According to sources, the Russian embassy in Switzerland issued a legal threat to a Swiss newspaper after it published a caricature of President Vladimir Putin with a clown nose and rainbow stripes on his forehead.

In a letter uploaded to its website on Saturday, the embassy's press staff reprimanded Neue Zürcher Zeitung for publishing the image in an article published on July 9 regarding the significance of memes and digital messaging in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the Washington Post.

The article "Between Superheroes and Villains: The Power of Memes in the Ukraine War" depicts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a Captain America-like suit with Ukrainian colors and logo, while Vladimir Putin is pictured next to him with a clown nose and rainbow makeup.

In its letter, the embassy stated, "If we are to discuss clowning, it would be more appropriate to do so in the context of the recent past of the former Ukrainian comedian V. Zelensky."

According to Swissinfo, the "extremely outraged" embassy further said, "We believe that freedom of expression is in no way compatible with the freedom to disseminate insults and fakes."

The Swiss news site reported that the photo of Putin was first published on Twitter.

Additionally, Russia objected to the rainbow colors connected with Putin due to their perceived association with the LGBTQ population.

According to the Washington Post, the embassy stated that Putin "is a deeply religious Orthodox person who advocates the preservation of traditional Christian values in Russian society (and he is clearly not a fan of the LGBT community)."