Putin presents Xi Jinping, ice cream on his 66th birthday

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on his 66th birthday and presented him with Russian ice cream as a birthday gift.

The discussion of senior leaders' private lives is extremely rare in China, and the exact birth dates of most of them are not revealed publicly, as they are considered a state secret.

The Chinese president earlier reportedly said that during each of his visits to Russia he asks for some ice cream to take back home.

While Moscow and Beijing describe their ties as a strategic partnership, personal relations between two heads of state are also known to be friendly.

State television showed pictures of Xi and Putin holding up champagne glasses to toast Xi's birthday at the hotel he is staying at in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, where they are both attending a regional summit.

Earlier this month, Xi arrived in Russia to meet Putin and participate in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019, so the Russian president personally organised an informal tour around his native city for his Chinese counterpart.