Leader of Belarus gifts Putin a tractor for 70th birthday

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has received an unusual gift for his 70th birthday: a tractor. As the leaders of several ex-Soviet nations met at the Czarist-era Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus presented Putin with a gift certificate for the vehicle. Tractors have been the pride of Belarusian industry since Soviet times. Lukashenko has ruled the ex-Soviet nation with an iron hand for nearly three decades while cultivating a man of the people image. He told reporters he used a model in his garden similar to the one he gifted Putin. It wasn’t clear how the Russian leader responded to the gift, which Lukashenko’s office announced.