Russian President Vladimir Putin this Saturday sent Christmas greetings and wishes a happy New Year to the leaders of allied countries such as China, India, Turkey and others in Latin America, ignoring the leaders of hostile Western countries, the Kremlin said.
The Christmas greetings mark a reorientation of the Kremlin’s foreign policy since the start of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine almost two years ago.
The Kremlin accuses the West of approving thousands of sanctions against its country and supplying huge amounts of weapons to the Ukrainian army for the sole purpose of achieving Russia’s “strategic defeat” on the battlefield.
The only exception to the rule is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, with whom Putin promises in his message to pursue constructive and pragmatic cooperation in the interests of both peoples.
In the message to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Putin underlined that the summits in Moscow and Beijing provided a “strong impetus” for the development of bilateral relations, which will allow them to cross the 200 billion dollar mark (about 180 billion euro) in commercial exchanges could exceed.
In the case of Turkey, the Russian leader emphasizes major joint projects in the fields of energy and infrastructure, cooperation in conflict resolution, and defends, before 2024, the continuation of political dialogue with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in favor of stability and security on the territory of Turkey. the Eurasian continent.
Putin also congratulated Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to whom he expressed confidence in both countries coordinating their positions in international affairs, regardless of whether this falls within the scope of the BRICS group. [bloco de países de economias emergentes constituído pelo Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul]or in the G20, which in 2024 will be chaired by Russia and Brazil respectively.
The Kremlin chief also stressed that friendly relations with Venezuela – whose leader, Nicolás Maduro, will visit the country next year – are “at a high level.” and also defended the “fruitful” development of cooperation with Nicaragua and Bolivia, in messages addressed to their leaders, Daniel Ortega and Luis Arce.
Putin also congratulated Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel and General Raúl Castro on Christmas and Liberation Day, celebrated annually on January 1 on the island, defending the development of their relations in the interests of “a democratic and fair one.”
According to the Kremlin, Putin also sent Christmas greetings to Pope Francis and former Western leaders such as France’s Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany’s Gerhard Schröder.
Source: DN
