Isolated Russia celebrates tsar who opened ‘window to Europe’

Isolated Russia celebrates tsar who opened ‘window to Europe’

More than three centuries after he sought to bring Russia closer to Europe, Russians on Thursday marked the 350th birthday of tsar Peter the Great with the country deeply isolated over the Ukraine conflict. Inspired by time spent abroad, Peter made huge efforts to modernise his vast and under-developed nation during his rule from 1682 to 1725, most famously building Saint Petersburg as Russia’s “window to Europe”.

Celebrations will be held in his namesake city and Moscow to mark the anniversary of Peter’s birth on June 9, 1672, with President Vladimir Putin attending a new exhibition in the capital dubbed “Peter the Great: The Birth of the Empire”. With ties between Russia and the West shattered by Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, authorities are downplaying Peter’s affinity for Europe, instead focusing on his role in expanding Russian territories and consolidating state power.

“An outstanding statesman, military leader and patriot, he devoted his whole life to serving the Fatherland,” Putin, himself from Saint Petersburg, said in a statement this week to mark the anniversary. Peter was inspired by trips to Europe as a young man to transform Russia into a great European power. Over his reign he implemented sweeping political, military and social reforms