Putin’s supporters turn up idolatry for 60th

Kremlin officials like to insist Russian President Vladimir Putin does not care for big birthday bashes and that he was to spend his 60th yesterday 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 saw an unprecedented exhibition of Putin-idolatry.

Much of it, like the fawning, up-close-and-personal profile on Kremlin- friendly television channel NTV, looked like propaganda.

The pro-government Mestniye youth movement held a sports contest in a central Moscow square under the slogan, “Do Your Best for Putin”.

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

Meanwhile, 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 modelled 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 motorised hang-glider. Many of the paintings, apparently created in earnest, depict Putin’s well-publicised fondness for animals and show him stroking a tiger cub, bottle-feeding a calf, and pouting lovingly at a chick nestled in his hand.