After his warships fired cruise missiles at targets in Syria on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin shot pucks into the net at an ice hockey game on his 63rd birthday.
Hours after the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said at a meeting with Putin that Russia’s fleet had launched 26 cruise missiles at Islamic State targets in Syria, the pair joined former NHL stars and Kremlin-linked oligarchs for a match in Sochi that was broadcast live on national television.
The game was one of many celebrations around the country as Russia was gripped with Putin birthday mania on Wednesday.
Repeatedly fed the puck by hockey legends such as Vyacheslav Fetisov, Putin scored seven goals and led his all-star team to a 15-10 victory over their opponents from an amateur hockey league he founded in 2011. Shoigu also scored a goal. “Happy birthday!” the crowd chanted.
The match will bring Putin’s average down slightly after the last time he played in May, when he scored eight of the all-star team’s 18 goals.
Putin has sought to develop sport in his country, and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where Russia topped the medal table, is seen as a highlight of his 15 years in power. On Tuesday he signed a law resurrecting a Soviet-era physical fitness programme Ready for Labour and Defence, which tests young people in activities such as running, swimming, shooting and grenade-throwing.
A lover of judo as well as hockey, the president has often shown off his physical prowess, posing bare-chested for photos on hunting and fishing trips. In August, state television showed him giving pointers to the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, as the pair lifted weights at a private gym in Sochi, after which they grilled steaks and drank tea.
“You inspire millions of our citizens to take up physical culture and sport – not just hockey but also wrestling, track and field, gymnastics, shooting, all types,” Putin told the players before Wednesday’s match. “Whoever moves and goes toward victory will achieve it!”
Besides NHL legends such as Alexander Mogilny, Valeri Kamensky and Pavel “the Russian Rocket” Bure, participants included oligarchs known to be friendly with Putin, such as Gennady Timchenko and Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, all of whom have been sanctioned by the west over Russia’s role in the Ukraine conflict.
Putin can look back on the last year with some satisfaction. After beginning it in international isolation over the Ukraine conflict, he recently met Barack Obama at the United Nations and he has launched an air campaign in Syria to bolster the regime of his ally Bashar al-Assad. His popularity rating reached 89% in June.
Officials, celebrities and media outlets around the country jumped to congratulate the president on his birthday. Ramzan Kadyrov, the outspoken head of Russia’s Chechen republic, praised him as the “most popular, manly, strong, wise and wilful politician in the world” and said he had “ruined the west’s plans to isolate Russia”.
Russia’s best-known rapper, Timati, released a music video featuring the refrain “My best friend is President Putin”. “The whole country is behind him, you know he’s an awesome superhero!” Timati raps in the video, which was shot in front of the Kremlin in Red Square.
On the social media page of the popular newspaper Metro, ordinary Russians related dreams in which Putin had come to them and helped solve their problems.
The leader’s birthday was also a cause for celebration in Italy. Several well-known singers including Al Bano posted congratulatory videos on the Putin Italian fan club page on Facebook, and the Italian jewellery brand Caviar released a £2,000 iPhone 6 engraved with an image of Putin’s head in gold.
