The United States and most European Union countries would boycott a Kremlin ceremony on Tuesday to swear in Vladimir Putin for a new six-year term as president, Reuters reported.
The differing diplomatic reactions from Western powers highlighted disagreements over how to deal with the Russian leader more than two years after the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022. France and some other EU countries are expected to send an envoy despite Kyiv’s disapproval.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated that the country recognised Putin as Russia’s president despite doubts about the integrity of the election.
No, we will not have a representative at his inauguration. We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity.
The UK and Canada declined to send representatives to the ceremony as Russia announced it would hold tactical nuclear weapon drills that it hoped would cool “hotheads” in the West.
Putin secured a convincing victory in the presidential election in March, but US and European governments condemned the process as unfair and undemocratic. Despite this, a senior Kremlin official claimed that the heads of all foreign diplomatic missions in Moscow had been invited to Putin’s inauguration.
An EU spokesman stated that the bloc’s ambassador to Russia would not attend the ceremony, which was in line with the position of the majority of EU member states. A European diplomat claimed that 20 EU member states would boycott the event, but seven other countries were expected to send representatives.
France is expected to send a representative to the event, despite Paris increasing its support for Ukraine in recent months. French President Emmanuel Macron announced last week that he would consider sending troops to Ukraine.
We are not at war with Russia or the Russian people.
Along with France, Hungary and Slovakia would attend the ceremony, two diplomatic sources confirmed. The German Foreign Ministry announced it would not attend.
Putin is scheduled to meet with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on May 8, the day after the inauguration ceremony. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov noted that contacts between Russia and Armenia had “noticeably decreased recently” at various levels and “problematic issues have accumulated.” The two leaders are expected to “frankly discuss” these issues during the talks.
