An MP's campaign to protect vulnerable minors by removing a Greek god's genitals from Russian banknotes has met with failure.

Roman Khudyakov had argued that catching a glimpse of Apollo's naked loins on the 100-rouble note could be damaging to children and the notes should therefore be taken out of circulation.

But the deputy, an ultra-nationalist with the Liberal Democratic Party in Russia's State Duma lower house of parliament, was put in his place by a letter from the Central Bank, Izvestiya reported on Friday.

The newspaper said a deputy chairman of the bank had written to the MP explaining that the offending illustration was not pornographic, as he had claimed, but in fact too small to be offensive.

The 100-rouble note features an image of the statue of Apollo riding his four-horsed chariot that sits atop the portico of the Bolshoi Theatre in central Moscow. In it, the god's robe is pulled slightly above his waist to reveal a very faint and small depiction of his private parts.

To read the complete article, see:Russia rejects appeal to ban 'pornographic' bank note(www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/11051282/Russia-rejects-appeal-to-ban-pornographic-bank-note.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
RUSSIAN LAWMAKER WANTS APOLLO'S GENITALS REMOVED(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n29a25.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: JULY 20, 2014 : More on the 100 Ruble Note Picturing Apollo Statue(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n30a07.html)