Silvio Berlusconi has given his long-standing ally Vladimir Putin a duvet cover for his 65th birthday - featuring a life-size image of the pair together.

The former Italian Prime Minister may have taken inspiration from a previous gift sent by his Russian counterpart - the bed in which a prostitute, Patrizia D’Addario, claimed to have had sex with Berlusconi in.

Putin and Berlusconi are longstanding friends and during a visit to Rome the latter and his Forza Italia party previously work to lift sanctions placed on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Silvio Berlusconi has given his long-standing ally Vladimir Putin a duvet cover for his 65th birthday

Two share jokes share jokes at the official opening of the Merloni washing machine plan in Lipets in 2004

Media tycoon Berlusconi had his friend's back when the crisis broke out, saying Russia was merely defending, 'Ukrainian citizens of Russian origin that it considers brothers'.

And when the Italian was ousted from power in 2011 and banned from politics following a tax scandal, Putin not only lent his vocal support but also flew out to visit him personally.

In 2015, Berlusconi claimed that Putin wanted to give Silvio him Russian citizenship to become economy minister at the Kremlin.

Putin and Italian Berlusconi on board of State's yacht 'Argo' to reach the Russia navy' cruiser Moskva in 2003

Berlusconi (pictured after voting for a referendum on constitutional reform last year, left) hopes to be back in office next year. Putin (pictured this week, right) retains a strong grip on power

And their friendship has not faded since Berlusconi left office, which he hopes to return to next year, as shown by the duvet cover reported by The Times.

George Clooney, recalling a visit to see the Italian to discuss aid programmes for Darfur, said that the bed he received from Putin dominated conversation rather than the intended relief issues.

Clooney said in 2011: 'I've had one evening with Berlusconi and it was one of the more astonishing evenings of my life.

'I went to speak about Darfur. I'd done my homework.

'He took me to see his bedroom and the bed that Putin gave him. It became a very different evening than anyone thought.'