The main New Year’s tree of the country to be installed on the Kremlin’s Sobornaya Square has been cut down in Ruzsky District of Moscow Oblast.

      The event was attended by the Minister of Culture of Moscow Oblast Oleg Rozhnov. “If you look at the history, even Peter I said that the tree for Sobornaya Square should be brought from Moscow Oblast while arranging the holiday. This tradition was renewed in the 1990s. And now the main tree of the country will come from Moscow Oblast for the ninth time. Trees from different districts were brought in past years. This year the main tree of the country will be “The Ruzsky Distric Beauty”. We are proud of it; and this is the beginning of celebrations for us, the finish of New Year’s preparations” – Rozhnov said. He added that the main New Year’s tree was chosen by the Committee including the representatives of the Presidential Administration, the authorities of the constituent entity of the Federation and the municipal authorities. “The Ruzsky Distric Beauty” was chosen collectively, because there were a lot of contenders. The committee has been going to forest to select a spruce for several days. The main criteria for the selection of the tree were as follows: its resistance to weather changes and close proximity to the road for the purpose of easy transportation. The age of the selected spruce is 100 years, its height is 31 meters, the diameter of the cut makes up 72 cm.