China’s Xi Jinping poses as hunky Putin sidekick in FSB calendar
A hunky Vladimir Putin poses alongside China’s Xi Jinping in the latest edition of Russia’s FSB security service annual calendar.
The FSB calendars have become something of a staple over the years, often producing artwork that triggers wry laughs and mockery in equal measure.
The 2025 edition is, just as it was in 2023 and 2024, largely focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But this time around, a drawing of Putin and Xi adorns the front cover. Both wear tight black shirts which show off bulging biceps and pecs as they pose in Moscow’s Red Square.
The Russian president’s T-shirt is emblazoned with a Z, a pro-war symbol in Russia. He also wears an oversized sports watch and looks around 20 years younger.
Xi poses just behind him, looking slightly more relaxed in a black polo shirt with a gold dragon on its chest and the Chinese flag on one shoulder.
Ian Garner, who has authored a book on Russian society and politics, said the FSB’s drawing of Putin and Xi must be ironic.
“The FSB has produced the most homoerotic calendar of all time. This is illegal LGBTQ+ propaganda in Russia,” he said.
The rest of the calendar sticks to more familiar territory for the FSB, showing battle scenes from Ukraine and anti-Western propaganda.
January’s drawing shows a strong and noble-looking knight wearing the Russian flag slaying a far weaker footman wearing a tunic bearing the flags of Ukraine, the EU, Poland, Britain, the US and gay rights.
Behind the two knights, the Capitol building in Washington is shrouded in smoke, apparently burning. The building was stormed by Donald Trump supporters on Jan 6 2021.
Another geopolitical nod appears in the October section. Two Russian FSB agents in full military uniform can be seen discussing a plan in a piece of woodland.
The November page shows an FSB officer, his face covered by a scarf, sitting at a bus stop in war-torn Mariupol, the Ukrainian city on the Sea of Azov that Russia levelled and captured at the start of the war.
In the December drawing, an FSB officer in full battle equipment with a rifle slung over his right shoulder stares up at a glowing picture of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus, a nod to the strongly pro-Orthodox Church leanings of Putin’s regime.
One of the soldiers wears a patch on one of his shoulders showing a handshake coloured as the Chinese and Russian flags.
China has become Russia’s most important ally since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.