MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin marked his 62nd birthday roaming the Siberian wilderness yesterday, as supporters compared his takeover of Crimea to a Herculean labour and 100,000 marched in Chechnya in his honour.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had taken a day off from his “extremely intense” schedule to celebrate his birthday in the depths of Siberia.
“This place is some 300 to 400km away from the nearest settlement,” Peskov told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid, saying the president worked virtually around the clock and needed a breather. “He will rest,” he said, declining to say whether Putin would have company.
The president is riding a wave of popular support following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in March, and ordinary Russians, ex-Soviet leaders and Ukrainian separatists sang his praises yesterday.
Festivities this year had all the hallmarks of the slavish adulation that has marked Putin’s birthdays of past, even as Russia’s economy reels from several rounds of Western sanctions.
More than 100,000 people, decked out in the colours of the Russian flag, marched in the president’s honour in the Chechen capital of Grozny, led by Kremlin-backed regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov who carried a portrait of Putin.
Supporters in Moscow staged an exhibition of paintings designed to symbolise Putin’s achievements, comparing them to the “12 Labours of Hercules”, the demigod of Greek mythology renowned for his strength.
The paintings depict Putin, dressed in a toga and armed with a sword, taking over Crimea, a feat compared to capturing the Cretan Bull. His anti-corruption campaign was compared to Hercules’ cleaning of the Augean Stables.
But not everyone was celebrating. Critics attacked Putin online, while wry commentators wondered on Twitter whether he could remain in the Siberian woods for good.
In Ukraine, where contempt for the Russian president runs high, the 1+1 television channel compiled a collection of profanity-laced Twitter messages and Internet memes.
“For the first time in his life the president of Russia is damned by the country of 47 million,” said one tweet, referring to Ukraine.
AFP
