In the context of the latest regional and global evolutions, but especially in the context of those concerning the war in Ukraine, it became obvious that the security and defence policies of any country can no longer be established and analysed in a traditional fashion. They must be approached according to their multiple facets, which also include diplomacy.

Such a procedure proves more and more imperative, especially when we take into account the multitude and diversity of connections and engagements between state actors, but also between them and non-state actors.

Now, more than ever, we are witnessing new models of political, economic, military, informational and social interdependence, and also, diplomatically speaking, new models of international and transnational relations, which are often labelled as atypical.

Thus, according to several reports published on 30^th December 2022 by the Russian authorities we noticed and must highlight that the Kremlin’s traditional list for “holiday cards”, addressed to heads of states, governments, and international organisations for 2023 is considerably shorter than the one from last year. We now see leaders from Abkhazia, South Ossetia (Georgia), Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Bolivia, Brazil, Hungary, Venezuela, Vietnam, India, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Serbia, Syria and Turkey.

Addressing the former Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro (the current Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was invested on the 1^st January 2023), Vladimir Putin expressed his gratitude and content for the fact that during its BRICS presidency, Brazil cooperated with Russia intensively and they successfully moved forward with their friendship.

In his messages for the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, and for the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the Russian President highlighted the fact that the two countries celebrated in 2022, 75 years of diplomatic relations and, based on their friendship and mutual respect, the countries continue to develop their strategic partnership and cooperate on large scale trade and economic projects. He also highlighted that India and Russia closely cooperate in the energy sector, in the field of military technology, as well as others, continuously coordinating their efforts towards dealing with important issues on their regional and global agendas. V. Putin insisted on the fact that he “is confident that the presidencies of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G20, recently taken over by India will provide new opportunities for the multidimensional cooperation between Russia and India, in the interest of their peoples and in the interest of strengthening the stability and security in Asia and in the entire world”.

Nevertheless, we must observe that the official statement on the Kremlin website did not include South Africa, a country that is part of BRICS (along with Brazil, India, Russia and China). This is due to the fact that in 2023 South Africa will also take over the BRICS presidency, which means that the South-African President, Cyril Ramaphosa will have more tools at his disposal, especially in the context of the current global geopolitical changes, and will endeavour to strengthen the growing support for the countries that have asked to join BRICS.

While we are here, we must emphasize the stand of the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, who stated that Russia “practically has no contact” with other leaders, amongst whom: the US President, Joe Biden, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scolz and the French President, Emmanuel Macron.

So this is how Russia remains isolated on a regional and global level. However, some former heads of state remain on Moscow’s list of favourites, such as the former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and the former German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder.

In his message to Viktor Orban (Hungary), V. Putin emphasized that “despite the difficult international situation, the relations between the two countries keep their positive trend”. The president also confirmed that “he intends to continue the cooperation with regard to current issues on their bilateral agenda”.

Besides V. Orban, V. Putin sent messages of frendship to Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus), and Aleksandar Vučić (Serbia). The two leaders are currently seen in the international community, as Moscow’s closest friends on the European continent.

As expected, the Russian president included Turkey on his list of friends, a country that is not an EU State Member, but that is a NATO Member and a Black Sea riparian state, a high-interest region for Moscow. V. Putin offered “a sincere praise to the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on occasion of the New Year 2023, highlighting that the mutually advantageous relations between the two countries are even more dynamic, despite the difficult international situation.” V. Putin insisted that “for the past year, the bilateral cooperation increased significantly in various fields, and major common projects meant to ensure the regional energy security on a long term were successfully implemented”. One of them is the construction of the nuclear power plant in Akkuyu (southern Turkey) and Turkey’s transformation into a “gas-hub”. V. Putin also said that by acting together, Moscow and Ankara can ensure a continuous increase in the Russian-Turkish cooperation for the benefit of their peoples and in the hope of strengthening the stability and security of the Eurasian continent.

Again, on the 30^th December 2022, the Russian President V. Putin foretold that Russia and China will reach a 200 billion USD turnover, earlier than planned. During a videoconference with the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, Putin further told the international media that Russia and China managed a record rise of the turnover, despite the hostile market. He also said that in 2022 Russia became one of the most important oil exporters to China and now holds second place as a gas supplier and fourth as a LNG supplier.

It is remarkable but not at all surprising that V. Putin chose to make known internationally his own assessment, saying that geopolitical tensions have turned the Russian-Chinese partnership into a stabilising factor and “the Russian-Chinese relations are the best in history, withstanding every test”. Putin also praised the military cooperation between Russia and China, stating that the two countries will strengthen it even more, because the “international cooperation between Russia and China serves the establishment of a new, just world order”.

Under such circumstances, V. Putin asked Xi to come and visit Russia in spring and delivered a message insisting that such a visit will “prove to the world the closeness of the Russian-Chinese relations”. In his turn, Xi said that Beijing was ready to strengthen the strategic cooperation with Russia and become its global partner “for the benefit of their peoples and in the interest of global stability, while facing a difficult international situation, extremely ambiguous. We are ready to increase our strategic cooperation and provide mutual development opportunities”.

At the same time we saw that on 1^st January, before leaving the USA and taking over his new position in Beijing, the former Chinese ambassador to the USA, the current Chinese foreign minister, Qin Gang engaged with his US counterpart saying good bye and asking for a “better Chinese-US relationship”. In his turn, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken confirmed having discussed with the Chinese official about the USA-China relationship and about keeping communication open.

Here it is that under such circumstances, marked by preventive and coercive diplomacy, as well as by a significant change in the world order, between 9^th and 12^th February 2023, Kenya will host the Global Peace Summit, whose main objective is mobilising young people around the world, in order to:

- achieve the sustainable development of the United Nations by 2030,

- perform community service and dialogue for peace,

- promote interfaith harmony, compassion and tolerance,

- counter violence and extremism,

- understand and support human rights,

- implement global peace initiatives,

- raise awareness regarding social peace.

Therefore, we see that in December 2022, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the G7 leaders to support his idea of the Global Peace Summit, that will focus on his peace plan “in its entirety and on some issues in particular”. So, the Ukrainian leader fervently promoted his 10 point peace plan, discussing it with the US President Joe Biden and urging other world leaders to hold a global peace summit based on his plan.

We must highlight that V. Zelensky first made his peace plan known, during a G20 summit (whose founding group is G7), in November 2022.

The peace plan envisages:

1. “Nuclear safety, focusing on restoring the security around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant Zaporozhzhia, in Ukraine, which is now occupied by Russia.”

2. “Food security including protecting and ensuring Ukraine’s grain exports to the world’s poorest nations”.

3. “Energy security with a focus on price restrictions on Russian energy resources, as well as aiding Ukraine in restoring its energy infrastructure, half of which has been damaged by the Russian attacks.”

4. “Release of all prisoners and deportees including war prisoners and children deported to Russia.”

5. “Restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity and Russia reaffirming it, according to the UN Charter, which Zelensky said is not up for negotiations.”

6. “Withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities, as well as restoration of Ukraine’s state borders with Russia.”

7. “Justice, including the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes.”

8. “Prevention of ecocide and the protection of the environment with a focus on determining and restoring water treatment.”

9. “Prevention of the escalation of the conflict and building a security architecture in the Euro-Atlantic space, including guarantees for Ukraine.”

10. “Confirmation of the end of the war, including a document signed by the involved parties.”

It became a world known reality that V. Zelensky is very active diplomatically speaking. He presented his plan to leaders such as Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, and Narendra Modi – whose country just took over the presidency of the G20. The latter “firmly reiterated” the call for the immediate cessation of all hostilities and ensured India’s support for any peace effort.

The Ukrainian president said that his government was getting ready to take part in the Davos Economic Forum – 16-20 January 2023 and spoke once more to the BlackRock CEO, Larry Fink, about the post war reconstruction effort. The Ukrainian leader also said that “the experts of this company are already lending Ukraine a hand in establishing a reconstruction fund”.

As expected, Russia rejected V. Zelensky’s peace proposal, and Moscow reiterated that it would not give up the territories it has taken and annexed by force. They represent about one fifth of Ukraine.

To conclude, the G7 leaders stated that they are committed to bringing peace to Ukraine “according to the rights stipulated in the UN Charter”, but the UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutteres was pessimistic saying that the chances of organising any peace talks any time soon were small. Moreover, by the end of December 2022 the UN official made his opinion known. According to his assessment, “the military confrontation between Ukraine and Russia will continue and we will have to wait for the time when serious peace negotiations will be possible”.