The Russian government has called for the world's top ballet to reinstate a ballerina who was fired amid allegations that she was too heavy for male dancers to lift.

　　Russia's Labour Ministry says the Bolshoi Theater should take Anastasia Volochkova back, but acknowledged that the final decision rests with the theatre. The ballerina, who weighs less than eight stone and is five feet six inches tall, called talk of her weight "humiliating and absurd for Russian ballet."

　　Labour Ministry spokesman Andrei Pryanishnikov insisted that the ministry's announcement that Volochkova's firing violating Russian labor laws and its call for her reinstatement had always been a recommendation.

　　The Bolshoi said that it had not changed its decision to fire the ballerina, despite the Labor Ministry's intervention. However, it said that talks about her future were ongoing.

　　At a tour appearance last week in Ukraine, Volochkova said she wouldn't return to the Bolshoi unless she gets starring roles.