Russian Lawmaker Condemns Banknote's Half-Naked Apollo as Risk to Kids

(Photo Credit: Mark H. Milstein/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

MOSCOW - A Russian lawmaker has reportedly demanded that the country change the design for its 100-ruble note, which features a drawing of the Greek god Apollo depicted naked from the waist down.

In a letter to the Central Bank, Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Roman Khudyakov wrote that the image showed "intimate parts of the body" and should come with an 18-plus warning like explicit movies.

He said the bill, worth just under $3, could pose a risk to children.

"As bills of that denomination often get into the hands of children as pocket money, I strongly request your help in changing the design of the banknote or otherwise bringing it into accordance with current legislative regulations," he wrote, according to Izvestia newspaper.

The banknote's illustration is of the Apollo statue atop the entrance to the famous Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The statue's private parts were covered up with a fig leaf during the recent renovation, according to the Moscow Times.