This year, US President-elect Donald Trump was voted Person of the Year by Time magazine. Had it not been for Trump's unforeseeable election victory, Russian leader Vladimir Putin would have most certainly become Man of the Year, Swedish columnist Carl Lundström argued.

Whereas the title of Man of the Year is hardly an expression of political sympathy from Time, this award goes to people who achieved much in the course of the year, a description that fits Vladimir Putin well, Carl Lundström argued in an opinion piece in the Swedish news outlet Fria Tider

According to Lundström, Putin's recent state of the nation address showed "remarkable restraint," as the Russian leader focused on domestic affairs, most notably calling the Russian people "the country's greatest wealth." At the same time, 2016 was undoubtedly a turnaround year for Russia, Lundström ventured.

"A year ago, the situation was bleak. Following US intrigues in Ukraine, Russia was politically isolated, whereas the Western leaders drove a unified boycott policy," Lundström argued.

The price of crude oil fell to $30 per barrel, which was well below the $50 predicted in the already pessimistic budget, whereas Saudi Arabia, which Lundström called "Russia's main opponent in the Syrian proxy war," kept pushing to further lower the prices, damaging the Russian economy more than any combination of sanctions. In Syria, Russia had no luck either: opportunistic Turkey changed sides, despite being al-Assad's ally only a few years before.

The deepest cause of concern, however, was Hillary Clinton, who by all accounts was predicted to slip into the White House and replace relatively harmless Obama. Her saber-rattling rhetoric had been expected to further aggravate bilateral animosity.

"Now, twelve months later, Putin can sit back and enjoy a cigar. If he were a smoker, that is. Among the Russian voters, he is a given and is considered the father of the nation, with over 80 percent of fellow Russians considering him irreplaceable," Lundström ventured.

Russia's most obvious success in 2016 was in the Middle East, where victorious joint efforts against terrorism seem to have brought more countries which had formerly been "in the US camp" to Moscow's side.

With the change of power in the US, the Russian-American relationship seems to be on the mend. Without such notorious Russophobes as Vice President Joe Biden (whose family is involved in a large Ukrainian gas project rivaling Russia's), or John Kerry, who explicitly called for US attacks on Syria, Washington and Moscow are more likely to find a common language. This is especially true, given the fact that Trump's nominee for the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, is a proud bearer of the Russian Order of Friendship.

Closer to home, the situation is likely to take a positive turn as well. From the Russian point of view, the French presidential election will be all but exciting, as the only thing to be determined is whether a male or a female "friend of Russia" will move to the Élysée Palace next year. Francois Fillon, one of the candidates expected to proceed to the second round of elections, previously equated the referendum on Crimea's re-unification with Russia with that on Kosovo's independence from Serbia, whereas his rival Marine Le Pen went so far as to describe Russia as a model for France.

In Eastern Europe, growing dissatisfaction with the "European Superstate" has allowed for pro-Russian politicians to rise to power. This might indicate a shift of paradigm in public opinion, as many are discovering that "eurocrats" in fact pose more problems than "aggressive" Russia.

Finally, Saudi Arabia recently introduced restrictions on oil production for the first time in eight years, which pushed oil prices above the $50-mark. Russia welcomed the move, seeing it as necessary for the country to keep its budget in balance.

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