Putin rival is victim of sex images leak

A WOMAN campaigning to be elected an anti-Vladimir Putin MP next month has had sexually explicit pictures leaked to the media.

Activist Maria Baronova, 32, was shown topless and kissing her female campaign manager in hacked mobile phone images which appeared on a website that backs the Russian leader.

The mum-of-one has not commented directly on the leak but said she “would like to discuss her breasts” after the campaign is over. In the past, she has been banned from leaving Moscow and had her flat raided.

Ms Baronova is backed by Open Russia, a grouping led by former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was jailed after opposing Putin.

In April, activist Natalya Pelevine, 39, was caught in a sex sting with Putin’s former PM Mikhail Kasyanov.