Inhabitants* of Russia’s southern city of Stavropol are trying to save a forest endangered* by a property development by hanging photos of President Vladimir Putin on the trees, a report said on Friday.

The local authorities had decided to construct a residential quarter* in the zone and had already started cutting the trees, but a group of residents opposed* to the scheme thought that they would be able to save their forest thanks to the magic of Putin.

“The mayor of Stavropol says all the time that he supports the president. We thought that he wouldn’t dare touch the image of Putin,” Olga Gavrish, one of the residents, said.

The woodcutters “cut only the trunks without the photos of Putin. If there is his portrait* on the trunk, they are afraid,” another resident, Inna Bakulina, said.

The residents patrol every evening to make sure that the photos of the president are not pulled off.