Emilia Clarke caught up in Russian political drama

Game Of Thrones star Emilia Clarke has found herself at the centre of a Russian political drama after a mayoral hopeful in Yekaterinburg used her image as part of his campaign.

Yakov Silin claimed the actress was a 24-year-old local woman, called Anya, who was happy with the levels of security in the city.

His campaign literature quoted the fictional woman as saying she enjoyed nighttime walks "confident that nobody's going to harass or rape me".

Russian Game of Thrones fans quickly turned on the politician after they realised the photo his campaign leaders were using was that of Clarke, but Silin's supporters claim the photo was chosen to represent the strength of local women.

Referring to her character on the show, a spokesman for the mayoral hopeful says, "We assure you that Daenerys Targaryen is just a beautiful woman here. We don't aspire to her support, but we wouldn't be ashamed to show her around Yekaterinburg."