OREL, Russia (AP) — Despite local protests and court battles, the Russian city of Orel has unveiled the country's first monument to Czar Ivan the Terrible.

At the Friday ceremony inaugurating the statue of Ivan on horseback, wielding both a sword and a cross, the region's governor likened the brutal czar to current Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Vadim Potomsky says "we have a great, powerful president who has forced the whole world to respect and defer to Russia — just like Ivan the Terrible did in his time." He spoke in Orel, a city 350 kilometers (225 miles) south of Moscow.

Ivan, who reigned from 1547 to 1584, was responsible for violence including the Novgorod Massacre, which killed thousands, and is believed to have slain even his own son.