MOSCOW — Happy 72nd Birthday to President Vladimir Putin! Some of his supporters celebrated by calling him a “tsar,” which means a king, saying that he has made Russia stronger and will help the country win against the West in the Ukraine war.
Putin became president just a few years after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. He is now the longest-serving leader in Russia since Josef Stalin, who passed away in 1953. Even though many Western leaders see him as a bad guy, his popularity has grown in Russia since he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, according to polls.
Alexander Dugin, a Russian thinker who wants to bring together Russian-speaking areas into a bigger empire that includes Ukraine, wished Putin a happy birthday. He wrote, “God save the Tsar!” and praised Putin for leading the country with confidence.
Unlike many leaders in the past, Putin doesn’t have a clear person to take over after him, and he doesn’t face serious competition in Russia.
Today, Russia is in a tough situation with the West, which is much more powerful economically. Some people think the problems at the start of the Ukraine invasion showed Russia’s weaknesses, but U.S. generals believe Russia has learned from its mistakes and is getting better.
Both Russia and Ukraine have lost many soldiers in the war. This year, there was a failed mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was the head of a private army called the Wagner Group. Sadly, Prigozhin’s plane crashed two months after the mutiny.
Putin’s War Leadership
Born in Leningrad (now called St. Petersburg) just after World War II, Putin has promised to lead Russia to victory in the Ukraine war. He claims that the war is a fight between Russia, which he sees as holy, and a West that he believes has disrespected Russia since the Soviet Union fell apart.
As Western countries have sent billions of dollars to help Ukraine, Putin has committed even more to the war, saying it’s a fight for Russia’s future.
A report from a Moscow consulting firm shows that more Russians now see Putin as someone who is changing the world order in Russia’s favor. They describe him as a creator of a new world where Russia has a more important role.
Western leaders worry that if Putin wins the war, it could encourage other countries to act against them. They believe he might even think about attacking a NATO member, which is something Putin has denied.
Russian troops are currently making progress in Ukraine, and Putin has increased military spending to levels not seen since the Cold War. Russia now controls about 20% of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it took over in 2014, and parts of the eastern Donbas region.
Many opponents of Putin have either left the country, passed away, or are too scared to speak out. The opposition in Russia is mostly outside the country, divided, and hasn’t found a new leader since Alexei Navalny died in prison.
Navalny had warned that Putin’s Russia was weak and led by people only interested in money. He had predicted that Russia might face serious political changes in the future.
In a birthday statement, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian parliament, said, “With Putin, we shall be victorious. A strong president means a strong Russia.”
