And it appears he’s not alone in Russia, as simply 26 % of individuals mentioned they had been celebrating Valentine’s Day final yr, in accordance to state pollster VTsIOM. That determine was down from half the inhabitants within the 2000s.
Putin as soon as disclosed that he obtained Valentine’s Day congratulations from his then-wife, Liudmila, in 2008, however she didn’t ship him a Valentine’s card, he complained on the time.
Formally, the Russian president has been single since his divorce from Liudmila in 2014 after a 30-year marriage. “I first want to offer away my ex-wife Lyudmila Alexandrovna in marriage, then I’ll take into consideration myself,” Putin mentioned in 2014. Liudmila married Russian entrepreneur Artur Ocheretny in 2015.
Though some Russian politicians proceed to decry Valentine’s Day as a Western imposition, Putin does obtain messages of affection.
In Tatarstan on Wednesday, 9 white automobiles bearing the phrase: “We love Putin,” spelled out in letters taped to their roofs, drove alongside a neighborhood freeway. And in Vologda, authorities screened an interview with Putin by U.S. pundit Tucker Carlson totally free in a neighborhood cinema, albeit with out linking it to the romantic vacation.
Sergey Goryashko is hosted at POLITICO beneath the EU-funded EU4FreeMedia residency program.