Praise and damnation as Putin marks 'Herculean' birthday
Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin marked his 62nd birthday roaming the Siberian wilderness on Tuesday, 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 400 kilometres (roughly 180 to 250 miles) 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 on Tuesday.
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.
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