Putin, Xi Jinping Side By Side On The 2025 Calendar Of Russia's Federal Security Service

A New Year's calendar published by the Federal Security Service, the FSB, a Russian intelligence agency, featured an illustration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping standing together with their brimming muscles exposed on the cover.

In a calendar illustration, Putin appeared in Russia wearing a black T-shirt with the alphabet "Z," which symbolizes "support for war."

Standing behind Putin, Xi is wearing a gold dragon on his chest and a shirt with a Chinese flag on his arm.

The British Telegraph pointed out, "In the calendar, President Putin looks about 20 years younger than he is now, and President Xi has appeared as a manly assistant to President Putin."

The annual FSB calendar is well known for using provocative images that provoke laughter or criticism.

The appearance of the two leaders emphasizing masculinity on the New Year's calendar is interpreted as a sign of Russia and China's moves to strengthen relations based on antipathy toward the West, including the United States.

The two countries are also working to expand the BRICS, an emerging bloc of economies, to lay their own trade foundations amid recent Western economic sanctions.

The FSB calendar is decorated with illustrations on the subject of the war in Ukraine and anti-Western propaganda, just like this year.

The calendar for January next year featured an illustration of a knight wearing a Russian flag on his chest and armed with iron armor hitting a servant wearing a flag from Ukraine, the United States, the European Union and others with a knife.