"They may criticise but clearly they are still interested. If they don't
understand the difference between eroticism and porn, then I can only feel
sorry for them."
Rodionova, a business school graduate, has posed naked stroking a stuffed bear
and lying on a Soviet era propaganda banner surrounded by Russian police
officers. She has also appeared wearing only a pair of dark glasses under a
portrait of Leonid Brezhnev, the former Soviet leader, in the arms of a soldier
who caresses her as several other conscripts wait their turn.
Rich Moscovites are just as shocked by the fact that her husband, Sergei
Rodionov, a banking and publishing mogul, encourages her. He is even said to
have paid for some of her photo shoots.
"I took her first nude pictures myself," said Rodionov, 44, who has been told
by some business associates that his wife's behaviour is tantamount to
adultery.
"Then she started posing for professional photographers. I told her the gossip
will fade whereas the pictures will stay for ever and when she is 90 she will
look at them and say 'Look what a beautiful woman I was'. I am proud of her."
Many Russian men like to draw attention to their wives' physical attributes.
But in the upper echelons of Moscow society Rodionova, who has worked with top
photographers such as Helmut Newton, is unique.
"A beautiful young wife is a must for a rich Russian," said one Moscow
socialite. "It gives status, just like having a villa in the south of France,
luxury cars and bodyguards. But their wives are meant to look good and spend
their time buying expensive clothes, not taking them off as a career.
"Wealthy men here have mistresses but they are very conservative when it comes
to their spouses. The last thing they want is for their business partners and
rivals to pore over pictures of their naked wife."
