For the first time in five years, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent congratulations to his American counterpart on the United States’ Independence Day. The last time Putin had sent a similar message was in July 2020 – and back then Donald Trump was also a White House tenant.

As the Russian president’s adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said at a briefing, Putin personally congratulated Trump on the US national holiday via a phone call a day earlier, on July 3. In that conversation, Putin reportedly recalled Russia’s contribution to the founding of American independence, as well as the historic cooperation between the two countries.

Previous back in 2020 telegram

This is not the first time the Russian president has wished Donald Trump well on July 4. In 2020, Putin sent the then US president a congratulatory telegram, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed at the time. This practice followed a long tradition of sending congratulatory messages on American Independence to the respective occupants of the White House.

The Biden exception

However, during Joe Biden’s presidency, the Kremlin did not send any public congratulations on the American national holiday. In contrast, in previous decades, congratulatory messages to Washington were a constant practice: from Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to Barack Obama, all American presidents received the customary greetings from Moscow.