‘Haven’t they seen Michelangelo’s paintings?’: Male MP slams critics of his semi-naked photoshoot

A regional MP for the ruling United Russia party has shocked Instagram by publishing a series of arty shirtless photos. He also attacked critics for having no clue about Renaissance art.

Many politicians claim they have nothing to hide from their voters, but that’s literally the case when it comes to Oleg Koltashov, a city council member in Kurgan in the Russia Urals. The 50-year-old man raised many eyebrows after posting a shirtless black and white photoshoot of himself on social media.

The media backlash forced Koltashov to close his Instagram account, but he was still eager to defend his modeling work.

“Maybe the authors of the articles have insufficient level of culture? They haven’t seen the paintings of Michelangelo or they are far from the ancient symbolism,” the MP wondered.

In one of the photos, the politician seems to be imitating the pose of Adam, the first man created by God, from Michelangelo’s iconic 1512 fresco ‘The Creation of Adam’.

Another source of inspiration for the photoshoot was the work of 20th century Russian poet, Joseph Brodsky, Koltashov said and even cited one of the lines: “Here I stand, my coat thrown open.”

The executive secretary of the United Russia’s ethics commission, Evgeny Revenko, urged all of the party members to carefully consider their actions on social media when asked to comment on the controversial images.

However, he said that Koltashov, who is part of the budget, finance and tax committees in the Kurgan city council, wouldn’t be punished for the posts in any way. “Obviously, it’s only up to his wife and relatives to evaluate such type of art,” Revenko pointed out.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!