Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted 8 gold rings to the leaders of former Soviet republics allied to Moscow, which sparked ridicule and comparisons likening him to the tyrant and power-hungry Sauron in the novel "The Lord of the Rings."

This is what Agence France-Presse started with a report on the subject, in which it said that the leaders of the "CIS" countries received the golden rings engraved with the CIS logo and the words "Russia" and "Happy New Year 2023" during the summit that brought them together with Putin in St. Petersburg on Monday. And Tuesday, Putin also kept a ninth ring for himself.

She added that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko appeared alone in one of the pictures, putting the ring on his finger.

Some commentators, including prominent political scientist Ekaterina Shulman, considered that the indirect reference to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy by British writer "JRR Tolkien" was intended.

In Tolkien's epic novel, Sauron gives rings to 9 kings in order to force them to submit to his will.

Since Putin sent his forces to Ukraine last February, the agency says that the authorities in Kyiv are likening Russia to "Mordor" the kingdom of Sauron and the Russian forces to his "Orcs".

Schulman, who specializes in Tolkien literature, writes that gifting rings seems at first like a "daydream".

Before realizing in an Instagram post that this was "of course intentional".

Putin got tired of being the Hitler of the 21st century and decided to play Lord of the Rings and become a "mighty Sauron".

He presented the participants of the informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States with rings with the symbol of the "commonwealth".

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- Oleksiy Goncharenko (@GoncharenkoUa) December 27, 2022

Another political commentator, Yulia Latynina, described the gifts as "weakness rings," an apparent reference to Putin's growing international isolation over his attack on Ukraine, according to the agency.

"Every country whose ruler wears this ring will turn into a dark state ruled by a madman," Latynina said sarcastically, adding, "I think only Putin will wear the ring. Not for long."

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko wrote, "Putin got bored of being Hitler of the 21st century, so he decided to play the Lord of the Rings."

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was no need to analyze too much about the meaning of the gifts.

"It is just a souvenir for the New Year, and there is nothing special about it," he said, adding that "Putin will not wear his ring."