The mural was commissioned for World Pride, the artist behind it originally intended for the world to feature Vladimir Putin with a white russian but the owner said no so now he wears a bear mask

A controversial BDSM-inspired mural of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bear mask and bondage harness has been vandalised.

The painting was defaced using white and black paint in the middle of the night, with the bizarre incident caught on camera.

It depicts a hairy man sprawled over a sofa on top of a Pride flag while drinking a canned drink and while wearing a leather bondage harness and a bear mask.

READ MORE: Russian gardeners forced to buy bulbs for ‘£100’ on black market as Putin pressure grows

The artist behind the world explained that originally the work was Putin drinking a white Russian but the owner of the building vetoed the work.

So they painted over it with the bear mask. Bear is a slang term used by gay men to describe a husky, large bloke, with a lot of body hair.

Posting on Instagram to their 57.5K followers, Scott Marsh said: “Fun #pride commission for the legends at @ycklaneways.

“This work was originally supposed to be of Vladimir Putin as a Russian bear, drinking a white Russian.

“The property owner gave that design a ‘hard no’. So now it’s Putin in a bear mask”.

It was designed to promote local shops during the WorldPride festival but sparked outrage and demands for the ‘creepy and sexualised’ image to be removed from the view of children.

Many commuters branded the work ‘inappropriate’, claiming that children will be attracted to the teddy bear head.

However, the location was close to one of Sydney’s busiest train and bus stations, causing quite a stir.

According to the Daily Mail, a video showing the mural defaced was posted to TikTok.

The caption reads: “Wow! The people have spoken. Power to the people”.

Catlin Roper, a spokesperson for Collective Shout, an organisation that campaigns against the infiltration of pornography into the mainstream, questioned why the mural was painted.

“Whose idea was it to pair a teddy bear with BDSM for a public audience? This is creepy,” one person commented.

Another said: “Why is a teddy bear in bondage meant to represent pride?! The gay community worked hard for years to distance themselves from this sort of representation. Small children will be walking past this”.