2023 Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly

The Old Merchant Court (Russian: Старый гостиный двор, Stary gostiny dvor) in Moscow occupies a substantial portion of Kitai-gorod, as the old merchant district is known. It located near the famous Red Square, a few hundred metres away. Formerly accommodating both shops and warehouses, it was constructed of brick in the 1590s and underwent significant modifications from 1638–1641. As the Russian capital expanded and the old structure became overcrowded, a new indoor market was completed nearby in 1665. Giacomo Quarenghi, the favored architect of Catherine the Great, in 1789 replaced those medieval buildings with a new shopping mall designed in a sober Neoclassical style with innumerable Corinthian columns and arcades. Several local Moscow architects including S. Karin, I. Egotov and P. Selihov supervised the actual construction. The first phase was delayed because of the death of Catherine the Great and was not completed until 1805. Osip Bove made some modifications to adapt to the slope in the area and to finish following Quarenghi's original plans in 1830.Subsequently, Quarenghi's structure went through many reconstructions. After the Revolution in 1923, the space was subdivided into offices altering the original design significantly. In 1995 a modern glass roof was installed, when the building was being converted into a fashionable exhibition ground. Nowadays, the edifice is used as the setting for fashion shows, business parties, and even Viennese balls. Montserrat Caballé and José Carreras were among those who performed at the New Year parties in Gostiny Dvor.During the 1995 renovations, much archeological work was done on the site. A small museum was established to exhibit some of the numerous finds which include the contents of a pantry from a 17th-century merchant home that had been destroyed by fire. The exhibit hall is open for the public, Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

The Federal Treasury (Russian: Федеральное казначейство) is a federal executive body (federal service), which exercises enforcement functions to ensure the execution of the federal budget, cash servicing the execution of the budgets of the budget system of the Russian Federation, preliminary and current control over the conduct of operations with federal budget funds by the main administrators, managers and recipients of the federal budget. It was created pursuant decree of the President of the Russian Federation № 1556 signed on December 8, 1992 and resolution of the Government of Russia of August 27, 1993 № 864. The Regulation on the Federal Treasury was approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 1, 2004 No. 703 “On the Federal Treasury”. Starting January 1, 2005, the Federal Treasury was separated from the Ministry of Finance with conversion to a federal service subordinate to that ministry and managed by it. The Treasury's headquarters is in the Apartment building of Joseph Volokolamski Compound (Russian: Доходный дом Иосифо-Волоколамского подворья) in central Moscow.

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (Russian: Министерство финансов Российской Федерации), also known as MinFin (Минфин России), is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for financial policy and general management in the field of finance. The Ministry of Finance was formed from the Ministry of Finance of the USSR in 1992 and claims descent from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Empire first established in 1780. It is headquartered at Ilinka Street 9 in Tverskoy District, Moscow.Anton Siluanov has served as the Minister of Finance since September 2011.

The Federal Service for Labor and Employment (Rostrud) (Russian: Федеральная служба по труду и занятости (Роструд)) is the federal executive body of Russia under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation. It carries out enforcement functions in the field of labor, employment and alternative civil service, functions to control and supervise compliance with labor laws and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law, legislation on employment of the population, alternative civil service, functions to provide public services in the field promoting employment and protection against unemployment, labor migration and the settlement of collective labor disputes.

The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Old Panei (Russian: Церковь Космы и Дамиана в Старых Панех), is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the twin Saints Cosmas and Damian, Christian martyrs of the 4th century. It is located in the Kitay-gorod, in Moscow, Russia. In the 16th-17th century. Since 1508 it was a location of the Polish diplomatic mission in Russia, since that time this place called Pany or Stary Pany.

Kitay-gorod (Russian: Китай-город, IPA: [kʲɪˈtaj ˈɡorət]), also referred to as the Great Possad (Великий Посад) in the 16th–17th centuries, is a cultural and historical area within the central part of Moscow in Russia, defined by the remnants of now almost entirely razed fortifications, narrow streets and very densely built cityscape. It is separated from the Moscow Kremlin by Red Square. Kitay-gorod does not constitute a district (raion), as there are no resident voters, thus, municipal elections are not possible. Rather, the territory has been part of Tverskoy District, and the Central Administrative Okrug authorities have managed the area directly since 2003.

The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed (Russian: Собо́р Васи́лия Блаже́нного, tr. Sobór Vasíliya Blazhénnogo), commonly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral, is an Orthodox church in Red Square of Moscow, and is one of the most popular cultural symbols of Russia. The building, now a museum, is officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, or Pokrovsky Cathedral. It was built from 1555 to 1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. It was the city's tallest building until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600.The original building, known as Trinity Church and later Trinity Cathedral, contained eight chapels arranged around a ninth, central chapel dedicated to the Intercession; a tenth chapel was erected in 1588 over the grave of the venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and 17th centuries, the church, perceived (as with all churches in Byzantine Christianity) as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City, was popularly known as the "Jerusalem" and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the Tsar.The cathedral has nine domes (each one corresponding to a different church) and is shaped like the flame of a bonfire rising into the sky. Dmitry Shvidkovsky, in his book Russian Architecture and the West, states that "it is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to the fifteenth century ... a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design." The cathedral foreshadowed the climax of Russian national architecture in the 17th century.As part of the program of state atheism, the church was confiscated from the Russian Orthodox community as part of the Soviet Union's antireligious campaigns and has operated as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928. It was completely secularized in 1929, and remains a federal property of the Russian Federation. The church has been part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, weekly Orthodox Christian services with prayer to St. Basil have been restored since 1997.

The Epiphany Monastery (Russian: Богоявленский монастырь, Bogoyavlensky monastyr; better translated as "Theophany Monastery") is the oldest male monastery in Moscow, situated in the Kitai gorod, just one block away from the Moscow Kremlin. According to a legend, it was founded by Daniel, the first prince of Moscow, around 1296. It is also believed that a would-be metropolitan Alexis was one of the monks at this monastery. Stefan, Sergii Radonezhski's older brother, was the first recorded hegumen of this cloister. The first stone church at the Bogoyavlensky monastery was founded in 1342. In 1382, the monastery was sacked by Tokhtamysh's horde. In 1427, it suffered an outbreak of pestilence. The monastery also survived numerous fires, the most important being recorded in 1547, 1551, 1687 and 1737. The Epiphany monastery has always been under the patronage of grand princes and tsars. By the order of Ivan the Terrible, the monastery became a collection facility for metayage, quitrent, and fodder. In 1584, the tsar donated a substantial amount of money for the remembrance of the disgraced. In 1632, the Epiphany monastery was granted an exclusive right for tax free floating of a certain amount of building materials and firewood. The monastery had its own stables, forge and rented out its own facilities. Vasili III, Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, the Romodanovsky boyars, Xenia Repnina, and others donated some of their sizeable estates to the monastery. In 1680-1687, the Epiphany monastery was home to a school of the Likhud brothers, which would later be transferred to the Zaikonospassky monastery and transformed into the famous Slavic Greek Latin Academy. The now-existing Epiphany cathedral was consecrated in 1696. A splendid specimen of the Muscovite baroque style, it incorporated some notable medieval sepulchres. In the 1690s, they also built cells for monks and abbot's chamber, which would be re-built in the 1880s. In 1739, a belltower was erected. By 1744, the monastery had already owned 216 peasant homesteads and 1014 peasants. In 1764, monastic real estate was confiscated. Thenceforth monastery's staff rarely included more than 17 monks. In 1788, the Epiphany monastery was proclaimed a residence of the vicarian bishop of the Moscow bishopric. In the late 18th century, the buildings enclosing the monastery were rented out to the haberdashers. In 1905-1909, they built the so-called dokhodniy dom, or a building with "office space" for rent. By 1907, The Bogoyavlensky monastery had already had 14 monks and 18 novitiates and owned 60 desyatinas of land. It was also receiving an allowance of 1245 rubles from the state treasury. After the October Revolution, the Epiphany monastery was closed down. In 1929, they stopped holding services in the Bogoyavlensky cathedral. The monastic facilities were first transformed into a campus for students of the Mining Academy and workers, engaged in the subway construction, and later - into metalworks. In the 1950s, they built an office building on the site of the monastery. The cathedral, belltower, monk cells and abbot's chamber were the only buildings to survive. In May, 1991, the Epiphany monastery was restored and officially returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Narkomtiazhprom Building (NKTP, Russian: Наркомтяжпром) is a portmanteau for the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry that was conducting a 1934 architectural design contest for the building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry, constructed in Red Square, Moscow. Notable entrants included Ivan Leonidov, Konstantin Melnikov, Vesnin brothers and Ivan Fomin.

Lobnoye mesto (Russian: Лобное место) is a 13-meter-long stone platform situated on Red Square in Moscow in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. Its name is derived from the Russian words for 'forehead' (lob) and 'place' (Mesto). In Old Russian lob meant 'a steep river bank'. The platform, believed to have been constructed in brick in the 1530s, was first mentioned in 1547, when Ivan the Terrible addressed the Muscovites from there. Subsequently, it was primarily used for announcing the tsar's ukazes and for religious ceremonies. Despite a common misconception, the circular platform itself was never a place for executions. Sometimes scaffolds were placed by it, but usually public executions were carried out at Vasilevsky Spusk behind St. Basil's Cathedral. In the Russian Empire, during Holy Week, the Palm Sunday procession called "donkey walk" would end at the Lobnoye Mesto where a depiction of Calvary had been erected. The Tsar himself, on foot to show humility, would lead the Patriarch of Moscow, who was seated on a donkey, in a procession from the city gates to Red Square. The nearby Monument to Minin and Pozharsky commemorates the events of 1612, when Prince Pozharsky ascended the Lobnoye Mesto to pronounce Moscow free from Polish occupation. In 1786, the architect Matvei Kazakov had the Lobnoye Mesto rebuilt in white stone while keeping its original location and proportions.

The Monument to Minin and Pozharsky (Russian: Па́мятник Ми́нину и Пожа́рскому) is a bronze statue designed by Ivan Martos and located on the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. The statue commemorates Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who gathered an all-Russian volunteer army and expelled the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth under the command of King Sigismund III of Poland from Moscow, thus putting an end to the Time of Troubles in 1612. The monument was conceived by the Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Science, and the Arts to commemorate the 200th anniversary of those events. Construction was funded by public conscription in Nizhny Novgorod, the city from where Minin and Pozharsky came to save Moscow. Tsar Alexander I, however, decided the monument should be installed on Red Square next to the Moscow Kremlin rather than in Nizhny Novgorod. The competition for the best design was won by the celebrated sculptor Ivan Martos in 1808. Martos completed a model, which was approved by Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and the Russian Academy of Fine Arts in 1813. Casting work using 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of copper was carried out in 1816 in St Petersburg. The base, made of three massive blocks of granite from Finland, was also carved at St Petersburg. Moving the statue and base to Moscow presented logistical challenges and was accomplished in winter by using the frozen waterways. However, in the wake of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, the monument could not be unveiled until 1818. The front of the base carries a bronze plaque depicting a scene of patriotic citizens sacrificing their property for the benefit of the motherland. On the left is an image of the sculptor Martos giving away his two sons (one of whom was killed in 1813). The plaque reads "Гражданину Минину и Князю Пожарскому благодарная Россія. Лѣта 1818", or in English, "In memory of citizens Minin and Grand Duke Pozharsky, in 1818 by grateful Russians". Originally, the statue stood in the centre of Red Square, with Minin extending his hand towards the Moscow Kremlin. However, after the 1917 Revolution, the Communist authorities found the monument was obstructing parades on the square and discussed its demolition or transfer to some indoor museum. In 1936, the statue was moved closer to the cathedral where it remains to the present day. On the first celebration of the Unity Day (November 4, 2005) an almost exact copy of this monument by Zurab Tsereteli was erected in Nizhny Novgorod. The copy is 5 cm shorter than the Moscow original. As it was originally conceived by the sculptor Martos, Prince Pozharsky and Minin were standing side by side. But nobility opposed the concept. It wasn't appropriate for people of different classes to be portrayed on equal terms. Martos redesigned the concept. He has turned the 17th-century heroes of the resistance into ancient history characters. Inequality is highlighted by clothing. Noble prince is in a toga, Minin is in a shirt and trousers.In 2021-22 the monument underwent an extensive restoration, which was performed without displacing or moving the monument.

The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation (Russian: Центральная избирательная комиссия Российской Федерации, abbr. ЦИК, also Центризбирком) is the superior power body responsible for conducting federal elections and overseeing local elections in the Russian Federation founded in September 1993. It consists of 15 members. The President of Russia, State Duma and Federation Council of Russia each appoint five members. In turn, these members elect the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Secretary. The Commission is in power for a four-year term. On 30 January 2007, amendments to the Russian election legislation, which would allow people without higher education in law to become members of the Central Election Commission, were passed by the President of Russia.