Two Russian university students who named a beer bar after President Vladimir Putin have dropped the name after coming under pressure from authorities, officials said Wednesday. The front entrance was adorned with a judo kimono - in honor of one of Putin's favorite sports - and the menu featured an array of Putin-inspired items, including Baltika beer from St. Petersburg and cookies stamped with Putin's initials.

The bar enjoyed an early rush of publicity when it was launched last month. But after Putin spoke out at a Kremlin press conference against what many call the cult of personality surrounding him - specifically mentioning the Chelyabinsk bar - the two students, Yevgeniya Borishpolskaya and Yelena Terekh, said officials began to pressure them to change the bar's name.

Borishpolskaya said police officers, business inspectors, and health officials made frequent spot checks on the bar, making normal business impossible. "They simply tormented us," she told the local newspaper Chelyabinsky Rabochy. "How can the government proclaim that it's supporting small business? Our parents are saying, 'We're afraid for you."' After meeting with Valery Tretyakov, the federal inspector for the Chelyabinsk region, the bar owners took down the "Putin" sign, leaving only one that reads "Pepsi-Cola."