Russian President Vladimir Putin sent season’s greetings on Dec. 30 to most of the leaders of states neighboring Russia, and to the heads of state of a host of nations further abroad – but not to Ukraine.
The Russian president has not sent such greetings to Ukraine since 2014, when the Kremlin invaded and started its occuption of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, and then launched its military intervention in Ukraine’s Donbas region. The ensuing war has led to over 10,200 people being killed, tens of thousands more being injured, and over a million people being displaced from their homes.
The list of those sent greetings may give Kremlin watchers a glimpse into what Moscow regards as its sphere of influence abroad, and whom it regards as its friends.
Putin sent greetings to Abkhasia and South Ossetia – two internationally unrecognized states located on what is still the internationally recognized territory of Georgia.
But he did not send greetings to the two unrecognized self-proclaimed states in the Donbas in the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
All of the former member states of the Soviet Union were sent greetings – apart from Ukraine, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. While Ukraine is still struggling to fend off Moscow’s influence and military aggression, the Baltic states are now members of the European Union and NATO, and have moved far out of Moscow’s orbit.
Putin did, however, send greetings to Finland – formerly part of the Russian empire – and the Russian-friendly leaders of the Czech Republic and Hungary – President Milos Zeman and Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He also sent his greetings to the leaders of Serbia, Slovenia, Syria, and Turkey.
Further afield, Putin greeted Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina in South America, as well as Vietnam, China and Japan in Asia.
In his greeting to U.S. President Donald Trump, Putin said the relationship between their countries should be based on equality and mutual respect. “This would allow us to make progress in promoting pragmatic cooperation designed for the long term,” the message to Trump reads.
The other Western nations receiving greetings included Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.
