Putin distributed eight rings to the leaders of ex-Soviet countries, the reference to the “Lord of the Rings” caused hilarity
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave eight rings to the leaders of the former Soviet republics at the meeting between the two countries. With the incident, jokes and references to the tyrant Sauron appearing in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy have been invented in the public debate.
The ninth ring was kept by Putin, just like Sauron in Tolkien’s trilogy.
– Putin could no longer bear to be the Hitler of the 21st century, so he decided to start playing Lord of the Rings, Ukrainian MP Oleksii Goncharenko wrote on social media.
Putin met the leaders of the CIS countries (Community of Independent States) at the summit in St. Petersburg on Monday and Tuesday. The gift rings were engraved with “Russia” and “Happy New Year 2023”. Only Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was seen wearing the ring.
Ekaterina Schulmann, a political researcher interviewed by the AFP news agency, believes that the reference to the trilogy was a conscious choice by Putin. In Tolkien’s story, Sauron gives nine rings to kings in order to bend them to his will.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the rings are just a “New Year’s gift” and have no other meaning. Peskov adds that Putin is not going to wear his own ring.
After Russia started its full-scale attack on Ukraine, references to Tolkien’s trilogy have also surfaced in other contexts. The Ukrainian leadership and authorities as well as people on social media often refer to Russia as Mordor, while Russian troops are widely referred to as orcs.
Source: AFP