Court jester in Moscow: Anwar's Kremlin comedy
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has long styled himself as a man of letters - a bridge between East and West, a champion of civilisational discourse. In the 1990s he wrote The Asian Renaissance, portraying himself as a thinker of great cultural depth.
But that carefully cultivated facade came crashing down yet again during a recent joint press conference at the Kremlin, where Anwar sat beside Russian President Vladimir Putin on an official visit.
Putin recounted how, during an earlier private tour of the Grand St Andrew's Hall, he had shown Anwar three thrones - one each for the Tsar and Tsarina, and a mysterious third left unlabelled.
Putin then asked Anwar who he thought the third throne was for, to which the latter answered, without missing a beat, "For the second wife."
Laughter erupted as Putin told the story and disclosed that the throne was actually meant for the Tsar’s mother, while Anwar was seen covering his face in embarrassment during the media conference.
Anwar ought to be embarrassed. The self-proclaimed expert in world cultures and civilizations seems to be unaware that Russia is an Orthodox Christian-majority country where polygamy is illegal and historically frowned upon.
So, Putin seized the opportunity to assert dominance by making public Anwar's cultural ignorance to the media. It wasn’t just a joke. It was a display of who truly held the upper hand in that room.
Putin used the occasion to publicly mock Anwar’s cultural faux pas by exposing the folly of Malaysia’s prime minister.
As always, back home, the Madani spin machinery is in overdrive. The press is working overtime to portray the embarrassing diplomatic blunder as merely a "light moment".
Meanwhile, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil unashamedly claimed that Anwar was the first Malaysian PM in two decades to receive full ceremonial honours in Russia - an assertion quickly mocked by netizens who questioned why a timeline of two decades was used, as if trying to erase the true history where similar receptions have been given to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, among others.
There’s a pattern here. This is a government that obsesses over optics but fumbles the substance. A leader who reminds the world of his intellectual pedigree but finds himself making offhand jokes about polygamy in a country where the practice is prohibited legally and stigmatised.
To top it off, Putin threw Anwar under the bus by revealing what was said in private, and letting the world laugh at our prime minister’s expense.
One would expect more gravitas from a self-declared Renaissance man. After all, the Renaissance was about reason, reflection, and dignity, not cultural faux pas.
For someone who has spent decades positioning himself as a global statesman, Anwar has been reduced to a court jester in Moscow.
In the end, behind the fanfare and diplomatic platitudes lies a sobering reality: Malaysia walked into Moscow seeking respect but walked out with the prime minister turned into a punchline of a press conference.
So, who has the last laugh? Certainly not us.
In trying to impress the Kremlin, Anwar has made our country a global laughingstock.
May 16, 2025 - Wan Saiful Wan Jan is the Tasek Gelugor MP and head of the opposition's communication portfolio.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.
Putin not on Kremlin list of officials attending Ukraine peace talks in Turkey
BBC News - Russian President Vladimir Putin is not among the names listed by the Kremlin as being due to attend peace talks on the war in Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday, despite calls from Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky for him to attend.
Russia's delegation will instead be headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, according to the Kremlin statement.
Zelensky had previously said he would attend the talks and meet Putin in person if the Russian president agreed, and said he would do everything he could to ensure the face-to-face meeting took place.
US President Donald Trump will also not be attending, according to media reports, despite previously hinting he would if Putin were there.
Zelensky will be in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He said he would attend direct talks in Istanbul with Russia, but only if Putin also attended.
"I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing," he said in his nightly video address on Wednesday.
Putin and Zelensky have not met in person since December 2019. Russia and Ukraine last held direct negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul, shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Fighting has raged in Ukraine since then. Russian forces have slowly expanded the amount of territory they control over the past year, mostly in the east of Ukraine.
On Sunday Putin called for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey's largest city "without pre-conditions". Zelensky then announced he would go in person and expected the Russian president to travel as well.
Putin's suggestion of direct talks in Istanbul followed Western powers' call for a 30-day ceasefire, after European leaders met in Kyiv on Saturday.
After Trump called for Ukraine to accept the offer on Sunday, Zelensky said he would travel there himself.
"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally," Zelensky wrote in a social media post.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump had floated the possibility of joining the meeting himself if Putin did.
The US president, who is currently in Qatar, told reporters he did not know if his Russian counterpart would attend "if I'm not there".
"I know he would like me to be there, and that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I'd be thinking about that," Trump said.
The US is expected to send a high-level delegation to the talks.
The country's top diplomat, Marco Rubio, arrived in Turkey on Wednesday, where he will meet Nato foreign ministers on Thursday.
Ahead of that meeting, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he met Rubio on Wednesday evening. Sybiha said he had reaffirmed Ukraine's commitment to US peace efforts, and called on Russia to "reciprocate Ukraine's constructive steps".
Rubio plans to travel onwards to Istanbul on Friday, where the State Department says he will attend talks with European counterparts to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Arriving at his hotel in Antalya on Wednesday, Rubio did not answer when the BBC asked him if Putin would be coming to Turkey.
Since returning to the White House, President Trump has sought to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
He ended a years-long Western boycott of Russia's leader by speaking to Putin over the phone in February, and his envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin for talks in Moscow.
Trump has previously said Russia and Ukraine were "very close to a deal".
On Sunday, when Putin proposed the direct talks, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: "A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!"
