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Serbian leader presents Putin with Sarplaninac puppy during Belgrade visit

Putin earlier received puppies as a gift from Turkmenistan, Bulgaria, Japan and Kyrgyzstan

© Mikhail Klimentiev/Russia's presidential press service/TASS

BELGRADE, January 17. /TASS/. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has presented a special gift - a Sarplaninac (or Yugoslavian Shepherd) puppy - to his visiting Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Putin seemed to like his new pet, the four-month puppy nicknamed Pasha. "What a cutie!," he said taking the puppy in his arms after the first round of talks with Vucic.

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"The puppy has an impressive pedigree of seven generations. This is our oldest native breed of dogs, and it is well known that President Putin loves this breed of canine," a source in Vucic’s administration told the Blic newspaper earlier.

The Sarplaninac or Yugoslavian Shepherd Dog is a canine breed, which hails from the Balkan Peninsula that is used to protect flocks of sheep in the mountains and as a guard dog. According to legend, Alexander the Great’s warriors had imported the ancestors of these dogs, the Tibetan mastiffs, during his eastern military campaigns.

Putin earlier received puppies as a gift from Turkmenistan, Bulgaria, Japan and Kyrgyzstan.

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