According to a police source, two women and a man entered the Grevin Museum posing as tourists and, once inside, changed their clothes to pass for workers.

The activists slipped out through an emergency exit with the wax work, estimated to be worth 40,000 euros, which they had covered up.

The museum said that the activists had called to promise that the statue would be returned "unharmed".

"They had clearly done their research very thoroughly," a museum spokeswoman told AFP.

According to the spokeswoman, the activists distracted a security guard by asking a question about a disabled access lift, while some of them donned maintenance coats.

After making away with the Macron wax figure, the Greenpeace activists placed it in front of the Russian embassy in a protest against the economic ties between France and Russia in the gas, chemical fertilizer and nuclear sectors.

The action in front of the embassy lasted only a few minutes.

The activists unfurled a Russian flag behind the Macron statue, while one man held up a yellow placard reading "Business is business".

The activists also threw fake banknotes around.

"For us, France is playing a double game," said Jean-Francois Julliard, head of Greenpeace France.

"Emmanuel Macron embodies this double discourse: he supports Ukraine but encourages French companies to continue trading with Russia," Julliard said.

Julliard said Greenpeace targeted Macron because he had a particular responsibility, adding that the French president "should be the first" among European leaders to end trade contracts with Russia.

France has been one of the most vocal supporters of Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Macron has taken the lead in seeking to forge a coordinated European response to defend Ukraine, after US President Donald Trump shocked the world by directly negotiating with Russia.

The wax figure of Jacques Chirac was stolen from the Grevin Museum in 1983, when he was mayor of Paris. The statue was found a few days later at the Vincennes Zoo.

The statue of Valery Giscard d'Estaing was stolen by angry motorcyclists during his term at the Elysee Palace between 1974 and 1981.

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