At Least 15 World Leaders Publicly Congratulate Putin on His Birthday
By the evening of 7 October, The Insider had confirmed that at least 15 heads of state or government publicly congratulated Vladimir Putin on his 74th birthday. Nine of them have done so every year since the full-scale war began.
By the evening of 7 October, the outlet The Insider had found public confirmation that at least 15 national leaders congratulated Vladimir Putin on his 74th birthday. For comparison, there were at least 19 in 2025, 16 in 2024, 11 in 2023 and 14 in the first year of the full-scale war.
Phone calls and messages
The Kremlin said that on 7 October Putin spoke by phone with the presidents of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as Armenia's prime minister. Some of the calls were also confirmed by the leaders' own press services. Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev wished Putin health and a long life, while Uzbekistan's Shavkat Mirziyoyev wished him health, prosperity and success.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his greetings before 7 October. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called Putin his "dearest friend" in a letter and pledged support for Russia. Nicaragua's co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo sent a joint message on 5 October. Bahrain's king also congratulated Putin, and Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez sent greetings on behalf of the government and people.
Nine constant countries
Comparing five years of lists, The Insider concluded that the leaders of nine countries have publicly congratulated Putin every year since 2022: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Nicaragua. Eight of them are former Soviet republics.
China is not on this list because Xi was not named among the congratulating leaders in 2023. Kim congratulated Putin in 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026, but his name did not appear in 2023. Turkish President Erdogan was also missing from the 2023 list.
Who is missing this year
Last year's list also included leaders of India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Cuba and then-Bolivia. The Russian outlet EADaily claims Narendra Modi also sent greetings, but this could not be found in official Indian channels, so The Insider did not count India. The list may still grow, since some greetings in past years only became known after the birthday.
