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MOSCOW: Scaffolding surrounds the vast clay sculpture-in-progress inside a warehouse on Moscow's outskirts, yet already the statue of Vladimir the Great has caused an outcry as big as the monument itself.

The 24-metre (78-feet) high likeness of the man who brought Christianity to Kievan Rus - the forerunner of modern Russia and Ukraine - is set to tower over the capital, the latest potent symbol in a surge of patriotism taking hold in Russia.

Prince Vladimir is revered as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church and a hero by others, including the noted sculptor of the work, Salavat Shcherbakov. But not all Moscow agrees.

"Vladimir is our founding father" Shcherbakov told AFP, comparing the 10th-century leader to America's George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.

"He's a figure whom the people, the country, can rely on. And he is important right now" he said, working on the ornate robes as Vladimir looms above, right hand raised high ready to hold a cross.

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