A shower of praise from Russian officials.

This is the gift to which Vladimir Putin was entitled, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Friday.

The Orthodox patriarch went so far as to see him as a gift from God, despite Russia's isolation and its setbacks in Ukraine.

Coincidence of the calendar or not, the same day the Nobel Peace Prize has a tinge resolutely critical of the Putin system, of its Belarusian ally and of the offensive in Ukraine, the Committee having awarded the imprisoned Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, the NGO Russian Human Rights Memorial and Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.

In Russia, the elite has multiplied laudatory and dithyrambic statements about the Russian head of state, without ever referring to the recent Russian military defeats on the Ukrainian front or the growing isolation of Moscow, targeted by a rain of sanctions.

"God has placed you in power so that you can carry out a mission of particular importance and great responsibility for the fate of the country and its people", enthused Patriarch Kirill, calling for prayers for the health of the Russian president.


He hailed a "national leader, loyal to his homeland", while the head of the Kremlin last week demanded the annexation of four Ukrainian regions occupied at least in part by Russian troops.

Kirill also wished the Russian president, in power for more than 22 years and who can stay until 2036, “physical and moral strength for many years”.

The patriarch, head of the Russian Orthodox since 2009, put his Church at the service of the power of Vladimir Putin and had already described it in 2012 as a “miracle”.

Informal summit

Vladimir Putin alternated depending on the years between stays in the taiga with his Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, and work meetings, without public celebrations, most often going to Saint Petersburg (north-west) for his birthday, his hometown.

It is in this former imperial capital that he meets in the afternoon the leaders of countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, an organization which brings together several countries of the former USSR, for an "informal summit", according to the Kremlin.

Before this meeting, several presidents of the CIS (Community of Independent States) countries have already sent their congratulatory messages to him, Tajik leader Emomali Rakhmon hailing a "strong and wise leader", while Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov wished him " robust health and success”.

Russian officials were also quick to congratulate the master of the Kremlin.

Authoritarian Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov posted a message on Telegram praising the "leader of an entire people" and "one of the most influential and outstanding personalities of contemporary times".

The latter, close to Vladimir Putin, is accused of multiple abuses in Chechnya, was promoted to the rank of colonel-general on Wednesday by Vladimir Putin, on his own birthday.

The speaker of the lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, published a drawn portrait of the Russian president on Telegram, proclaiming: “if there is Putin, there is Russia”.

- "Great Russia"

The leaders of the Ukrainian territories annexed by Moscow also went there with their compliment, the separatist leader Denis Pushilin expressing his “tremendous gratitude” for the offensive against Ukraine.

While Russian officials in principle never criticize Vladimir Putin, signs of discontent have recently appeared within the Russian elite due to the defeats in Ukraine, without calling into question the merits, according to them, of the offensive.

Ramzan Kadyrov thus criticized the military command after the loss of the Lyman logistics node in the East and a senior parliamentary figure Andrei Kartapolov publicly called on the army to “stop lying” about its setbacks.

Several officials and propagandists have also criticized the chaotic way in which the mobilization decreed by Vladimir Putin is carried out, without however attacking the head of state.

This mobilization pushed tens of thousands of Russians into exile.

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