Among the gifts Russian President Vladimir Putin received on Oct. 8, for his 70th birthday, the farm tractor gift stands out, given by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. The world’s biggest factory for farm tractors is located in Belarus, the brand is Belarus, and known for decades. Putin got a gift certificate for the tractor from Lukashenko, who was in St. Petersburg, with other heads-of-state on Oct. 8, in pre-meetings for their Commonwealth of Independent States meeting Oct. 12-14.
The Belarus-brand tractor has been manufactured since 1950. Sold worldwide, it is in high regard for its sturdiness and reliability. Its GPS system is synced with the Russian GLONASS, which now is becoming integrated with the Chinese satellite location system, BeiDou.
President Putin has emphasized the importance of building up Russian agricultural productivity, in particular modern mechanization, for years, but especially in the post-2014 period of worsening Western sanctions on the Russian economy. The government measures taken centrally for expanded credit for farming, for inputs, and for rail and other infrastructure development, has led to significant food production increases, not only in wheat, for which Russia has the biggest exportable surplus in the world, but also in building up dairy and other sectors. The famous bright red Belarus Tractor is a celebration of that success.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus_(tractor)#/media/File:Tractor_Belarus-1522-2.jpg
