For his 70th birthday on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin received an unexpected present: a tractor.
President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus gave Putin a gift card for the vehicle as the heads of numerous former Soviet states convened at the Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg during the Czarist era. The pride of Belarusian industry during the Soviet era has been tractors.
As he cultivated a man of the people persona while ruling the former Soviet country with an iron fist for over three decades, tyrant Lukashenko revealed to reporters that he used a model in his garden that was similar to the one he gave Putin.
The gift, which was made public by Lukashenko’s office, elicited no immediate response from the Russian president.
When Putin spoke about the need to address means of resolving disputes between former Soviet countries during his opening statements for the meeting on television, he made no mention of the gift.
He also stressed the significance of information sharing in the battle against crime, illegal substances, and terrorism.
Next week, the leaders of the informal association of former Soviet states, the Commonwealth of Independent States, will meet in Astana, Kazakhstan.
(With inputs from agencies)
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