ALMATY, Kazakhstan, May 6 (UPI) -- Armless Kazakh artist Karipbek Kuyukov says Britain denied him a visa because he could not provide fingerprints.

Kuyukov sought the visa at the British Embassy in the Kazakh capital of Almaty so he could attend a nuclear non-proliferation conference in the United Kingdom last month.


He said was photographed from several perspectives to document his physical condition but soon after received a letter rejecting his visa request because of "poor quality" biometrics, Voice of Russia reported Sunday, citing Kazakh news website Tengrinews.

Kuyukov said in a Facebook post the letter urged him to submit a new application "making sure the biometrics are of good quality." A footnote to the letter said biometrics referred to fingerprints.

"I was asked to submit new fingerprints, although it's physically impossible for me to do so," said Kuyukov, an anti-nuclear activist who was born without hands in a settlement close to the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and taught himself to paint using his teeth and toes.