#7 - JRL 7275
The Sunday Times (UK)
August 3, 2003
Russian porn king sexes up poll race
Mark Franchetti, Moscow
HE has outraged Russian conservatives by filming an orgy in front of a statue of Peter the Great and made enemies of diehard Stalinists with scenes of schoolgirls enjoying sex romps to the beat of the Internationale, the communist anthem.
Now Sergei Pryanishnikov, Russia’s king of pornography, is to challenge the Kremlin by running for the governorship of St Petersburg with a programme to turn the city into the “Amsterdam of the North” that will have more than just canals in common with the liberal Dutch city.
Pryanishnikov, 46, has gathered enough signatures to register as a candidate in next month’s elections. His main rival is Valentina Matviyenko, a former deputy prime minister who is the clear favourite, not least because President Vladimir Putin asked her to run.
“Tsar Peter the Great was inspired by Amsterdam when he built St Petersburg,” Pryanishnikov said last week. “I want to fulfil his dream and turn the city into a better, bigger, new Amsterdam. A city of liberty which will attract millions of tourists and bring in high revenues. I am in favour of red light districts and of having prostitutes in street windows like in Amsterdam,” he added. “By legalising the profession you do away with the mafia, police corruption and the risk of spreading Aids.” He also wants to legalise soft drugs.
Russia’s porn industry is not as developed as that in western Europe. Pryanishnikov claims, somewhat implausibly, to turn over only £1.2m a year, even though he makes a porn movie every month, publishes magazines and distributes western-made films. As part of his campaign he is organising an erotic festival in the city.
His business activities are not without risks, however. In 2000 he was arrested and held in jail for more than a year on suspicion of illegally producing pornography. He was released on condition that he not leave the city. The case is still pending.
Pryanishnikov likes to draw parallels between himself and Larry Flynt, the US porn king who defended his business empire as part of the first amendment right. Flynt won but was the victim of an assassination attempt that confined him to a wheelchair. “All my life I have been fighting these bureaucrats, ever since Soviet days when I used to promote rock music even though it was banned,” Pryanishnikov said.
Controversial or high-profile candidates have a tradition of success among an electorate often distrustful of politicians. Pryanishnikov is among 14 candidates who collected the 37,000 signatures necessary to run on September 21. Most problematic for his campaign is the Kremlin’s backing for Matviyenko, intended by Putin as a shoo-in to replace Vladimir Yakovlev, the former governor, who was sacked after allegedly allowing Russia’s second city to become its crime capital.
Matviyenko, 54, a portly former communist nicknamed “the Iron Lady”, is pledging to clean up St Petersburg and raise salaries and pensions. “She is very shrewd and tougher than most men around her,” said a former colleague. “She can certainly drink most of them under the table if she has to make a point. Anyway, the Kremlin wants her to become governor. So she will become governor.”
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