Moscow [Russia], December 29: Russian President Vladimir Putin gave eight gold rings to the heads of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) who attended a conference in St. Petersburg earlier this week, while he kept the ninth ring.
During the year-end meeting of CIS leaders in St.Petersburg on December 26, Mr. Putin, in the role of host, presented his counterparts with a gold ring engraved with the CIS symbol and the words "Russia", " Happy New Year ". 2023".
Eight rings were sent to the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the ninth belonged to Putin.
At the ceremony, only President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus was seen wearing the ring.
With a rich imagination, Western media and political analysts have humorously compared this set of 9 rings with the version in the work "Lord of the Rings" by author JRR Tolkien (UK). published in 1954.
Incidentally, the number of rings in the story also includes 9 pieces. According to the main content of the story, the Dark Lord Sauron cast 9 rings to send to 9 human kings to enslave mankind.
Before these speculations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it is not advisable to think about the meaning of the gold ring.
"It's just a New Year's anniversary gift, nothing special other than that," AFP on December 29 quoted a spokesman as saying. Putin himself does not wear the ring, according to Peskov.
Source: ThanhNien Newspaper