The St. Petersburg branch of Russia's ruling United Russia party said on Wednesday it will apologize for a controversial poster campaign which placed historic residents of the city beside the party logo.
Poet Alexander Bloc, rock musician Viktor Tsoi and composer Dmitry Shostakovich were among the faces chosen to endorse the United Russia Party in a campaign celebrating the 308th anniversary of Russia's northern capital.
The campaign sparked outrage among relatives and fans of the cultural icons, who said it constituted a desecration of the memories of the deceased.
"This campaign is an absolute idiocy, I have no other words to describe it!" Russian writer Alexander Arkhangelsky said.
His view was echoed by St Petersburg resident Oleg Barantsev, 35: "They [United Russia] have long been living in a dream world. The fact that their popularity ratings are dropping does not seem to bother them."
Under Russian law, a person's image can only be used with their permission, or with permission from their relatives if they have died. Shostakovich's granddaughter Anastasia Chukovskaya said no one in her family was consulted about the poster campaign.
"We are extremely angry," she said. "These posters mean that Shostakovich is promoting United Russia. This does not correspond to our family's interests. We do not want to have any relation to this party."
Deputy head of United Russia's St. Petersburg branch Andrei Tanner, who helped organize the campaign, said the outrage came as a surprise to him as it had not even crossed his mind to ask for permission to use the iconic figures.
"I'll try to contact all these people in the nearest future and apologize for any unpleasantness caused by our campaign," Tanner said.
Journalist Olga Romanova said the incident was an example of the United Russia party destroying a good idea by implementing it for political ends.
"United Russia would have improved its image if it had presented the images of the famous St. Petersburg residents in a modest way rather than using them to promote its own interests," Romanova said. "Then maybe St. Petersburg residents, especially children, could have learned something new about the famous poets, artists and scientists on display."
ST. PETERSBURG, May 25 (RIA Novosti, Tsvetelina Miteva)
