"Dark Lord": Putin is giving away golden "rings of power" to Russia's neighbors - only Lukashenko is playing along

Created: 12/28/2022, 2:35 p.m

By: Richard Strobl

Russian President Vladimir Putin tours the State Russian Museum during an informal Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in St Petersburg.

© IMAGO/Alexei Danichev

Vladimir Putin openly dreams of Russia's return to the greatness of the USSR era.

But many partners turn away.

A golden gift probably doesn't help either.

Saint Petersburg – In view of the Ukraine war, Russia is largely isolated internationally.

The successor states of the USSR have also not played along in the way Vladimir Putin would have liked for a long time.

A golden ring as a gift for the allies should now help to strengthen the connections - but in some observations it was more reminiscent of the fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings".

Shortly after Christmas, the heads of state of the so-called "Commonwealth of Independent States" (CIS) met in Saint Petersburg.

The union of states from the former Soviet republics emerged from the collapse of the USSR a good 30 years ago.

The end of the month also marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union.

On Monday (December 26) the heads of state of Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus met in Russia.

Only Moldova was missing.

Putin gifts to CIS countries: only one partner puts it on directly

Accordingly, Vladimir Putin addressed warning words to the former Soviet republics not to break away from Russia any further.

As a symbol of unity, Putin also brought gifts.

This is reported by the Ukrainian news agency

, among others : For each of the heads of state there was a golden ring, and Putin kept one himself. According to the report, the symbol of the CIS countries can be seen on each of the rings.

In addition, the gifts are provided with the inscriptions "Happy New Year 2023" and, slightly smaller, the word "Russia".

However, Belarus ruler Alexander Lukashenko was the only head of state to publicly put the ring on his finger.

Not entirely surprising: after all, rings are a symbol of indissoluble partnership on the one hand, but also of oppression and bondage.

A symbol, perhaps, because: Experts no longer see any allies for Russia - with the exception of Belarus' ruler Alexander Lukashenko, who is economically, financially and politically at the mercy of Putin, analyzes dpa journalist Ulf Mauder.

Putin's "Rings of Power": Parallels to fantasy epics come to mind

A connection to the fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings" could also be an obvious choice when it comes to gifts.

also

points this out, linking his Twitter post about the ring gift with a quote from writer JRR Tolkien: “Nine for mortal men doomed to die, one for the dark lord on his dark throne;

in the land of Mordor where the shadows lie."

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In Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the Dark Lord Sauron gave each of the nine human kings a ring, making them powerful and immortal.

However, the rings ultimately bring the kings into complete submission to Sauron's will.

Unsurprisingly, this interpretation of gifts was very popular in Ukraine.

Probably also because the Russian soldiers are already called “Orcs” there anyway, like the warriors of Sauron.

Accordingly, comparisons between the “dark” fantasy lord and Vladimir Putin are piling up on Twitter.

The Kremlin directly denied that the rings were just New Year's gifts, "there's nothing special about them," said spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Tass.

Putin increasingly isolated in the CIS as well - Russia loses once loyal vassals

For the head of the Kremlin, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union should have been a kind of rebirth of the empire right on time at the turn of the year.

But with the war against Ukraine, Putin achieved the opposite: Moscow loses once loyal vassals.

After numerous defeats in his war in Ukraine, Putin is also fighting for his reputation as a strong leader far beyond Russia.

Instead of celebrating a victory in Ukraine, Putin has to watch as the last of the 15 states of the Soviet Union turn their backs on Russia - or at least question his role.

The 70-year-old warlord, who described the collapse of the superpower USSR a good 30 years ago as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, sees himself fighting the liberal West - and accuses it of helping Ukraine to crush today's Russia want.

War in Ukraine is taking a toll on Russia's reputation in CIS

The defeats are also increasingly damaging Moscow's reputation as a force for order and guarantor of stability in the territory of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

A cooler wind is blowing in the former Soviet republics, where the Russian president has long been feared as a strong leader.

In October, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon openly accused Putin of neglecting smaller countries in Moscow, as it did in Soviet times.

At another summit in Uzbekistan, state leaders kept Putin waiting at bilateral meetings - the Kremlin boss is often too late to demonstrate his power.

Russia is trying to maintain its "quasi-empire".

The war in Ukraine is just one example of how Russia is trying to maintain its "quasi-empire," says Russian analyst Igor Grezki.

"But Russia's political influence is overrated."

In addition to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the CSTO, Russia also has the Eurasian Economic Union as an instrument of influence, which met on Friday for a summit in Kyrgyzstan.

Putin wants to set accents again and again.

But there is hardly any movement in these integration projects, which parts of the Soviet Union were supposed to absorb.

Karbalevich believes that Russia continued to support the republics economically, for example with low energy prices, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

However, many are alarmed after Putin's statements about an "unjust" disintegration of the Soviet Union.

He therefore expects Russia's influence in the post-Soviet space to continue to decline.

The winner could just be the big neighbor.

Like other experts, Karbalevich already sees clear signals from the Central Asian republics to orient themselves more towards China.

The great power could assume the role of guarantor of security and territorial integrity in the region.