MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent wishes of Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to several former heads of states and governments as well as statesmen, the Kremlin reported Wednesday.

The Kremlin clarified that the wishes were communicated to ex-Prime Ministers of Japan and Italy Shinzo Abe and Silvio Berlusconi, former US President George Bush, former Presidents of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, ex-Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission Romano Prodi, ex-President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, former Prime Minister of France Francois Fillon, ex-President of Finland Tarja Halonen, former King of Spain Juan Carlos I and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder.

When serving as president and prime minister, Putin had many conversations with these colleagues, sharing friendship with many of them.