It is that time of year in Russia again, when a special type of popular, celebrity pin-up calendar for the coming year can be bought at newspaper kiosks, bookstores and the like.
The leading man? Why, it’s President Vladimir Putin, of course, starring in his multifaceted role as father of the nation – strong leader, religious believer, extreme sportsman, historian, dog lover and lifestyle coach.
One of the editions of the 2026 Vladimir Putin calendars.
The calendars, of which there are a variety, follow the same basic format. Each month shows a different picture of Putin and includes a short quote from his speeches or other public remarks from the previous year.
Loading
“It’s the idea of a man for every season,” said Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who ran the Russia desk at the National Security Council during the first Trump administration.
“They are positioning Putin as this iconic figure, reminding everybody how cool he is, how much in charge he is, how much he’s kind of the living symbol and embodiment of literally everybody’s days.”
There are no pictures linking Putin to the war he started against Ukraine in February 2022, mirroring the official line that the conflict is a distant distraction. Lest anyone get the wrong impression, however, some quotes reflect Russia’s muscular perspective in trying to swallow its smaller neighbour.
January shows Putin in a parka astride a snowmobile. That month’s quote: “Russia’s border never ends.” February has him flipping a judo partner onto his back. “I am a dove, but I have very powerful iron wings,” is the chosen quote.
In some calendars, Putin appears to be trying to justify the war in Ukraine, with one quote reading, “I think Russia has become much stronger in the last two or three years because we are becoming a truly sovereign country.”
Putin has long attempted to cultivate an image of virile masculinity in his official photos.Credit: AP
The calendars, commercial ventures from different publishing houses, retail for the equivalent of about $5.50 each. They end up hanging in schoolrooms, post offices and other government facilities, not to mention homes. No matter how many editions, the calendars deliver a certain bland sameness, said Maxim Trudolyubov, a former newspaper editor who left Russia amid the war and now edits The Russia File, a political analysis blog published by the Kennan Institute in Washington DC.
“This genre is its own kind of art,” he said, noting that Putin, 72, first became president of Russia almost 26 years ago.
“It’s an empire with this ancient emperor who’s been around for decades, so it is supposed to be boring; it is supposed to signal stability, predictability, even if the reality is nothing of the kind.”
The calendars exude a certain “Ken-doll” vibe, with Putin sporting different outfits for different roles. For July, he sits at a piano in a dark suit and tie with a dreamy look in his eye, quoting a Bolshevik song about doing things with your own hands. Come August, he is sporting a hunter’s uniform to offer lifestyle advice: “My recipe for energy: sleep little, work a lot and don’t whine.”
Another piece of advice in the calendar offers an example of Putin’s salty humour: “It’s counterproductive to bury your head in the sand because something else will still stick out.”
Fortunately or unfortunately, Putin seems to have kept his shirt on in public over the past year, so as male pin-up calendars go, this year’s versions have no shots of Putin shirtless on horseback or fishing.
The life aquatic: Putin dives to the bottom of Lake Baikal in a mini-submersible in 2009.Credit: AFP
Nor were there any of the action-hero images of earlier years, with Putin piloting a motorised hang glider among migratory birds in Siberia or donning scuba gear to “discover” a Greek urn in the depths of the Black Sea – an infamously staged shot.
The calendars began to appear soon after he first assumed the presidency in 2000, but they really seem to have taken off around 2011. That year, 12 female journalism students from Moscow State University made one of their own, each posing in lingerie with a line about Putin.
“All women need a man like Putin,” read the quote for January. Young women critical of the Russian leader created a counter-calendar online, posing in black with their mouths taped shut.
The Russian president takes to the skies in a hang-glider in 2017.Credit: AP
Hill suggested this type of branding was part of the “populist, strong man” approach to everything. “Trump does exactly the same,” she said, while noting that it would be hard to imagine the leaders of Canada, Germany or Britain appearing on T-shirts or other such merchandise. “Those people are not so self-reverential, and they are in a different political environment.”
Trying to get a jump on the competition, at least one Russian newspaper released a 2026 calendar of Putin in September.
For anyone who cannot decide if a Putin calendar is quite the right purchase this year, he has manipulated the constitution in order to remain president at least until 2036, meaning there are more than 4000 shopping days left to get one.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
