Presidential New Year postcards

On the last day of 2011 the web-site of the Russian president published his New Year wishes to his foreign colleagues. There were far fewer wishes than states which celebrate New Year's Eve on December 31st. However, Medvedev wished a Happy New Year to almost all the heads of the former Soviet republics. The heads of the Baltic states didn’t receive New Year postcards. This was considered to be another demonstration of the Kremlin's foreign policy course and Medvedev sent his postcards to the most powerful and friendly countries. Georgia stayed on the blacklist as well. In recent years it has become a bad tradition.
However, Mikhail Saakashvili was congratulated by Julio Iglesias, who marked the holiday in Batumi. Saakashvili himself spent New Year's Eve at a military base with the defense minister and military men of the infantry battalion. “A part of our country is occupied by the enemy… We mark New Year with hope that we will free our country. We will never kneel before our enemies or those who want Georgia to be destroyed,” the president told soldiers.

In this context the fact that among 20 postcards of the Russian president there was one for the Abkhazian president looks very symbolic. Wishing a Happy New Year to Alexander Ankvab, Medvedev emphasized that planned implementation of the agreements reached in October will enable the development of friendly Russian-Abkhazian relations and cooperation. “Russia will support the Abkhazian peoples in strengthening the independence of the democratic state,” the address said. There was no postcard to Tskhinvali, as there is nobody to congratulate yet.

The Russian president wished a Happy New Year to his colleagues from Azerbaijan and Armenia. The postcard to Serge Sergsyan says that effective strategic partnership between Russia and Armenia contributes to deep integration processes in the former CIS space and providing security in the South Caucasus.

Sargsyan himself, like Saakashvili, visited military men on the New Year holidays. Wishing a Happy New Year to soldiers, Sargsyan stated that “an Armenian soldier is a straitjacket to the people across the border, as they know what an Armenian soldier is capable of.” However, his New Year wishes to the population were more peaceful. Sargsyan urged people to unite and be mindful of all the positive affairs and victories of the past. The uniting rhetoric of the president is caused by the necessity of gaining the support of people ahead of the parliamentary elections in 2012.

Of course, there was a traditional: “We like emphasizing that Armenians are successors of an ancient and great culture, and truth is on our side. The truth is that many things are imperfect in Armenia. Our country has residential areas which do not correlate with the image of a civilized state. So 2012 should be a year of hard work.”

The New Year address by Ilham Aliyev beat the record for broadcasting time, because Azerbaijan marked two holidays – New Year and the Day of Solidarity of the Azerbaijani World.

At first Aliyev listed the successes of 2011: the oil economy grew, external to 8%, as well as the poverty rate. Aliyev spoke about social programs and positive results of anti-corruption activity.

He considers the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to be the biggest problem. “The destructive position of Armenia and its hypocrisy during negotiations almost destroyed the process. Unfortunately, the international community and the sides which deal with the problem directly still do not state who is guiltyof destroying the negotiations,” Aliyev said. As for positive aspects, the president named the fact that the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have many times stated that the status quo is unacceptable.

Medvedev relied on the humanitarian sphere of bilateral relations in his postcard to Aliyev. The Russian president praised the Baku International Humanitarian Forum and expressed his assurance that strengthening of development relations of Russia and Azerbaijan reflects the interests of the Russian and Azerbaijani peoples and aims to provide stability in the region.

Yekaterina Tesemnikova exclusively to VK