By Katie Stallard, Russia Correspondent
A Russian artist who fled the country after his satirical paintings of Vladimir Putin were seized by police has been left homeless and desperate in Paris, according to his wife.
Konstantin Altunin left Russia earlier this week after several of his works were removed from a gallery in St Petersburg by police investigating allegations of extremism.
One image showed the Russian president caressing prime minister Dmitry Medvedev while wearing women's underwear,
A painting by the artist Other paintings also impounded included a depiction of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church tattooed with images of Lenin and Stalin, and two others parodying politicians behind controversial new Russian legislation banning so-called 'gay propaganda'.
Mr Altunin's wife Elena has posted an appeal on Russia's equivalent of Facebook, vkontakte, pleading for people to help her husband in Paris.
She wants to join him with their young daughter as she believes they are no longer safe in Russia.
Altunin fled Russia fearing arrest Mrs Altunina wrote: "I am the wife of the artist Kostya Altunin. We urgently need your help.
"Kostya was only earning money with his art, his art was the only source of income in our family. All his paintings are in the Museum of Authorities and are currently under arrest.
"We have spent all our money on Kostya's departure, as there was a big threat of him being arrested on made-up charges of extremism. Moreover we had to borrow money from our friends.
"At the moment, Kostya, me and our two-and-a-half-year-old daughter are on the brink of poverty.
The gallery displaying the painting has been shut down "I urgently need to fly to my husband to France, because it is not safe for us to stay here. We have a small child, who really misses and wants to see her dad."
Mrs Altunina said her husband had nowhere to sleep and would wait in the lobby of the Hotel du Square every day between 10am and 10pm to meet anyone who might be able to help him.
She said: "Kostya has nowhere to live. He at least needs a bed to spend a night somewhere.
The artist's wife claims the family is on the brink of poverty "He needs legal help to get political asylum, help of the translator and simply words of support will be very much appreciated by Kostya. He is really depressed.
"We really need legal advice in order to gather all the necessary documents to leave the country and reclaim his paintings."
Russian police confirmed on Tuesday that they had taken the paintings from the Museum of Authorities gallery - based in two rooms of a flat in St Petersburg - after receiving reports they were illegal.
The police statement gave no further details but Russia does have a law against insulting authorities - an offence that carries a maximum one-year prison term.
St Petersburg deputy Vitaly Mironov, whose face was combined with the gay rights movement's rainbow flag in one of the paintings, said the images were inappropriate and "of a distinctly pornographic character".
The gallery's owner said officers had shut down his establishment and given him no explanation for the removal of paintings from the exhibition, titled 'Leaders'.
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