A Russian performance artist stripped naked and nailed his testicles to a Red Square cobblestone in protest against the Kremlin’s crackdown on political rights.

Eye-watering footage shows artist Pyotr Pavlensky sitting naked outside Lenin’s Mausoleum in Moscow, Russia, before police covered him with a blanket.

The state-run RIA Novosti news agency said Pavlensky was taken to a police station after being treated in a central Moscow clinic.

The Saint Petersburg-based artist said in a statement posted on the Grani.ru website that he was trying to draw attention to Russian society’s development into a ‘police state’.

Russia marked its annual Police Day holiday on Sunday.

It is not the first time the 29-year-old has resorted to dramatic methods of protest.

He has previously sewn his lips together to demonstrate against the jailing of two female members of the Pussy Riot punk band who staged an anti-Kremlin performance inside Moscow’s main cathedral in 2011.

He was also arrested after wrapping his naked body in barbed wire outside a Saint Petersburg government building in May.

Gym buffs have a reputation for being aggressive and ‘roid raging’.

But this balletic body builder is a law until himself.

During the journey to beef up his chiselled body, it seems Vadim Skornyakova has taken the time to learn the jive, the moonwalk, the funky chicken, and Indian-style dance.

And having built up quite the repertoire, he knew just the place for his debut: Russia’s body building tournament.

Competing for the title at Saint Petersburg’s 25th Cup Championship, Mr Skornyakova took to the stage before a room of rivals to strike his mandatory poses.

But the competitors and their families were left open-mouthed as he, instead, burst into a fully-fledged dance routine.

He emerges on to the stage sideways, with arms outstretched in the style of traditional Indian dance.

For good measure he throws in some classic body building poses – before jumping into some token jive moves that celebrity contestants on Strictly Come Dancing strive to master.

Singing along to the music – now a primary school song – he completes the performance with a moonwalk, some kicks and an artful spin before skipping off, leaving his competitors screaming and applauding.

The Russian video has attracted viewers from all over the world, mesmerised by Mr Skornyakova’s technique.

The host shakes his head in disbelief saying: ‘Well… Vadim is an incredibly positive person!’

One fan wrote on YouTube: ‘He had so much fun, this is so inspiring.’

Another said: ‘I hope he won. I will be watching this again.’

A bomb blast rocked a passenger bus in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on Monday, killing at least five people and injuring 17 others, officials said.

The blast was caused by “an unspecified explosive device,” the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement.

There was no immediate information about who might have carried out the bombing or why. The anti-terrorism agency, which is part of the Federal Security Service, said investigators were on the scene.

A total of 40 people were on the city bus at the time of the explosion, said Irina Gogolyeva, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Situations Ministry. She said at least five died and 17 were injured.

Many of the injured were hospitalized in serious condition, the state news agency ITAR-Tass reported.

Russia’s top Islamic cleric has protested a provincial court order to declare a translation of the Quran as extremist and to destroy it. Ravil Gainutdin, the head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, said in an open letter to President Vladimir Putin released Monday that the ruling was “illiterate” and “provocative.” The Quran is available in Russian translation, but the court last week ruled that the translation by Elmir Kuliyev published in Saudi Arabia in 2002 violated federal law banning extremist materials. Gainutdin said that the “Russian Muslims were appalled by the neglect of law shown by the court” in the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk and demanded that the verdict be revoked. He said the court’s order to destroy the Muslim holy book was particularly outrageous.

It’s quite ironic how after actor Wentworth Miller and diva Cher declined invitations from Russia to attend a film festival and open the Sochi Olympics, respectively, now there are reports that the Eurasian country has turned down a visa request by pop star Selena Gomez to stage a couple of shows there. As a result of the visa denial, the 21-year-old entertainer has canceled her supposed gigs at St. Petersburg’s IcePalace on September 23 and at Moscow’s Olimiisky Stadium on September 25.

Since Madonna and Lady GaGa‘s onstage expression of support for the Russian LGBT community during their 2012 shows there, the Russian government has grown more cautious about concert performers coming over and openly speaking out against Russia’s anti-gay legislation. They have not taken exception to Gomez, who they think will also likely use her upcoming concert as a platform to express her stance on gay rights.

“This cancellation of Selena Gomez’s visa shows that the Russian government is sensitive and on the defense, and shows that the pressure from people all around the world and the backlash against these laws is strong,” said gay rights activist John Becker in a statement.