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© Sputnik/ Aleksey Nikolskyi

Today, President Vladimir Putin is celebrating his 63rd birthday. As expected, the leader's special day has caused a ruckus on social media, with supporters both inside and outside Russia already coming up with some clever ways to congratulate the leader.

The president is reported to be celebrating his birthday in a rather reserved manner, spending it as just another day at work. However, he does have plans to play some hockey with famous veteran hockey players and members of the Night Hockey League later today.

As expected, the president has already received some traditional birthday greetings from foreign leaders. The presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Belarus have sent their best wishes. Putin was also congratulated by Narendra Modi, who offered a more up-to-date form of greeting, wishing Putin "long life, good health & happiness" in a tweet. The prime minister's tweet has already received 1,000 retweets.


Naturally, the president also received greetings from Russian political figures, from parliamentarians to governors and republican leaders. Probably the warmest message of greeting came from Chechen Republic leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who congratulated the president on Instagram.

Kadyrov's message of congratulations praised Putin as "the most popular, courageous, strong, wise, and strong-willed politician in the world," wishing him "good health, good luck and success" in his "very difficult and responsible work!"

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The Russian president also received congratulations from famous artists and public figures, including world-famous Italian musicians Toto Cutugno, Pupo, Al Bano, Ricchi e Poveri and Riccardo Fogli, who noted on a Facebook page of an Italian Putin fan club page that the Russian president is today "the main bulwark against the unipolar world and international terrorism!"

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The news media joined in on the fun, Ruptly offering a humorous compilation of the president's greatest moments of 2015.





Even the normally anti-Putin liberal English-language newspaper The Moscow Times couldn't help but fete the president, creating an entire article, suspiciously reminiscent of a recent Sputnik piece, complete with quotes and GIFs, on the president's anniversary.

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Celebrities and politicians aside, Putin has also received a ton of congratulations from social media users around the world, with the hashtag #PutinDay catching fire on Twitter. Users from Russia and around the world congratulated the Russian president on his special day.


"Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich! You more than anyone else, are worthy of the people's love!"

"The dollar fell below 63 rubles, as a sign of respect."
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"The coolest president is celebrating his birthday."


"Fools are lucky. The rest of us have to work night and day. V.V. Putin #PutinDay"


"Vladimir Vladimirovich! Give me five! Happy Birthday!"

This year, the president also got quite a few messages of support for Russia's decision to begin an air campaign against ISIL, in coordination with Russia's Syrian allies:

Have you congratulated the president yet?

"I'm not hearing your birthday greetings..."