Russia marks Putin's 60th with praise, mockery

People walk past a cartoon depicting Russia's President Vladimir Putin displayed by a street artist in St. Petersburg, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012. Vladimir Putin turns 60 years old on Sunday. / AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky

MOSCOW Kremlin officials like to insist Russian President Vladimir Putin does not care for big birthday bashes and that he will be spending his 60th on Sunday quietly celebrating with close friends and family in his home city, St. Petersburg.

However, the president's supporters don't appear to have received the memo, and so the day has seen an unprecedented exhibition of Putin-idolatry reminiscent of some of the world's oddest cults of personality.

Much of it - like it the fawning, up-close-and-personal profile on Kremlin-friendly television channel NTV - looks like propaganda. Some of the praise can be so extreme as to appear almost like a subtle form of satire on Putin's heroic representations in state media.

And some Putin opponents have used the occasion to poke fun.

Here is a brief look at ways Putin's 60th birthday was marked:

27 Photos

Vladimir Putin doing manly things

YOUTHS

The pro-government Mestniye youth movement held a sports contest in a central Moscow square under the slogan "Do Your Best for Putin." Organizers said the slogan symbolizes their gratitude for Putin's efforts to boost the popularity of sports by personally indulging in a healthy lifestyle.

The black-belt judoka has over the years been shown horse riding, swimming, scuba-diving, playing ice hockey, and indulging in outdoor hunting.

TV PROFILE

NTV broadcast a documentary purporting to describe the details of Putin's working life. The program shows his daily routine, which includes swimming and weight-lifting exercises, a breakfast of porridge, the drive to work, and the late-night working sessions at the office.

The program is laden with insights from Putin on the state of the opposition (poor) and the two-year jail sentence verdict against anti-government punk band Pussy Riot for their performance in a cathedral (fair).

PAINTINGS

An art exhibition titled "Putin: The Most Kind-Hearted Man in the World" opened in Moscow. The show features around a dozen paintings by artist Alexei Sergiyenko closely modeled on photos of some of the president's most memorable moments - riding a horse bare-chested, weeping at a celebration rally after his 2012 election victory, and leading cranes in flight on a motorized hang-glider.

Many of the paintings, apparently created in earnest, depict Putin's well-publicized fondness for animals and show him stroking a tiger cub, bottle-feeding a calf, and pouting lovingly at a chick nestled in his hand.

Visitors chat in front of the paintings by artist Alexei Sergiyenko during the opening of the exhibition "President, the kindest person" devoted to the 60th birthday of Russian President Vladimit Putin, at the Flacon design workshop in Moscow, Oct. 7, 2012.

/ AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev

PEAK PUTIN

Ten mountaineers have scaled a 13,125-foot ridge in the southern republic of North Ossetia-Alania to erect a 13-by-20-foot portrait of the leader.

Kazbek Khamitsayev, president of the republic's alpinist federation, says an official request has been lodged to rename the spot Peak Putin.

The ex-Soviet Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan beat them to it in 2011, when it gave that name to one of its many mountains.

TIME TO RETIRE

A small group of people bearing mocking gifts assembled outside the presidential administration. A Facebook page titled "Time For Grandfather to Retire," created ahead quickly organized protest in Moscow, said presents for Putin's retirement could include anything, from money to Viagra pills.

During the demonstration, many of the present-givers were bundled away by riot police, including who man with carrying a pair of pajamas with stripes that made them look like a prison uniform.

[RogerInHawaii]

Russia is reverting back to the old, bad Soviet Union ways. They're arresting those who disagree with Putin. That's a dictatorship, not a democracy of freedom.

[quincytodd]

Like him or hate him, Vladimir Putin is definately an improvement over his predecessor Boris Yeltsin who brought that country's economy crashing down and proved himself to be a wimp as he crawled to the West for help afterward. Of course this played into the hands of the Washington bureaucrats who now felt free to expand their control when and wherever they wanted!

[formerlyluvnut]

60? I thought the Puter dude was older than that.

[oldjones]

Happy Birthday, President Putin... May you have many more; and govern the Russian people thoughtfully and with great wisdom...

[pcwag]

God bless Putin. The world needs him more than anybody.

[quincytodd]

I totally agree with that, pcwag! Thank you.

[mewgato]

"It's about time that the Russians recognized that they are being conned."

That's nice, it's about time American's realize that many of us are being conned as well. I had my name "mistakenly" purged from the voter rolls in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and while I was able to vote in a somewhat insignificant election in 2011 and for the 2012 primary in my state for 2012, once again the day after the voter registration deadline, I get another letter "by mistake" letting me know that my right to vote is not.

[usunus]

By contrast the daily adoration of Barack Obama by the mainstream American media is so wonderfully civiilzed and sophisticated.

[msimamaji]

Finally, the truth is coming out. I am glad that this "mockery" is occurring.

Russia is an oiligarchy - a Dick Cheney paradise where the multi-billionaires get everything, and the majority rely on soup kitchens for survival.

It's about time that the Russians recognized that they are being conned.

Incidentally, Russia's government of oiligarchs is a warning to US. Vote Republican and we'll be a society of multi-billionaire oiligarchs run like the Koch Brothers.