The Russian Embassy in Kenya showed little interest in peace on Earth this Christmas season.
The Kremlin outpost released a threatening artificial intelligence–generated video depicting Donald Trump and other world leaders receiving Christmas gifts—while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is handed a pair of handcuffs.
The video, which had racked up about 240,000 views on X as of publication, was posted just hours before Zelensky was set to meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence to discuss a U.S.-brokered peace plan between Russia and Ukraine. The clip also features a U.S. dollar–shaped Christmas ornament shattering on the floor.
“Christmas season is the time of giving, when Russia makes sure that all of its friends get something nice and are well and merry,” reads the caption on the video, which was produced by the Russian state-backed outlet Sputnik. “As for the naughty ones, they too will get what is coming for them.”
The video opens with Russian President Vladimir Putin dressed as Santa Claus, a sack of toys slung over his shoulder as an instrumental version of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” plays.
A smiling Trump is shown gleefully unwrapping a box containing neither weapons nor money—but instead a framed photograph of himself with Putin from their widely panned summit in Alaska earlier this year.
Putin’s close allies and fellow authoritarian-friendly leaders are then depicted receiving carefully curated gifts. Chinese President Xi Jinping opens a box of decorative ornaments shaped like the currency symbols for the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen (¥) alongside the Russian ruble (₽), as a dollar-bill ornament tumbles from a Christmas tree and shatters.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a figurine of a Russian stealth fighter jet—an apparent nod to the Kremlin’s reported offer to manufacture the aircraft for India’s air force.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is gifted a DJ set that springs to life, proclaiming, “No war just peace, forever, forever, forever,” a thinly veiled reference to the U.S. ramping up its military presence in the Caribbean.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appears holding a snow globe depicting the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, which Russia financed with roughly $9 billion this year, according to reports.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles at a note reading “From Russia, with gratitude,” accompanied by a wrapped sword, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hoists a gift card for Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy giant.
The only gift worse than Trump’s is reserved for Zelensky, who opens a box containing handcuffs and is then shown frowning behind bars.
The video surfaced as Russia continued to escalate its war in Ukraine, days after U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said Moscow was “fully committed” to achieving peace.
Russian forces bombed Kyiv on Saturday morning, killing one person and injuring dozens more—less than a week after Witkoff praised Russia’s supposed “commitment” on social media.
“Russia remains fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine. Russia highly values the efforts and support of the United States to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and re-establish global security,” Witkoff wrote on Dec. 21.
On Dec. 27, Russia’s Defense Ministry boasted that it had carried out a “massive strike” on Ukraine, using “long-range precision-guided weapons from land, air, and sea, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles” to target what it called “Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
