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AP | | Posted by Sharangee Dutta
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin received an unusual gift for his 70th birthday: a tractor.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko presented Putin with a gift certificate for the car when the leaders of several ex-Soviet states met at the tsar-era Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg. Tractors have been the pride of Belarusian industry since Soviet times.
Lukashenko, an authoritarian leader who has ruled the former Soviet state with an iron fist for nearly 30 years while cultivating the image of the people, told reporters he used a model in his garden similar to the one he gave Putin Model.
Lukashenko’s office said it was unclear how the Russian leader would respond to the gift.
The gift was not mentioned in Putin’s televised speech at the start of the meeting, when he spoke of the need to discuss ways to resolve the conflict between the former Soviet states.
He also stressed the need to exchange information to fight terrorism, illegal drugs and other crimes.
Leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of former Soviet states, will hold another rally next week in the Kazakhstan capital, Astana.
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