Russia and two of its ex-Soviet neighbours are set to impose a ban on certain types of lace panties, sparking public fury and even a lingerie-themed street protest.
Coming under a complete ban this summer in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus are lace or net knickers that have a high synthetic content, due to a new hygiene rule.
The rule is set to come into force in the Russia-led customs union of the three countries and has prompted plenty of amusement and newspaper photographs of women's bottoms, but also fears over a return to Soviet-style regulation of everyday life.
"Lacy panties are heterosexual propaganda to adults," wrote Moskovsky Komsomolets daily, referring to a recent Russian law banning so-called gay propaganda to minors.
"Bureaucrats are poking into women's knickers," complained Express Gazeta tabloid.
"What? I'm emigrating," Russian pop star Viktoria Daineko wrote on Twitter. Other bloggers mockingly posted pictures of shapeless knee-length undergarments. "Coming soon to all girls in the country," one said.
Underwear retailers raised concerns that much of their sexier lingerie will fall under the ban, while other observers saw a return to Soviet-style arbitrary rules and lack of choice.
In Kazakhstan's former capital of Almaty, three women protested by putting lacy knickers on their heads and attempted to lay them at an independence monument last weekend.
"They have robbed the people so much that we can only give away the last thing we have," said one of the protesters, Zhanna Baitelova, a journalist at Assandi Times newspaper.
"Now they're even deciding what kind of underwear we should put on," she told AFP.
The protesters -- two journalists and an art critic -- were promptly arrested, found guilty of petty hooliganism and ordered to pay fines of around $100.
In Belarus, the leader of opposition party Belarussian People's Front, Alexei Yanukevich, also lashed out at the rule: "They are literally stripping us Belarussians down to our pants!" he said in a statement released by the party.
"First they'll put our women in pantaloons, then they'll put us in wadded jackets," one commentator who gave his name as Vasya wrote grimly on Belarussian independent news website Charter 97, referring to prison uniform.
But not everyone agreed, saying the ban had health benefits.
Svetlana Romanenko, chairwoman of the Consumers' League of Kazakhstan, told AFP: "We are talking here about almost 100-percent synthetic underwear and if it's really harmful to human health, then of course I think this will be better."
Market worth four billion euros
Last year Russian stores complained to the ministry of trade and industry that up to 90 percent of synthetic underwear could disappear from stores due to the ban, which sets minimum absorbency for garment material at six percent.
The InCity brand wrote an appeal saying that the most popular synthetic material in its panties has only three percent absorbency, asking Russia to intervene to change the wording, but this month it emerged that the ban would go ahead on July 1.
The Russian underwear market is worth around four billion euros, according to the Russian union of textiles and light industry. Around 60 percent of this is panties.
Russians prefer to buy imported underwear, which makes up 80 percent of sales.
Strongman Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko this month at a meeting with small business owners acknowledged fears that they will not be able to fulfil the Customs Unions rules.
"I don't want to put a noose on the neck of the Belarussian people because of the Customs Union," Lukashenko said.
In a store for the Milavitsa brand, based in Belarus, an assistant told AFP: "Up to 90 percent of our range is underwear made of synthetics. But the panties have a cotton insert. We're hoping that they won't be banned."
AFP
Sun Feb 23 2014
![Russians up in arms at ban on lacy panties Russians up in arms at ban on lacy panties](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2014-02/41393137636_295x200.jpg)
-AFPpic
![Gol sulung Mbappe bantu Real Madrid juarai Piala Super UEFA Gol sulung Mbappe bantu Real Madrid juarai Piala Super UEFA](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-08/51723679998_KylianMbappe.jpg)
Gol sulung Mbappe bantu Real Madrid juarai Piala Super UEFA
"Ia adalah malam yang hebat. Ia adalah detik yang hebat untuk saya. Dan kami memenangi kejuaraan, yang penting - di Madrid anda perlu sentiasa menang."
![“I love you Am, bahagialah di syurga firdausi” - Aufahanie “I love you Am, bahagialah di syurga firdausi” - Aufahanie](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-08/51723679258_AufahanieNidzaAfh.jpg)
“I love you Am, bahagialah di syurga firdausi” - Aufahanie
Air mata Aufahanie sudah kering meratapi pemergian abang tercinta, Nidza Afham yang ditemui meninggal dunia selepas dilaporkan hilang.
Konsert jelajah: Taylor Swift teruskan konsert London selepas ancaman keganasan
Taylor Swift akan meneruskan persembahan di London pada Khamis, meneruskan jelajah konsert terbesar dunia di tengah-tengah kebimbangan keselamatan susulan cubaan serangan Daesh memaksa pembatalan tarikh konsert di Vienna, minggu lalu.
Taliban rai ulang tahun ketiga pemerintahan Afghanistan
Kerajaan Taliban semalam meraikan ulang tahun ketiga pemerintahannya di Afghanistan dengan perarakan tentera yang memberi penghormatan kepada bom buatan sendiri yang digunakan ketika peperangan, pesawat pejuang dan perbarisan pasukan keselamatan.
![Bapa bintang bola sepak Sepanyol, Lamine Yamal ditikam - Laporan Bapa bintang bola sepak Sepanyol, Lamine Yamal ditikam - Laporan](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-08/61723677980_MounirNasraoui.jpg)
Bapa bintang bola sepak Sepanyol, Lamine Yamal ditikam - Laporan
Mounir Nasraoui, bapa kepada Lamine Yamal, ditikam pada lewat Rabu di tempat letak kereta di bandar Mataro di timur laut Sepanyol.
Warga AS dihukum penjara 15 hari di Rusia kerana bersikap samseng
Mahkamah Moscow menjatuhkan hukuman penjara 15 hari kepada warga Amerika Syarikat Joseph Tater pada Rabu kerana bersikap samseng.
Putin anggap rundingan dengan Ukraine tidak berguna
Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin menyifatkan, tindakan Ukraine yang menyerang orang awam memperlihatkan keengganan Kyiv menyelesaikan konflik peperangan dua negara dengan cara perdamaian.
Fadillah tiba di Peru, hadiri mesyuarat menteri-menteri tenaga APEC 2024
Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof tiba Lima, Peru bagi menghadiri Mesyuarat Menteri-Menteri Tenaga (EMM) di bawah Kerjasama Ekonomi Asia Pasifik (APEC) yang berlangsung selama dua hari.
BNM denda Maybank RM4.32 juta, CIMB RM760,000 berikutan gangguan perkhidmatan berpanjangan
Bank Negara Malaysia mengenakan Penalti Monetari Pentadbiran (AMP) sebanyak RM4.32 juta ke atas Malayan Banking Bhd dan Maybank Islamic Bhd serta RM760,000 ke atas CIMB Bank Bhd dan CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd susulan gangguan beberapa perkhidmatan perbankan yang berpanjangan.
![Pertubuhan kebajikan New Zealand mohon maaf edar gula-gula bercampur dadah Methamphetamine Pertubuhan kebajikan New Zealand mohon maaf edar gula-gula bercampur dadah Methamphetamine](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-08/41723674988_pineapplesweetsme.jpg)
Pertubuhan kebajikan New Zealand mohon maaf edar gula-gula bercampur dadah Methamphetamine
Auckland City Mission secara tidak sengaja telah mengagihkan gula-gula bercampur Methamphetamine yang boleh membawa maut melalui pek makanan.
![Olimpik Paris: Altet Rusia, Belarus dibenar bertanding Olimpik Paris: Altet Rusia, Belarus dibenar bertanding](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-12/71702084099_TBRussianOlympic.jpg)
Olimpik Paris: Altet Rusia, Belarus dibenar bertanding
Keputusan IOC itu mengesahkan langkah yang dimulakan setahun lalu untuk mengintergrasikan semula Rusia dan sekutu tenteranya Belarus.
![Perisikan AS dapat petunjuk awal pemberontakan tentera Wagner Perisikan AS dapat petunjuk awal pemberontakan tentera Wagner](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-06/61687661981_Russia.jpg)
Perisikan AS dapat petunjuk awal pemberontakan tentera Wagner
Agensi perisik AS mengesan beberapa petunjuk mendakwa Yevgeny Prigozhin sedang bersiap sedia menentang pertahanan Moscow.
![Belarus akan terima senjata nuklear pada Julai - Putin Belarus akan terima senjata nuklear pada Julai - Putin](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-06/81686434345_VladimirPutin.jpg)
Belarus akan terima senjata nuklear pada Julai - Putin
Putin berkata persiapan di kemudahan berkaitan akan diselesaikan pada 7 dan 8 Julai sebelum pemindahan senjata nuklear dilaksanakan.
![Kelayakan Euro 2024: Ukraine dapat 'lampu hijau' Kelayakan Euro 2024: Ukraine dapat 'lampu hijau'](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-04/81682397004_UkraineFootball.jpg)
Kelayakan Euro 2024: Ukraine dapat 'lampu hijau'
Ukraine akan terus beraksi dalam kempen Kelayakan Euro 2024 meskipun sebelum ini dilarang daripada menyertai sebarang kejohanan yang membabitkan penyertaan wakil dari Rusia dan Belarus.
![Rusia tempatkan senjata nuklear taktikal di Belarus, pertama kali sejak 1990-an Rusia tempatkan senjata nuklear taktikal di Belarus, pertama kali sejak 1990-an](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-03/71679793371_VladimirPutin.jpg)
Rusia tempatkan senjata nuklear taktikal di Belarus, pertama kali sejak 1990-an
Rusia bakal tempatkan senjata nuklear taktikal di Belarus, kali pertama sejak 1990-an.
![Biaya protes antikerajaan, Pemenang Hadial Nobel 2022 dipenjara 10 tahun Biaya protes antikerajaan, Pemenang Hadial Nobel 2022 dipenjara 10 tahun](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-03/71677844386_AlesBialiatski.jpg)
Biaya protes antikerajaan, Pemenang Hadial Nobel 2022 dipenjara 10 tahun
Ales Bialiatski dan rakan-rakannya dituduh menyalurkan dana Viasna kepada tahanan politik dan membantu membayar yuran guaman mereka.
![Krisis Rusia-Ukraine: Zelenskyy rayu Belarus tidak bekerjasama dengan Rusia Krisis Rusia-Ukraine: Zelenskyy rayu Belarus tidak bekerjasama dengan Rusia](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2022-06/81655527181_VolodymyrZelenskyy.jpg)
Krisis Rusia-Ukraine: Zelenskyy rayu Belarus tidak bekerjasama dengan Rusia
Kepimpinan Rusia kini cuba untuk mengajak rakyat Belarus dalam peperangan dan menyemai kebencian terhadap Ukraine.
![Lebih 60 atlet Rusia, Belarus dihalang sertai maraton Boston Lebih 60 atlet Rusia, Belarus dihalang sertai maraton Boston](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2022-04/81649435620_BostonAthleticAsso.jpg)
Lebih 60 atlet Rusia, Belarus dihalang sertai maraton Boston
Bagaimanapun, rakyat di kedua-dua negara yang tinggal di luar negara boleh menyertai acara itu dengan syarat tidak menggunakan bendera negara asal mereka.
![BWF batalkan kejohanan di Rusia, Belarus BWF batalkan kejohanan di Rusia, Belarus](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2021-05/61620854063_BWF.jpg)
BWF batalkan kejohanan di Rusia, Belarus
BWF mengambil keputusan membatalkan kesemua kejohanan yang mendapat pengiktirafannya di Rusia dan Belarus sehingga diberitahu kelak berikutan operasi khas tentera Rusia di Ukraine.
![Rundingan antara Ukraine dan Rusia sudah bermula - Laporan Rundingan antara Ukraine dan Rusia sudah bermula - Laporan](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2022-02/51646046882_TBLVIV.jpg)
Rundingan antara Ukraine dan Rusia sudah bermula - Laporan
Menurut Reuters, rundingan diadakan di Kediaman Rumyantsev-Paskevich di Istana Gomel, Belarus.