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It's puppy love, as Russia hands over new police dog to French officials

The Russian Federation has officially handed over a puppy to the people of France as a symbolic r...
Newstalk
Newstalk

14.24 8 Dec 2015


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It's puppy love, as Ru...

It's puppy love, as Russia hands over new police dog to French officials

Newstalk
Newstalk

14.24 8 Dec 2015


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The Russian Federation has officially handed over a puppy to the people of France as a symbolic replacement of the Belgian Shepherd police dog that was killed in the line of duty during the terrorist attacks in Paris last month.

Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov gifted the male German Shepherd puppy to France’s ambassador to Russia, Jean-Maurice Ripert, at a ceremony in Moscow that was attended by both French and Russian soldiers.

The dog, Dobrynya, will now remain in quarantine for up to three months, before travelling to France where he will undergo training to take up a role as a working member of the French security forces. The puppy is names after a medieval knight who is regarded in Russian lore a a symbol of “strength, valour, and justice,” Zubov said.

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Russian police puppy Dobrynya will take place of a French service dog Diesel which died in a special operation held in Paris on November 18. [AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin]

“We all mourn the victims of the attacks,” the Interior Minister said at the presentation, referring to the 130 victims of the series of attacks on November 13th. Diesel, a seven-year-old Belgian Shepherd police dog, was killed in action five days later during a special ops raid on an apartment complex where suspects linked to the attackers carried out suicide bombings.

"In Russia, dogs who serve police are loved not only by the police but also by ordinary citizens," Zubov said, adding that the offering of Dobrynya to France was "a symbol of the unity of our peoples in the implacable fight against terrorism."

The French Ambassador described receiving the seven-month-old pup as an “extraordinary gift.”

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