Putin congratulated the leaders of the two NATO countries on the New Year

On Saturday, the Kremlin published a list of foreign leaders whom Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated on 2024 and Christmas. Among those to whom congratulations are sent, as in the previous year, there are almost no leaders of the so-called unfriendly countries – states that supported Ukraine in the war with Russia. The exception was Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Hungary is a member of the EU and NATO, but takes a different, compared to its allies, position in relation to the war in Ukraine, and Orbán became the only leader of Western countries who met Putin last year. “The President of Russia confirmed his intention to continue constructive, pragmatic cooperation, which allows the implementation of important joint economic projects that fully meet the interests of the Russian and Hungarian peoples,” the Kremlin website says.

The Russian president also congratulated the president of NATO-member Turkey, Recep Erdogan. Among those who received congratulations was the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. Both countries did not join the sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia in connection with the invasion of Ukraine.

All three, Orban, Vucic and Erdogan, received congratulations from Putin last year, the first time the Russian president did not congratulate Western leaders. Unlike last year, this time Putin also congratulated Pope Francis. The Pope has repeatedly condemned the deaths of civilians in Ukraine and prayed for the people of that country, but at the same time he did not directly accuse Russia of aggression and did not criticize Putin.

Among the others congratulated by Putin are the leaders of the CIS countries (except Moldova), the leaders of the BRICS countries (India, China, South Africa and Brazil), as well as a number of leaders of neutral or pro-Russia countries. At the same time, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the leaders of a number of African countries that declare their friendship with Russia are not mentioned.

“In addition, Vladimir Putin congratulated a number of former heads of foreign states and governments on Christmas and the coming New Year, in particular Robert Kocharyan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Serzh Sargsyan, Nicolas Sarkozy, Gerhard Schröder,” the message says. Putin did not congratulate Sarkozy last year.

Happy New Year 2022 – even before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine – Putin congratulated the leaders of Western countries, including the United States. And in 2019, Putin congratulated the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the New Year – for the first and last time since 2014.