A former policeman has revealed how he has lived for ten years with a bullet wedged in his brain.
Vladimir Krutov, 36, was given a one in a million chance to survive after he was hit in a gangland shoot-out in St. Petersburg.
Remarkable X-rays show how the bullet remains stuck inside the top of the Russian policeman's head, with surgeons refusing to remove it due to a 99 percent risk of death from surgery.
According to Vladimir, the shot - from a 7.62-caliber Nagan revolver - entered the base of his skull and passed through his entire brain.
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Fellow policeman Dmitry Voronin, then 26, was killed in the shoot-out, which took place after the officers stumbled across a gang robbery on a gaming centre.
Doctors were astonished that the police sergeant - who took invalidity pension after the shooting - has gone on to live a normal life, marrying wife Marina, 36, and is now the proud father of a daughter Varvara, five months.
The bullet inside his head measures three quarters of an inch, by one third of an inch.
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It left a hole more than one inch in diameter in the base of his skull.
Speaking about the moment he was shot, Vladimir said: "We noticed three men with clearly criminal faces, and challenged them."
A fight ensued and he remembers his colleague shouting: "Vova (Vladimir), there's a gun..."
The pair were repeatedly punched - Vladimir suffered 20 blows - before their own handcuffs were used on them.
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They were forced to the ground, whereupon convicted murderer Vyacheslav Vorozhtsov shot Dmitry Voronin at short range.
Vladimir continued: "There was a shot, I heard a clap - and something very hot sprinkled on me. Five seconds, another clap - and my lights went out.
"They only came on again nine days later- in Alexandtrovsky Hospital, where I was operated on, had trepanation, and came out of a coma. I was given a one in a million survival chance.
"It was unrealistic to survive when a bullet passes through the whole brain, damaging all parts. When I was in a coma, I had heart failure - and underwent clinical death."
He lost more than half his blood, his jaw was broken in four places and his nose was smashed.
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Vladimir added: "I thought I was in the next world. I was completely paralysed, only the fingers on my left hand worked. People walked around in white gowns, masks."
Yet two months later in October 2010 he walked unaided out of the hospital. He said: "I'm a former sportsman and I fight for my targets. The doctors could not believe their eyes."
Six top neurosurgeons examined him and decided removing the bullet would lead to death.
Vladimir is banned from flying or going to the sauna but he can run nearly a mile, even though he suffers serious headaches.
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"When I go and collect someone from the airport, and go through security, I always cause problems. But I tell them, 'I've got a bullet in my brain.'"