Highlighting Moscow’s Isolation, Putin Sent New Year’s Messages to Only 24 Leaders of Other Countries

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 31 – Vladimir Putin sent New Year’s messages to only 24 incumbent foreign leaders, two of which head Russian satellites in occupied portions of Georgia, a dramatic decline from earlier years when he sent such missives to the heads of far more countries and one that highlights Russia’s own isolation, much of it self-imposed.

            Eight of the 24 were to the heads of CIS members in good standing; two were to these “unrecognized states,” 14 to countries at odds with the West for one reason or another, another was to the Pope and five more were to former leaders with whom Putin earlier had good relations (kremlin.ru/events/president/news/73197 and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=659123E9728E0).

            Not only is this number of letters a dramatic decline from Putin’s earlier years and from those of Boris Yeltsin’s time in office, but it represents a decline from the number of missives Moscow sent out during most of the Cold War, a barometer many ordinary people miss but that diplomats closely attend to.