Russian President Vladimir Putin presented eight rings to representatives of former Soviet republics at an informal meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), sparking speculation about possible parallels to the fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Commentators have drawn parallels with JRR Tolkien’s book, in which the evil ruler Sauron bestows nine rings on human rulers, who then become his servants.
At Tuesday’s CIS meeting in St. Petersburg, the Kremlin presented the heads of state of Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, each with a gold ring inscribed “Happy New Year 2023” and the CIS emblem. A ninth ring went to Putin himself, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would not wear his ring.
Kremlin critics, particularly in Ukraine, have likened Putin to Gollum, a figure corrupted by an additional Sauron ring, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the figure of Frodo, who sets out to destroy that ring. Since the Kremlin offensive in Ukraine, Kyiv has regularly compared Russia to Mordor, Sauron’s kingdom, and Russian soldiers to orcs, Sauron’s soldiers.
Kremlin “joke”?
The nine rings are obviously a Kremlin “joke”, Russian political scientist Ekaterina Schulman wrote in Telegram. According to her, the CIS emblem on the rings resembles the shape of the “Eye of Sauron” depicted in the Hollywood film adaptation of Tolkien’s book.
The idea of a “ring community” among the nine heads of state “is not really our issue under the current circumstances,” journalist Dmitri Drize told Russian radio station Kommersant FM. The only CIS official seen with the ring on his finger was the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko – one of the few supporters of Putin’s offensive in Ukraine.