- The Kremlin leader faces a deepening crisis in his war in Ukraine
- Allies pay tribute, but criticism of the military grows
- Patriarch prays for Putin’s health
LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin turned 70 on Friday amid gracious congratulations from subordinates and a plea from Orthodox Patriarch Kirill for everyone to pray for the health of Russia’s longest-serving supreme leader since Joseph Stalin.
Putin is facing the biggest challenge of his rule since the invasion of Ukraine sparked the most serious confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. His military there has been reeling from a series of defeats in the past month.
Officials hailed Putin as the savior of modern Russia, while the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia called on the country to say two days of special prayers so that God would grant Putin “health and longevity.”
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“We ask you, Lord God, for the head of the Russian State Vladimir Vladimirovich and we ask you to give him your rich mercy and generosity, give him health and longevity and deliver him from all opposition of visible and invisible enemies, strengthen him in wisdom and spiritual strength, for all, Lord, hear and have mercy,” said Cyril.
Putin, who has vowed to end the chaos that has gripped Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, faces the most serious military crisis faced by any Kremlin leader in at least a generation since the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979-89.
Opponents such as jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny say Putin has led Russia down a dead-end road to ruin, building a fragile system of incompetent underlings that will eventually collapse and bequeath chaos.
Supporters say Putin saved Russia from destruction by an arrogant and aggressive West.
“Today our national leader, one of the most influential and remarkable personalities of our time, the number one patriot in the world, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, turns 70 years old! This was stated by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
“Putin changed Russia’s global position and forced the world to come to terms with the position of our great country.
MILITARY CHAMPIONSHIPS
But the war in Ukraine forced Putin to burn through vast amounts of political, diplomatic and military capital.
More than seven months after the invasion, Russia has suffered massive losses in men and equipment and has been pushed back on several fronts over the past month as Putin’s army lurches from one humiliation to another.
Putin has resorted to declaring annexation of territories that are only partially under Russian control – and whose borders the Kremlin says are still undefined – and threatening to defend them with nuclear weapons.
The partial mobilization announced by the president on September 21 unfolded so chaotically that even Putin was forced to admit mistakes and order changes to the order. Hundreds of thousands of men have fled abroad to avoid being drafted.
Even normally loyal Kremlin allies have denounced the military’s failings — though they have so far stopped short of criticizing the president himself.
Putin faces a resurgent, unified and expanding NATO, despite his insistence that the “special operation” in Ukraine was aimed at enforcing Russian “red lines” and preventing the alliance from moving closer to Russia’s borders.
Signs of concern have emerged from China and India, which Russia has increasingly relied on as geopolitical and economic partners following successive waves of Western sanctions.
Reflecting on Putin’s birthday, former Kremlin speechwriter Abbas Galyamov said: “On an anniversary it is customary to summarize results, but the results are so deplorable that it would be better not to draw too much attention to the anniversary.”
HISTORY LESSONS
Putin has dominated Russia for almost 23 years, ever since he was personally chosen by President Boris Yeltsin as his preferred successor in a surprise announcement on New Year’s Eve 1999.
Constitutional changes passed in 2020 paved the way for him to rule potentially until 2036, and there is no clear front-runner to succeed him.
He maintains a full schedule of meetings and public events and invariably appears in control of his memo, speaking at length in video conferences on topics ranging from energy to education. The Kremlin has denied repeated speculation about alleged health problems.
As Putin ages, he seems increasingly concerned about his legacy. In June, he compared his actions in Ukraine to the campaigns of Tsar Peter the Great, suggesting that both were involved in historic missions to reclaim Russian lands.
Putin is increasingly fond of quoting Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin, who argues that Russia must follow a singular mystical and sacred path that will ultimately restore order to an imperfect world.
In a televised meeting with teachers this week, Putin showed strong interest in another episode of history – an 18th-century peasant uprising against Empress Catherine the Great – which he blamed on “the weakness of the country’s central authority”.
From the man who has dominated Russia for more than two decades, it sounded as if the lesson had been taken to heart: faced with the possibility of rebellion, a ruler must be both strong and vigilant.
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Written by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Andrew Havens
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Mark Trevelyan
Thomson Reuters
Chief writer for Russia and the CIS. Worked as a journalist on 7 continents and reported from over 40 countries, with publications in London, Wellington, Brussels, Warsaw, Moscow and Berlin. Reflects the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Security correspondent from 2003 to 2008. Fluent in French, Russian and (rusty) German and Polish.
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