BELGRADE (AFP).- A Serbian museum introduced Wednesday a wax figure of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a sign of gratitude to the Balkan country's traditional ally, Tanjug news agency reported.

The figure was introduced at a ceremony attended by a few thousand people including Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic who said Russia was a "strong political partner" and praised Putin's support for Serbia.

In the 1990s, Serbia was a pariah state under international sanctions due to the aggressive wartime policy of then strongman Slobodan Milosevic and eventually was bombed by NATO over his violent Kosovo policy.

Kosovo in 2008 declared independence from Serbia, a move  recognised by more than 100 countries, including the United States and most of EU countries. 

Both Serbia and Russia rejected the move, and Moscow has threatened to veto Kosovo's UN membership bid at the UN Security Council.

Putin is the first foreigner to be represented at Serbia's only museum of wax figures, in the central town of Jagodina.  

According to cable television channel N1, the Putin figure immediately drew interest of some 2,500 people who queued to see it.

"It looks like him, like he arrived here," one woman told N1.

Dacic said the model of Putin was "the best piece of art made in the museum, the one that looks the most like the original." 

The museum's exhibition features some 30 figures, including  Milosevic, who died in a prison cell in The Hague in 2006 and slain reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic.

Serbian sports stars are also on display including tennis world number one Novak Djokovic and former NBA star Vlade Divac.



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