Russia’s Ministry of Defence has taken a break from tough talk to release a one-minute clip of puppies playing in the snow.
The Russian armed forces’ official New Year’s greeting is a marked departure from their steely statements on everything from Syria to Nato.
In the video, titled ‘Faithful Friends congratulate you on the coming New Year’, a pack of black and white spotted puppies are shown frolicking in the snow.
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Other clips in the montage feature puppies eating from a bowl and playing with their handlers, while another moment shows two larger dogs chasing one another along a fence, all accompanied by a soothing light jazz soundtrack.
The video marks “something of a shift in tone” from the ministry, Newsweek says, compared to its usual focus on “the actions and whereabouts of its two-legged members of the armed forces”.
More than 3,000 dogs are employed in the Russian armed forces, AP reports, with one training centre recently winning an international contest against military dogs from Belarus, Egypt, Iran and Uzbekistan.
2018 is the year of the dog in the lunar calendars of Russia’s neighbours, China and Mongolia, and dog motifs have been a popular theme in Russian New Year celebrations.
“Newspapers, magazines and sites are full of advice on how to see in this new year so as to propitiate the Chinese animal god and bring good fortune in the coming year,” says The Moscow Times.
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