Putin’s Wax Figure is First Copy of World Leader to Appear in Serbia Museum

Regardless of whether or not people like Vladimir Putin, one thing is clear – he is one of the world’s most popular leaders. When museum workers in the Serbian city of Jagodina decided to launch a series of wax figures, guess whose copy was the first one to be installed? Of course, the wax figure of the Russian president.

Museum authorities in Jagodina, a town some 130 kilometers south of Belgrade, built the wax figure of Vladimir Putin, which became the museum's very first wax figure of a foreign leader, the German TV channel N-TV said.

As many as 2,500 people lined up to see the new wax figure, the source said.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic attended the opening ceremony of Putin's wax figure. Dacic said Putin is a "strong political partner" of Serbia, before noting that the Russian president's wax figure "was the best work of art in the museum" because it looks so much like the original, N-TV reported.

Together with Putin's wax figure, the museum has also put the figures of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic and former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, as well as renowned Serbian athletes — tennis player Novak Djokovic and ex-NBA player Vlade Divac, the German TV channel said.

Last year, magazine New Serbian Political Thought carried out a poll among Serbian residents, asking them whom out of all foreign leaders they trusted the most. The survey showed that Vladimir Putin had the most trust — 36.1 percent of Serbian residents, while Angela Merkel, the second most popular foreign head of state, had 7.3 percent.