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Hardcore pornography was shown on TV screens positioned around a children's ice-skating rink when sets inside a shopping centre were 'hacked' in St Petersburg.

An investigation is under way in the Russian city after the raunchy clip appeared while youngsters enjoyed the Rio shopping centre's rink.

The centre's managers said they will punish those responsible.

It is believed that hackers broadcast the porn film in place of the public information messages and advertisements that normally appear on the screens.

Fortunately, there was no sound with the four-minute clip and most children on the ice did not even notice the rude interruption.

(Image: CEN) (Image: CEN)

The ice rink was installed in the shopping centre as somewhere for parents to leave their children while they shop.

Video footage of the incident, shot by an witness with a smartphone, is proving popular online where it sparked a lively debate among viewers.

The clip was posted with the comment: "Skating on children’s rink and watching porn."

(Image: CEN)

One user, ‘gost’ said: "Have you tried jailing people who do that?"

But ‘Dvoyniye standarti’ argued: "For many years, the entire country got porn on the Dom 2 reality show on TV. Nobody got punished, nobody got jailed.

"Here they showed the video for only four minutes and people start panicking. Stop being hypocrites."

St Petersburg, the world's most northerly major city, is regarded as Russia's cultural capital.