Greenpeace activists swipe Emmanuel Macron waxwork from Paris’s Grevin Museum before using it in anti-Russia protest

A WAX figure of French president Emmanuel Macron was yesterday stolen by Greenpeace activists — then used in an anti-Russia protest.

The £35,000 depiction of the 47-year-old head of state has often been compared to a Thunderbird puppet, or a Ken and Barbie doll.

Two women and a man disguised as staff took the £35,000 model from Paris’s Grevin Museum.

They placed the figure in front of the Russian embassy, urging France to halt gas and fertiliser imports from Moscow.

Greenpeace’s Jean-Francois Julliard said: “France is playing a double game.

"Macron embodies this. He supports Ukraine but encourages French firms to continue trading with Russia.”

When it was created in 2018, even museum staff admitted the Macron waxwork did not look much like Mr Macron.

Grevin's director, Yves Delhommeau, said: “A tense and anguished face, a frozen statue that doesn't live, this is not beautiful, it is something that just doesn't work.”

Mr Delhommeau said President Macron did not meet with them in order to scan his face, so sculptors were forced to work with pictures of the 40-year-old.

Others went online to ridicule the model, saying it was one of the worst depictions of a public figure ever made.

The Grevin Museum is often compared to Madame Tussauds, the wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French sculptor Marie Tussaud.

Like the British version, Grevin displays the waxworks of numerous famous figures from around the world.

Both museums are massive tourist attractions, with hundreds of thousands of visitors enjoying the waxworks every year.