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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and former heads of presidency Silvio Berlusconi and Gerhard Schröder are the one EU politicians who acquired Vladimir Putin’s Christmas and New 12 months needs this yr, in keeping with a press release revealed by the Kremlin on Friday.
Putin’s message to Orbán, the one EU chief to obtain properly needs, remained intentionally imprecise. “Regardless of the troublesome worldwide scenario, relations between the nations have maintained a optimistic development,” the assertion says of Hungary. “The President of Russia additionally confirmed his intention to proceed joint work on topical points on the bilateral agenda.”
Alongside Orbán, Putin despatched hotter messages to Alexander Lukashenko and Aleksandar Vučić, his Belarusian and Serbian counterparts, and the 2 closest buddies of Moscow on the European continent.
“Thanks to shut allied cooperation, Russia and Belarus withstood the difficulties and trials of the outgoing yr with honor” and managed to “successfully resist the unprecedented political and sanctions stress,” the assertion reads.
Belarus was utilized by Russia as a base to launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine final February, and each nations are underneath worldwide sanctions, crippling their economies.
This yr’s version of the Kremlin’s conventional record of “congratulations” to heads of state and authorities is significantly shorter than final yr’s, reflecting Russia’s remoted place on the worldwide scene. Nevertheless, some former heads of state are nonetheless on the great aspect of the record.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, now a Senator and a part of the coalition led by Giorgia Meloni, was congratulated. He made headlines final October over leaked recordings by which he boasted about his friendship with Putin.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who this summer season was moved out of his parliamentary workplace in shame due to his ties to Putin, would possibly discover consolation in seeing he made Putin’s record once more this yr.
In 2021, Putin addressed his greetings to greater than a dozen European heads of state and authorities, together with these of Italy, Germany and France.
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