Russian customs officer monument will be set up in Smolensk. The prototype for the sculpture is Pavel Vereshchagin, the hero of the White Sun of the Desert.

      The popular Soviet movie’s main character played by Pavel Luspekayev has long become the symbol of the Russian customs.

      Last October the Federal Customs Service announced the competition for the best sculpture project. Out of the 14 projects suggested the department selected the one which conveys Vereshchagin’s personality traits best of all.

      The Moscow artist Yekaterina Koval is working on the sculpture.