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Police Seize Painting of Putin and Obama Comparing Genitalia

Alexander Donskoy (left), owner of the G-Spot museum and Museum of Power. Website of the Mayor of Arkhangelsk

St. Petersburg police have removed a print from an erotic museum that depicts Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama posing naked and boasting oversized multicolored appendages.

The copy of the painting, called "Wrestling," had been on display at the G-Spot museum before police took it away Tuesday, the establishment said on its Vkontakte account.

The museum's owner, former Arkhangelsk Mayor Alexander Donskoi, said that the police didn't provide any documents authorizing the search and didn't explain why the print had been removed, Interfax reported Wednesday.

The museum was also ordered shut by the police, Donskoi said.

The original was painted by Vera Donskaya-Khilko, who is known for depicting public figures naked.

It is unclear whether the original of the painting would also be confiscated from the museum's Moscow branch.

St. Petersburg police last week raided the Museum of Power, also belonging to Donskoi, and seized four paintings, including one of Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in women's lingerie.

The artist responsible for the paintings, Konstantin Altunin, has fled the country and requested political asylum in France.

Police on Tuesday briefly held the Museum of Power's director, Tatyana Titova, and three other people, saying a man had reported them acting suspiciously in his courtyard.

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