Putin sends New Year's greetings to Serbian counterpart

Putin sends New Year's greetings to Serbian counterpart

In his message, Putin said that 2014 was "a very successful year for Serbia-Russian relations."

He added this was confirmed during the meetings he had with top Serbian officials when he visited Belgrade in October.

Putin said he hoped this constructive cooperation would continue with the goal of strengthening the overall bilateral ties, the message published on the Kremlin's website on Wednesday said.

The Russian leader also sent his New Year's greetings to presidents of the United States, Turkey, France, Austria, Argentina, as well as to German, British, and Spanish heads of government, the Roman Catholic pope, and many others.

He also congratulated the holidays to some former presidents and prime ministers, notably Gerhard Schroeder, Silvio Berlusconi, and Fidel Castro.

Absent from this list was Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the AP agency noted in its report.