Putin Sends New Year’s Message to Trump, But Not to Takaichi

Tokyo, Dec. 30 (Jiji Press)–Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended his Christmas and New Year’s greetings to U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders, but not to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The Russian presidential office on Tuesday announced a list of leaders, including Trump, to whom Putin sent his messages. Takaichi was not on the list. It was the first time for Putin to send such a message to the leader of any of the Group of Seven major democracies since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. All G-7 members–Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union–have been designated as unfriendly countries or region by Russia due to their sanctions on Moscow over the invasion. The list included Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea, which has sent troops for Russia’s war in Ukraine, and leaders of Moscow’s partners in the BRICS group of emerging countries–Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Also on the list were Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. Hungary and Slovakia are EU members, but are also conciliatory to Russia. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]