Vladimir Putin turned 70 on Friday. The Russian head of state spent his anniversary in Saint Petersburg. At an informal meeting in the Palace of Constantine, he welcomed the heads of state of the republics that are members of the so-called Commonwealth of Independent States – an organization in which various successor states of the Soviet Union have come together. The Presidents of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Prime Minister of Armenia congratulated Putin in their small circle.
The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko had an unusual gift in his luggage: a Belarusian tractor. Although Lukashenko did not drive up to the Constantine Palace in his tractor and only delivered a certificate, he raved all the more picturesquely. “This is the very best,” he said of his tractor. The President of Tajikistan was also creative in choosing gifts. He brought with him a giant pyramid of honeydew melons.
The President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, was among the first to wish well. Kim Jong Un also rushed to congratulate. The North Korean dictator sent a telegram. Russia is fighting the “threat from the US and its vassals. It would be impossible without your leadership and will,” writes one of modern Russia’s few remaining allies to Putin.
In Russia itself, Putin’s second-degree nephew made sure that his uncle received a few demonstrative congratulations. It became known at the beginning of September that Roman Putin was preparing flash mobs and other activities for the birthday of his powerful relative. At that time, he created an “All-Russian Presidential Support Committee” and proposed that the “70th anniversary of our national leader” be duly celebrated. For this purpose, an action should be organized throughout Russia under the motto “We congratulate the President together”.
The Kremlin refrained from official celebrations. Instead, schoolchildren and students were brought to the square in front of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg to record a birthday greeting to Putin. Video footage shows young people shouting “Happy Birthday” and forming a line to say “Putin is my President.”
2500 pupils and students are said to have been rounded up for this action. The “Sota” telegram channel reports that it was not clear to the participants which sentence they were being formed into. The teenagers were also given posters congratulating the President, calling Putin a “defender of the people.”
Coordinated actions also took place in other cities. In Ufa, the town hall was decorated with a huge poster of Putin. The same fate befell the stadium in Kazan. On the night of October 7, the Kremlin in Nizhny Novgorod was transformed into an oversized map in the Russian tricolor, adorned with patriotic quotes from Putin.
But the Chechen republic earned first place among the most diligent well-wishers. There the authorities organized a patriotic “show of unity”. Before that, students at the state university were rounded up in a flash mob to lift a giant portrait of Putin over their heads. A marble plaque with Putin’s likeness was also unveiled in the capital, Grozny – on the Putin Prospect. Newly promoted to colonel general, Ramzan Kadyrov sang the praises of Putin. The Kremlin chief plays a key role in the life of the Chechen people. Putin “saved the republic that had risen from the rubble and at the same time all of Russia from total violence, from international terrorism and banditry,” said the Chechen president.
The conclusion of a sobering day: In the 22nd year of his rule there are only ten heads of state who want to congratulate Putin on his anniversary. And in their own country, congratulations either come from above or in an attempt to curry favor.
