Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that President Putin spent half a day on his internal agenda and international phone calls, with a total of more than a dozen of them planned. According to tradition, Mr. Putin will spend the rest of the day with friends, family and relatives.
Not every year President Putin celebrates his birthday in office. In 2013, his 61st birthday fell on the occasion of the APEC summit in Bali.
At that time, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang played the himself on theguita to sing to the Russian leader the song Happy Birthday to You. The Japanese Prime Minister presented Mr. Putin with sake of wine, while the Chinese leader presented him with a cake.
In 2015, Mr. Putin symbolically scored 7 goals on October 7, when playing on the "Arena" ice field in Sochi as a member of the NHL Stars. The team won against the team of the Night Volleyball Championship with a score of 15:10.
In 2014, the Russian president took a day off and visited the taiga forest in Siberia. He walked nearly 9 km through the mountains.
Last year, Mr. Putin celebrated his birthday with his family and friends, a few days before that he went to the taiga forest in Siberia, where he enjoyed the autumn nature.
As president and prime minister, Putin has celebrated his birthdays several times in St. Petersburg - his hometown in 2008, 2010 and 2012.
Guests, meetings and gifts
In 2017, former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi flew to Sochi to attend Mr. Putin's birthday. Mr. Putin received a bedside scarves embroidered with the image of two politicians holding hands on the background of famous landscapes of Russia and Italy - St. Basil's Cathedral and the Roman arena.
One year, on his birthday, Mr. Putin met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. "I will not hide it, we have drunk each person a glass of vodka, the target dish is some kind of pig," Sputnik quoted the Russian President as saying.
One of the most unusual gifts Mr. Putin received on his birthday was a two-month-old Ussuri tiger, then given to Gelendzhik's Safari Park, a copy of the Monomakh royal crown and a live crocodile.
According to Mr. Peskov, according to tradition, most gifts are sent to the presidential library, but Mr. Putin also kept some gifts from friends and acquaintances private.
