Champagne is the traditional midnight drink toasted at New Year in Russia and several other former Soviet countries.
In the Soviet Union and its successor states, sparkling wine became strongly associated with the New Year celebration. Families commonly open a bottle shortly before midnight, listen to the Kremlin clock’s chimes in televised broadcasts, and raise glasses after the countdown. The custom remains especially linked with the home-based New Year’s Eve feast.
In everyday English, people often call any celebratory sparkling wine “champagne.” Strictly speaking, Champagne is a protected wine from France’s Champagne region, while sparkling wines produced elsewhere use different names. In Russia, locally produced sparkling wines have also been marketed and served as part of the same New Year tradition.
Vodka is widely associated with Russian drinking culture, but it is not the specific midnight beverage most closely tied to the New Year toast. Kvass and kompot are familiar non-equivalent drinks, not the standard answer to this celebration question.