With temperatures in Crimea reaching 40 degrees Celsius, a Russian Orthodox Church official has come up with an unorthodox solution to avoid being confronted with bare skin.
Church official Georgy Kunitsyn told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid he encountered “a terrible problem,” while visiting a beach in his home town of Yevpatoria on the Crimean coast. “I saw a group of undressed people. They were sunbathing on a public beach and seemed to have no moral qualms about it,” he said.
“They ignored my comment so I was forced to call the police to restore the public order.”
He is now appealing to the local authorities to open a beach for nudists, the report said.
“The Church has a negative attitude to nudism because it is concerned about the moral values of society,” he added. “But since there are people who hold this philosophy, the logical thing is to give them a place where they can rest in whatever way they want, but not in public spaces!”
The deputy head of Yevpatoria’s local government, Valery Batuk, has promised to take action.
“This issue must be solved, but with tolerance,” he was cited as saying. “That way we can still be a modern resort, despite this spicy situation!”
