SIMFEROPOL, June 10. /TASS/. Russian nationals raised about five million rubles (about $77,265) for a monument honoring ‘polite people’, the phrase denoting the Russian servicemen who were in Crimea during preparations for a referendum on the self-determination of the peninsula in March 2014, a senior Crimean parliamentarian told reporters on Friday.

The monument has been installed in the center of Crimea’s Simferopol and will be unveiled on Saturday. According to Valery Aksyonov, deputy head of the committee for construction and housing services, donations varied from 500,000 rubles to modest sums of 100 to 200 rubles.

The idea to put up a monument to ‘polite people,’ the notion, which is firmly associated in Crimea with the moves to assist Crimea’s reunification with Russia in March 2014, came from local parliamentarians. The monument is a sculpture of a Russian soldier with a kitten in his hands.

The monument that will be unveiled on Saturday morning, has no pedestal so that people could easily make photos. A small public garden was laid out nearby. ‘Polite people’ guarded the vital facilities, the polling stations and governmental buildings in the Republic of Crimea during the referendum.

On the day marking two years after the unification referendum, Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov suggested making the slogan ‘polite Crimea’ the brand of the peninsula and align the sphere of services with it.

Voyentorg (Russian Army’s official outfitter) obtained a patent for the ‘polite people’ phrase and began to use it on its products at the end of 2014. Clothes where the phrase is combined with the profile of a helmeted man with a Kalashnikov in his arms and a cat sitting nearby enjoy particular popularity with the customers.

In October 2015, Voyentorg opened a store at Simferopol international airport.