The Kremlin announced this Friday, December 30 that Vladimir Putin will not send Happy New Year 2023 wishes to the three Western heads of state, “given the unfriendly acts they constantly undertake”. Xi Jinping, Recep Tayyip Erdogan or Bashar al-Assad will receive some.
Vladimir Putin will not send New Year’s greetings to US Presidents Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Kremlin said on Friday, in the midst of a crisis between Moscow and the West since the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
These counterparts do not send us any greetings. In fact, we have no contact with them. And given the unfriendly acts they constantly undertake, the president will not send them greetings,” Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian presidency, told reporters.
Conversely, Vladimir Putin has already sent Happy New Year 2023 wishes to several leaders closer to the Kremlin. According to a list published Friday by the Russian presidency, Vladimir Putin congratulated in particular the Chinese presidents Xi Jinping, Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syrian Bashar al-Assad, Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro, as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the Kremlin, he also sent greetings to two former Western leaders, Italian Silvio Berlusconi and German Gerhard Schröder.
A telegram of condolences to Jair Bolsonaro
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday expressed his condolences to his Brazilian counterpart for Thursday death of Peléa “remarkable man” and “illustrious son of the Brazilian people”, the Kremlin said in a statement.
“Thanks to his talent, his unique skills, his fascinating beautiful game, football has become the favorite game of millions of people all over the world, including in Russia,” said Vladimir Putin in a telegram of condolence addressed to the outgoing president. Jair Bolsonaro.
“I had the pleasure of communicating in person with this remarkable man and I will forever have the best memories of him,” added the master of the Kremlin.
Triple world champion and considered the greatest football player in history, Pelé died Thursday at the age of 82 at the Albert-Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo, where he had been admitted to treat cancer of the colon.
