The bust of a patrician-style Putin was erected in a Cossack settlement near the village of Agalatovo, the Nevskye Novosty newspaper reported. It's made of synthetic material mimicking bronze and has the president wearing a toga and a medallion adorned with the Russian crest.
"There was this contest of statue projects, some had him wearing the Monomakh's Cap [the old relic of Russian tsars]. I tried those too and also had Putin 'try on' a suit of medieval armor. Why not?" sculptor Pavel Greshnikov, the author of the bust, told the newspaper.
"I am attracted to antiquity, and he is an important historical figure, so why not a Roman emperor?"
The laurel crown, a key feature in original Roman busts, was removed on the insistence of Andrey Polyakov, the Cossack leader who commissioned the statue.
"He is Russian, and with a crown he would look too Roman," he explained.
The bust is a temporary feature, according to Polyakov, and will eventually be replaced with a permanent version twice the size and cast in real bronze.
Polyakov is no stranger to publicity stunts. Last May, he suggested giving Russian citizenship to all descendants of Cossacks living in Alaska, saying it would help with an eventual return of the US state to Russian jurisdiction, reported Fontanka, one of St. Petersburg's major newspapers.
Путин в образе Нерона: http://t.co/hsGALIgRTA Памятник президенту установили под Санкт-Петербургом pic.twitter.com/YPrRKgOQSR
— Эхо Москвы (@EchoMskRu) May 17, 2015
Comment: It appears that APS is similar in many ways to CPS. Yet another government agency in control of the most vulnerable in society is so corrupted by pathologicals that those in 'care' are far more likely to suffer abuse and financial malfeasance from their so-called guardians than from family members.