Russians gathered on Saturday in the city of St Petersburg for a chocolate fair with one rather special guest.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was in attendance, except this Putin was made of chocolate.

A St. Petersburg sculptor, Nikita Gusev, was commissioned to fashion the life-size sculpture for the Chocolate Fair.

Around 70 kilograms of chocolate were needed to make it, supplied by a local confectionery company.

Gusev said he had previously made small sculptures of Stalin, Peter and Catherine the Great and Michael Jackson. The idea of making a sculpture of Putin came when fair organisers remembered a chocolate sculpture of Pope Francis given as a gift to him as the head of the Catholic Church.

Full-size chocolate Putin statue weighs 70 kilos, featured at a fair in St. Petersburg 1:22

Organisers said the Putin sculpture was to be the main attraction at the fair but warned there would be no touching, licking or biting allowed. However they decided that after the fair they would offer the sculpture to the president himself, so it will be up to him whether he decides to taste it.

One of those in attendance, St. Petersburg resident Yelena, found it all rather amusing.

"Unfortunately in real life there are many people who want to lick him and even more [when he is] in chocolate form. You understand what I am talking about. We have a lot of people who like to lick the authorities."