ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — The artist who fled Russia this week after authorities seized his paintings depicting President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in women’s underwear has begun to take steps to claim permanent asylum in France.
“I don’t want to return to Russia,” Konstantin Altunin said from Paris. “I want to live and work in an atmosphere of freedom.”
Alexander Donskoy — owner of the Museum of Power gallery in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city — said Thursday he has been unable to secure an attorney to help retrieve the paintings, which have gone missing.
The Interior Ministry’s St. Petersburg unit said in a statement on its website that police officials would study the seized paintings to determine whether they violate the law.
