When Vladimir Putin visited Minsk last week to discuss deepening cooperation, a sarcastic joke by his host, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, seemed to ring all too true. "The two of us are co-aggressors, the most harmful and toxic people on this planet. We have only one dispute: Who is the bigger one? That's all," Lukashenko said.
As Putin approaches New Year's Eve, the 23rd anniversary of his appointment in 1999 as acting Russian president, he appears more isolated than ever.