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Putin Goes Shirtless For Calendar

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 06:35 PST, Dec 27, 2015

Vladimir Putin went shirtless for a calendar that was created by the Stars and Advice magazine in Russia. The leader of the former Soviet Union has a long-standing habit of being photographed shirtless while engaged in manly outdoor pursuits. Social media is filled with images of Putin fishing shirtless, going horseback riding, and even taking in a little target practice while baring his chest.

Although Vladimir Putin went shirtless for some of the calendar pages, he is fully clothed in others and posed in images which appear to highlight the Russian president’s more sensitive side. Memes mocking the calendar have already been gaining traction online, as have doctored photos of Putin riding a horse. While the image of the Russian leader on the horse was once widely circulated online and is an authentic photograph of Putin, the addition of a second horse with a Photoshopped picture of Donald Trump’s face provides a new twist to the photo. The captions to the edited image reference the alleged budding “bromance” between the two men.

Each calendar photo of Putin also comes adorned with a quote heralding mother Russia or offering insight into the leader. The November calendar page features Putin holding a puppy next to his face and looking off into an unknown distance. A quote beneath the photo reads, “Dogs and I have very warm feelings for one another,” according to a Daily Mail report. The calendar pages for both March and September show Putin, 60, dancing with attractive women wearing traditional Russian dresses. The captions for the pages note that Vladimir believes that the ladies in his nation are the “most beautiful” and most talented in the world.

The October Putin calendar page shows the leader wearing a military uniform with the following caption.

“No one will succeed in gaining military superiority over Russia. Our army is contemporary, capable, and as they now say, polite, but formidable.”

The Putin calendars are reportedly flying off the newstands in Russia. They are reportedly selling for about $76 each on the black market. Vladimir was promoted to the post of prime minister in 1999 by then president Boris Yeltsin. When Yelstin resigned from his post later that same year, he promoted the former KGB agent to serve as president as one of his last acts in office. Putin was re-elected to the presidency in 2004. He was the first Russian president in history to visit Israel.

In 2008, when Vladimir Putin could not run again for another consecutive term as president, he was appointed to be the prime minister once again by his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. In 2012, Putin once again made a successful presidential run. Putin grew up humbly in a communal apartment and attended public schools until he went off to college. The Russian leader graduated from the Leningrad State University with a law degree in 1975 and shortly later began his government service career as a KGB intelligence officer. After being stationed primarily in eastern Germany, Putin retired from the KGB in 1990 after reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel, Biography noted.

After the Soviet Union fell, Putin became a political adviser to Anatoly Sobchak. When the candidate won the Leningrad mayoral race, Vladimir became a leader in the local administration and was ultimately named Sobchak’s deputy mayor. When Sobchak failed to get re-elected in 1996, Putin moved to Moscow and was eventually appointed to a position in the Boris Yelstin administration.

[Image via ID1974/Shutterstock]

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