President Putin gives Russian ice cream to President Xi on his birthday
Russian President Vladimir Putin today congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping on his 66th birthday and gave him Russian ice cream as a birthday present.
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| Russian and Chinese leaders raise their glasses to celebrate Chinese President Xi Jinping's birthday. Photo: Sputnik |
Chinese state media reported today that President Putin and President Xi Jinping on June 15 raised glasses to celebrate the Chinese president's birthday at a hotel in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, where the two leaders attended a regional summit.
On this occasion, Mr. Putin gave Mr. Xi a birthday gift of Russian ice cream, but did not specify the flavor. In return, Mr. Xi gave Mr. Putin a gift of Chinese tea.
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| Photo: Sputnik |
Photos posted on the website of China's state television showed the two leaders standing in front of a cake decorated with red and blue flowers and with what appeared to be the Chinese characters for "double luck 66".
Talk of top leaders' private lives is rare in China, and their birth dates are rarely made public because they are considered a state secret.
Russia's Sputnik news agency also published a photo of the two leaders standing in front of a cake and a box of ice cream cones.
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| Photo: Sputnik |
“The Russian president praised President Xi Jinping's role in developing bilateral relations and highlighted his recent successful state visit to Russia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Mr Putin bought Mr Xi a tub of Russian ice cream as a gift in 2016 and said Chinese businessmen he met at an economic forum in the city of Vladivostok told him they loved it. Since then, imports of top-quality Russian ice cream to China have increased significantly.
