'This spring day is always full of flowers and gifts': Putin applauds Russia's women as 'beautiful, bright and charming' in bizarre, gushing speech for International Women's Day

The President of Russia

The Kremlin published this photo of Vladimir Putin alongside an address called "Greetings to Russian women on International Women's Day" on Friday.

• In a bizarre speech, Vladimir Putin has commended Russian women for being "beautiful, bright, and charming" on International Women's Day.
• Putin, appearing on state TV, praised women's ability "to cope with everything at work, and take care of the family."
• "This spring day is always full of flowers and gifts, lit up with the joy of our women and your shining smiles," he said on Friday.
• In preparation for the celebration, Putin cantered on horses with an all-female group of police officers on Thursday. 
• Women's rights in Russia took a blow in 2017 when parliament decriminalized domestic violence that didn't cause serious harm.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has celebrated International Women's Day by applauding Russia's "beautiful, bright, and charming" women in an over-the-top address.

To the women of Russia, Putin said in a state TV address: "You manage everything at work and at home and stay beautiful, bright, and charming."

He said: "We, men, must say frankly that it is not always easy for us to be worthy of you."

"But we will be striving for that and do everything for the women to feel our strong reliable shoulder, to feel that we always appreciate and love you, and not just on holidays."

"My best greetings on International Women's Day. This spring day is always full of flowers and gifts, lit up with the joy of our women and your shining smiles."

Putin also praised the ability of Russian women "to cope with everything at work, and take care of the family."

Russia-24

State TV channel Russia-24 documented men buying flowers for women on International Women's Day.

Russian state news channels chose to focus their International Women's Day coverage on men buying flowers for women, BBC Monitoring reported. 

Putin spent Thursday riding horses with a group of all-female police officers, to mark International Women's Day.

Russia-24

Vladimir Putin gave a speech on International Women's Day and said "it is not always easy for us to be worthy of you."

Putin raised eyebrows in his 2017 women's day address, when he praised women for "always being on time."

For the 2019 edition of International Women's Day, a Russian army recruitment office published a photoshoot to celebrate it - one which didn't feature any of the 45,000 women currently serving in the country's armed forces.

Instead, the photos showed ballerinas posing with male soldiers in combat clothing with machine guns, the Associated Press reported. 

Russia's women's rights record has come under close scrutiny in the past. In 2017, the Russian parliament decriminalized domestic violence that didn't cause serious harm.

The first Woman's Day was observed in the United States on February 28, 1909, and the modern iteration, International Women's Day, is celebrated on March 8 every year.