It has become a tradition at this time of year for department “S” of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to produce a calendar, sales of which are said to raise funds for veteran’s charities. Since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the calendars have been filled with idealized versions of its participants in the so-called “special military operation” along with references to Russian military mythology and (not so) veiled attacks on Moscow’s enemies – particularly Kyiv and Washington.
As supposed exponents of the power of propaganda, the images contained in the calendar may press all the right buttons among the Russian citizenry but simply generate derision and mockery in most Westerners’ eyes.
The cover this year depicts a muscular, “40-year-old,” President Vladimir Putin in a black leather waistcoat over a tight black T-shirt adorned with a white “Z,” Russia’s pro-war symbol. Standing alongside him in Moscow’s Red Square, China’s Xi Jinping poses in a black polo shirt with a gold dragon on its chest and the Chinese flag on one shoulder that also show’s off his rippling muscles. Some commentators wondered if this image with its more than faintly homoerotic atmosphere was entirely accidental.
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January shows a “boygatyr,” a legendary medieval Russian knight slaying a cowering enemy soldier whose uniform sports the flags of the US, Ukraine, Poland, the EU, the UK, and the LGBTQ rainbow pride banner. Behind the combatants is Washington’s, Capitol building burning.
February shows a black-clad soldier, his face covered with a skeleton mask, his body armor bearing the badges of the Wagner PMC and the FSB’s department “S” – perhaps a symbol of the hatchet being finally buried between the FSB and the mercenaries, the rivalry which was one of the triggers for the June 2023 aborted mutiny.
July celebrates the role of service dogs with a picture of a dog named Scarlet on whose collar it says: “Property of the FSB.”
August is a picture of what appears to be a female drone operator behind which are representations of electronic warfare jammers, standing outside a typical Ukrainian rural cottage.
September shows a Russian female soldier bearing the name tag “Kitten” (so much for equal opportunities). She stands with her foot and arm resting on some sort of armored fighting vehicle, a first aid kit on her hip.
In another nod to Russia’s partnership with China, October depicts a Russian FSB agent clad in military uniform standing alongside another soldier on whose left arm are hands clasped in friendship, colored with the red, white and blue of Russia’s flag and the other with the red and gold of the Chinese flag.
November’s image is of an FSB officer whose name badge reads “Afghan,” his face covered by a scarf, sitting at a bus stop on which there is a sign saying Mariupol –Donetsk, the Ukrainian city that Russia virtually destroyed and captured in the first months of the war.
The calendar closes in December as another FSB soldier in full battle gear, a heavy machine gun resting on his right shoulder, a name tag on his helmet reads “Dzyuba,” which may have some significance for the FSB. He stands staring up at a glowing icon of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus, acknowledgement of the declared strongly pro-Orthodox Church position of Putin and his regime.
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