Russia blocks satirical artworks going to German show

BERLIN, May 23 (Reuters) Russia has refused to ship six works of art, including two which poke fun at President Vladimir Putin, to a German art gallery for an exhibition, saying they could spark a row, the curator said.

The Staedtische Gallerie in the former communist east German city of Dresden, where Putin was a KGB agent in the 1980s, got a letter from shipping firm ExpART saying Moscow's customs office had turned down a request for the works to be transported.

''The listed artworks were considered as subject for the 'unleash(ing) of...international dissention' by the Moscow Customs,'' ExpART General Director Gleb Makarevich wrote, in English, to the Dresden gallery.

''Our company deeply apologises for the inconvenience made by such a brutal decision of the Customs,'' said the letter yesterday, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

The gallery opens an exhibition tomorrow of about 40 works of contemporary Moscow artists called ''Learning from Moscow''.

''This is a setback for us and comes at a time when Russian authorities seem to be getting stricter and tightening the screws,'' gallery curator Johannes Schmidt told Reuters.

''You hear about more authoritarian rule in Russia and this all seems to be part of the same thing,'' he added.

Two of the six works of art, from various Moscow art galleries, poke fun at Putin.

One, by Konstantin Latyshev, superimposes Putin's face onto an image of poet Alexander Pushkin, regarded by many Russians as a national hero, in his traditional pose. The word ''Putkin'', a name used mockingly by some Putin critics, is written below.

Another, by the Blue Noses Group and entitled ''The Candle of our Life'' is reminiscent of Russian religious iconography.

In a trinity-style picture, Jesus sits in the middle baring chest and beer belly. Pushkin, in a red T-shirt, is on one side, lighting Jesus's candle with a cigarette lighter and Putin leans in towards him from the other side.

The other banned pictures show images of Osama bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, Pope Benedict and Muslim women's veils and mosque minarets.

The decisions comes at a time of international concern about human rights and democracy in Putin's Russia.

Only last week German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Putin clashed over democracy at an EU-Russia summit after Russian police prevented opposition leaders from flying to take part in a protest march.

REUTERS SM RAI0920