Famous for his topless horse riding, shirtless fishing and bare-chested shooting, Russian president Vladimir Putin has been celebrated² in the Putin 2016 calendar, produced by Russia's 'Stars and Advice' magazine.

 

The twelve shots reveal both the president's tough and sensitive sides.

 

Each picture sets the Russian supremo in natural settings and are accompanied by nationalistic quotes.

 

Clutching the furry³ puppy close to his left cheek, while gazing into the mid⁴ distance for November, the accompanying quote confides⁵: 'Dogs and I have very warm feelings for one another'.

 

The previous month has a much stronger message, as he dons a military cap and striped shirt and proclaims Russia's strength.

 

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

 

March and September depicts⁶ his fondness for Russian women - as he smells a flower (and again stares into the middle distance) and dances with a women in traditional dress, but looks knowingly down the camera lens.

 

'I like all Russian women. I think Russian women are the most talented and the most beautiful,' the March message says.

 

British student Jack⁷ Archer⁸ picked up a copy in October from a kiosk in St Petersburg, where he's spending a year studying Russian.

 

'I bought it from a kiosk in the metro⁹ and it cost 78 roubles.

 

'The woman said it'd been selling out really quickly every day she'd been putting them out,' he told MailOnline.

 

The pictures are not all from 2015 however, with at least one recognisable from a controversial Siberian fishing trip in 2013.

 

Putin was accused of exaggerating the size and weight of the pike, which he said he caught in Siberia in 2013.

 

The Kremlin claimed Mr Putin, 60, had caught a 46lb pike – a weight that would equal records claimed in Britain and the United States.

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