Angelina Kuznetsova, a Russian porn star and Instagram model, has fired up public indignation by posing naked with a friend in front of a hotel room window, a church being visible behind them.
KP reported on Thursday that Kuznetsova’s racy photo session had taken place in her room in the hotel RentHouse, across the street from the Great Zlatoust Church in the city of Ekaterinburg, in Russia’s Ural region. The historic house of worship was constructed in the 19th century, destroyed by the Soviets in 1930, and rebuilt 80 years later.
According to the outlet, the photographs were meant to serve as a means of bartering for her stay in the hotel, but locals and other guests reacted with anger when the photos were posted on social media.
“We received hundreds of messages from guests whose religious feelings were hurt by the publication,” Dmitry Shabalkin, RentHouse’s founder, wrote on Instagram. “We immediately took action, and even put together a ‘blacklist’ of people who might provoke a similar situation. And that means they will never become guests in our organization. As the face of the company, and as myself personally, I offer my apologies to the religious believers for insulting their feelings, and I warn possible ‘Instadivas’ that we do not support such displays of their uniqueness.”
Shabalkin confirmed that Kuznetsova had stayed in the hotel from December 18 to 20 and had received 50% off her bill, but claimed he had had no knowledge of any deal and would investigate who had agreed to it. Kuznetsova has since made her Instagram account private.
This is only the latest in a series of scandals involving those with a social media following taking raunchy pictures in front of religious buildings. In one high-profile case last fall, blogger Tajik Ruslan Bobiev and his girlfriend, Asya Akimova, were each sentenced to 10 months in prison for simulating oral sex outside of Moscow’s iconic St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square.
They were convicted based on a law outlawing actions “with the purpose of insulting the religious feelings of believers,” which was passed in 2013 after the punk rock group Pussy Riot played a concert inside a Moscow cathedral, drawing international attention.
This week, Instagram influencer Maria Katanova apologized for a viral video in which she posed scantily clad in front of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, saying she hadn’t meant to insult believers.
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