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Huge statue of Prince Vladimir may be placed near Kremlin in Moscow

Muscovites have voted that a huge statue of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, who baptised Russia some 1,000 years ago, should be unveiled in Borovitskaya Square

© Artyom Korotayev/TASS

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. Over one-third of Muscovites have voted that a huge statue of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, who baptised Russia some 1,000 years ago, should be unveiled in a square next to the Kremlin, the Active Citizen project said on its website on Thursday.

"A total of 34.67% [of Muscovites] votes for Borovitskaya Square," the statement said.

Lubyanka Square, the former home of famous statue of Bolshevik revolutionary "Iron" Felix Dzerzhinsky, got 32.12% of the votes.

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More than 234,500 Muscovites took part in the vote.

Moscow city authorities have announced plans earlier to unveil the Prince Vladimir monument on the bank of the Moskva river on November 4, when Russia marks People's Unity Day.

The 25-metre statue featuring the prince with an Orthodox cross in his hands was supposed to overlook Moscow from Sparrow Hills, the capital's highest point, with its back to one of the famous Stalin skyscrapers, Moscow State University.

The Russian Military-Historical Society urged the Moscow authorities to find a different location for the statue, commemorating 1,000 years since Prince Vladimir's death.

The society said that plans to unveil the statue on Sparrow Hills "raised public concerns" and could be dangerous as the land in this area was unstable.

More than 50,000 Muscovites signed an online petition against the statue's construction, fearing the 330-tonne monument could slide down the hill, a popular tourist site.

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