The Russian Investigative Committee – seen as equivalent of the FBI – announced it has launched a probe into the shoot.
A MODEL faces a possible jail sentence in Russia after posing in racy bridal bedroom wear for a wedding magazine shoot in a dilapidated Orthodox church.
Ksenia Kalugina, 23, could suffer a punishment mirroring the treatment Vladimir Putin’s courts meted out to political protest pop group Pussy Riot under the country’s tough hooliganism laws for singing in a Moscow cathedral.
Ksenia Kalugina – dubbed the World’s sexiest bride – faces jail after turning up to church in her knickers for a racy bridal photoshoot.
Father Vladimir, secretary of the Kazan eparchy in Tatarstan, a mainly Muslim region, said the risque shoot was “unacceptable regardless of the church being active or half-ruined”.
Believer Yaroslav Ivanov demanded: “The woman should be punished, the magazine closed, and the church rebuilt.”
The magazine issued an apology to anyone who took offence over the pictures in the church, built in 1897.
“When conducting the photo session we had no intention to offend the religious feelings of believers,” read the statement.
“The building was seen as abandoned, not as an active church.
“We apologise to everyone who was offended by this.”
Others have claimed it is an outrage legal action is contemplated.
Critic Svetlana Maslova said: “There is nothing offensive in the photographs.
“I feel sorry for all participants of this photo session and wish them luck in fighting and winning in court.”
The Russian edition of Maxim Online urged: “We sincerely hope that common sense will prevail and that Ksenia – along with the magazine’s editor, photographer and stylist – will not be burned in fire.”
It feared that being a model was becoming “one of the most dangerous professions”.
Potentially, the model, photographers and editors of the magazine — Sovet da lyubov — can be handed maximum three year jail sentences
The magazine issued an apology to anyone who took offence over the pictures in the church, built in 1897
At Ksenia’s own wedding earlier this month, she is seen posing in a forest rather than a church.
The Kremlin website says the aim of the law is to punish “clear and obvious disrespect for society and intent to offend religious believers’ feelings.
“The maximum penalty for such offences is imprisonment for up to one year.
“If the offence is committed in a place specifically intended for holding worship, the maximum penalty can be up to three years imprisonment.”