image and send signals about domestic and foreign policy.
Some people waiting on Putin are holding posters.
Putin will almost certainly be asked about eastern Ukraine, where the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists has now killed more than 9,750 people.
Here's what he said about Ukraine at last year's event:
With 20 minutes to go before the end-of-year press conference starts, it's worth noting that around 1,500 journalists from across Russia and abroad are assembled for the event.*
It will be broadcast live or near-live on most major state media.
*It's not at the Kremlin, as we suggested earlier, but at a Moscow conference center.
Also in his 2015 big presser, Putin had this to say about the investigation into the slaying of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov in February 2015:
"I believe that this crime must be fully investigated and [the culprits] punished."
One year later, a military trial of five men accused in the killing continues, but Nemtsov family members and supporters insist investigators have failed to identify the mastermind who ordered the killing.
Putin also talked about Syria, where Russian warplanes had begun air strikes to combat "terrorists" and support President Bashar al-Assad less than three months earlier:
"It does not impose additional pressure on the budget. We just used a portion of the finances we had allocated for training and military maneuvers to conduct our Military-Space Forces' operations in Syria. It's hard to imagine any better training.... We can train for quite a long time there."
We're recalling some of the more notable moments from Putin's 2015 big presser. They are legion.
They included this one about then-Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump: "He is a colorful, talented person, without any doubt."
Trump and others (including NBC debate host Matt Lauer) subsequently quoted Putin as having described him as "brilliant," adding, "It's always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his country and beyond."
The response elicited objections from some quarters, over the accuracy of the translation of the Russian word "яркий," and over the foundations upon which Putin's "respect" might be based.
