Russian leader Vladimir Putin marked his 70th birthday on Friday with congratulations from the fellow authoritarian leaders of Cuba and Kyrgyzstan and a full “work” schedule, according to the Kremlin.
The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry observed the day by sharing a recent quote from Putin predicting the “collapse of Western hegemony” on Twitter, illustrated by a photo of Putin wearing sunglasses.
The dire prediction for the Western world came from a speech Putin delivered last week in observance of the colonization of four regions of Ukraine – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson – after a sham “referendum” in which as many as 99 percent of residents were alleged to have voted for Russian occupation.
The invasion of Ukraine, which Putin launched in 2014 but Western leaders decided to take seriously in February, was necessary to protect Russians from LGBT ideology and “perversion,” Putin insisted at the time, offering little commentary on the actual annexation other than to say Ukrainians who live in the affected territories would be Russian citizens “forever” after last week.
“The destruction of this Western hegemony is irreversible–the world will never be the same,” he insisted. “For great, historic Russia, for future generations, for our children and grandchildren we need to protect them from these experiments which aimed to break their soul and their consciousness. … We are fighting for our culture, for our language so that it’s impossible to cancel it and remove it from history.”
Putin also referred to Western culture as “satanic.”
Patriarch Kirill, who leads the Russian Orthodox Church, took the opportunity of Putin’s birthday to proclaim that the dictator’s position at the helm of the country was granted by God.
“God put you in power so that you could perform a service of special importance and of great responsibility for the fate of the country and the people entrusted to your care,” Kirill said in his official statement on Putin’s 70th birthday. “You gained the reputation of a national leader selflessly devoted to the Fatherland, sincerely loving the Motherland and giving all its strength to it.”
Kirill also thanked Putin for “transforming the image of Russia, strengthening its sovereignty and its defense capability, protecting its national interests.”
The list of congratulatory messages shared by the Russian news agency TASS on Friday was short: “the presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Cuba, Turkey and South Africa – Sadyr Japarov, Miguel Diaz-Canel, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Cyril Ramaphosa – congratulated Putin over phone. The Russian leader also received a phone call from Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.”
TASS omitted a friendly birthday greeting from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, reproduced by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry.
“I extend my heartfelt warm congratulations to you on your 70th birthday,” Kim wrote to Putin. “You have made signal achievements in attaining the grand strategic target for building powerful Russia through your energetic activities, assuming the heavy responsibility of the head of the state for many years. Thus, you are enjoying high respect and support from the broad masses of people.”
Kim lamented the “challenges and threats by the U.S. and its vassal forces” and hoped to expand his “personal relationship” with Putin.
TASS claimed that Putin prefers low-key festivities and would spend most of his birthday workng.
“Putin almost never takes a day off on his own birthday, and most often spends it at work. Several major international summits have fallen on October 7 over the years,” the Russian outlet claimed. “Periodically, Putin’s work schedule brings him to his native St. Petersburg on his birthday, where the president not only receives congratulations, but also conducts business meetings and negotiations.”
The Moscow Times noted that Putin’s schedule appeared less frivolous than in the past for his birthday, when he has made the time for “foreign trips, hiking in Siberia with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu or playing in a celebrity hockey game.”
Outside of Putin’s personal schedule, supporters organized celebrations throughout Russia. The Kremlin pool report noted the presentation by Russian painter Alexey Sergienko on Thursday evening of his latest work, “Putin with a Puppy,” featuring the Russian leader and a dog in front of a background of flowers. The painting is a reproduction of the original, but twice the size for more prominent exposition.
TASS claimed that dozens of people also participated in a “flash mob” celebration near the Kremlin.
In Chechnya, controlled by Putin’s allied strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, local forces organized a 20,000-strong military event to mark the occasion.
Kadyrov – a steadfast Putin supporter whose brutal tyranny in the Muslim-majority region has often embarrassed his boss – has recently been critical of Putin’s expansion of the Ukraine war. He shelved any concerns he may have for Putin’s birthday, taking the opportunity to thank Putin for allegedly raising all of Chechnya “from ruins.”
“Putin has changed the world position of Russia and forced us to reckon with the position of our great state!” Kadyrov declared in a post on the messaging application Telegram.
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