Putin turns 70 amid new phase of Ukraine War and prayer requests

Vladimir Putin turned 70 on Friday amid flattery from subordinates and an appeal by Orthodox Patriarch Cyril for all the people of Russia to hold two days of special prayers, asking God to grant the president longevity.

“God put you in power,” said Cyril. “We pray to you, our Lord God, for the Russian head of state, Vladimir Vladimirovich, and we ask that you give him your rich mercy and generosity, grant him health and longevity, and free him from all resistance from visible enemies. and unseen, confirm him in wisdom and spiritual strength, to all, Lord, hear and have mercy.”

The longest-serving president since Josef Stalin has been hailed by officials as the savior of modern Russia. “Putin changed Russia’s global position and forced the world to rely on the position of our great state,” said Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of Putin, adding that the septuagenarian is “one of the most influential and outstanding personalities of our time, the number one patriot in the world”.

The commemorations come at a time of intense pressure on Putin: Russia is increasingly isolated in the international community and army troops have suffered setbacks in the Ukrainian War. The scenario forms the most serious crisis in his 23 years in power.

Also this Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize seems to have responded to the advance of authoritarianism in the orbit of Putin’s government and to the War in Ukraine: the laurel was awarded to Belarusian opponent Ales Bialiatski, to Memorial, a Russian human rights group, and to Center for Civil Liberties of Ukraine. On the other hand, the award incenses his rhetoric of walling Russia in a hostile world.

As he ages, Putin 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 reconquer Russian lands.

The leader also went on to quote more Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin, for whom Russia had an exceptional mystical and sacred path to follow that would eventually restore order to an imperfect world.

For his opponents, such as imprisoned leader Alexei Navalni, Putin has led Russia down a dead end road to ruin, building a fragile system of incompetent sycophants that will eventually collapse and bequeath chaos.

Reflecting on Putin’s birthday, former Kremlin speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov said: “On a birthday it is customary to add up the results, but the results are so deplorable that it would be better not to draw too much attention to the birthday.”