Putin’s 70th birthday surprise as Lukashenko buys him a tractor

Vladimir Putin celebrated his landmark birthday on Friday

Vladimir Putin sits in a tractor while visiting the Russian village of Baklanovo in April 2000 (epa)

What birthday present do you give the man who gave himself chunks of Ukraine last week?

The answer is a tractor.

On the day Vladimir Putin celebrated his 70th birthday – and the US president warned that the Russian president could drive the world towards “armageddon”, while the Nobel Peace Prize committee made little attempt to disguise its contempt for his woeful human rights record – at least he could rely on his old friend and fellow tyrant Alexander Lukashenko.