Russian Kindergartens Mark Putin's Birthday With Poems, Portraits and a Kneeling Salute

The outlets were documented by the news site Agentstvo, which found the posts on social media accounts belonging to preschools across the country.

At a kindergarten in the Admiralteysky district of St. Petersburg, teachers told children about "the achievements of Vladimir Vladimirovich, his role in the development of Russia and how he cares about our future." At Kindergarten No. 1 in the town of Kamyzyak in the Astrakhan region, staff held a talk "about the life path of the head of state" and the qualities a leader of such a large country should possess. The children there also listened to the national anthem and drew the Kremlin.

In the middle group of the Solnyshko kindergarten in the settlement of Oktyabrsky in the Tyumen region, teachers explained to children that the president is "the most important person in the country" and "cares about every one of us." A photograph published with the post shows a teacher holding up a framed portrait of Putin. The kindergarten's post said congratulating the president on his birthday had become for the children "a special way to express their love for the motherland."

Several kindergartens posted video greetings. Children at the Parus and Zolotoy Klyuchik kindergartens in Anadyr say "Happy birthday, Vladimir Vladimirovich," with some of the children at the first kneeling on one knee. In a video from the Skazka kindergarten in the village of Sokolovo in the Volgograd region, children make a poster reading "We congratulate the president," while a voice off camera says: "We draw the sun above the Kremlin to embrace the country with all our hearts."

In a greeting from pupils at Kindergarten No. 244 in Ulyanovsk, Putin is thanked "for giving us light and preserving our world for many years." Another child says: "May everything you have planned come true, and we will obey, believe and grow."

Pro-Kremlin youth movements also held events for the president's birthday. According to the Telegram channel of the Young Guard, more than three thousand activists from the movement and the Volunteer Roty walked along VDNKh in Moscow carrying quotes from Putin and posters about the country's achievements, then formed the word "Congratulations" and unfurled a Russian flag. In St. Petersburg, activists formed the phrase "Happy birthday, president" on the grounds of the Peter and Paul Fortress. A flash mob involving Young Guard members, the Volunteer Roty and students was also held in Tula.

Russian officials and lawmakers published congratulations as well. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote that Putin "saved Russia from destruction." The head of the Belgorod region, Alexander Shuvayev, said that thanks to the president's support "Belgorod region is protected" — in his next post the official reported 114 attacks on the region over the previous 24 hours.

The Moscow Times reported that officials were given instructions on how to publish congratulatory posts on VKontakte. In particular, they were told to use only personal pages and to accompany posts with the hashtag "I congratulate the President." At least 1,100 posts with that hashtag have been published on VKontakte in total.

Foreign leaders also congratulated Putin, among them Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, Alexander Lukashenko and Serdar Berdimuhamedov. The North Korean leader called Putin his "dearest friend" and expressed confidence in Russia's victory in a "sacred war."