Vladimir Putin has been hailed “Bellend of the Year” by a group of English villagers – who marked his endowing by erecting a golden, penis-headed statue of the Russian president.
The effigy, put up in protest against Moscow’s nine-month invasion of Ukraine, appeared on Thursday morning alongside a street sign in the centre of the Worcestershire village.
Eggs were provided to villagers and passers-by which could be thrown at the likeness of the Russian president.
The organiser of the protest, who wished to remain anonymous, told the PA news agency: “I needed to award somebody with the Bellend of the Year award and I thought there was one person who has universally been a bellend this year – and that’s Vladimir Putin.
“You could just throw eggs at the statue, which people did so willingly and quite happily.
“It’s been very well received. One person said, ‘I thought it was my boss for a second’.”
The co-ordinator said they plan to create and sell miniatures of the statue to raise money for a charity supporting Ukrainian refugees.
“I’ve seen over the course of the year the devastation that has happened in Ukraine and that so many lives that have been displaced as a result of the war,” they said.
“So I thought, ‘I really want to help out and I want to do my bit and I want to try and raise some money to help those individuals’.”
The organiser said they want to stay anonymous to keep the “mystique” around the statue, with a further explanation about how it came to be in the village just outside Birmingham to be revealed in the coming days.
Describing how the artwork was made, they said: “I don’t know what the material is but I gave to a couple of artists and they cut it out over two or three weeks.
“Then we painted it and made a plinth, which obviously had the sign Bellend of the Year just to make sure there was absolutely no way to deny what he actually was.
“The message is pretty simple – it’s exactly what it says on the tin.”
Just last month a nude effigy of Mr Putin perched on top of an ornate golden toilet was put up for auction by a group of Czech activists who plan to use the proceeds from the sale to buy and send a combat drone to Ukraine’s forces.
Parodying a monarch holding an orb and sceptre, the Russian leader was seen to be gripping a glided toilet brush and minature washing machine pouring with what appeared to be fake blood. The starting price was set at €10,000 (£8,600). The auction will close on 20 December.
Earlier on Thursday, Moscow said that it was not planning any ceasefires in Ukraine over the festive period.
When asked about the possibility of a New Year’s Ceasefire, Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov told a news briefing: “There will be a total ceasefire only when not a single occupier remains on our land.”
The Kremlin’s top spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said on Wednesday that there will be no “Christmas ceasefire” in Ukraine.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
