Opinion: Massacre of dogs in Sochi stains snow of Winter Olympics with blood

By MEP Struan Stevenson

The hypocrisy of Vladimir Putin is breath-taking! The Russian leader posed with a Persian Leopard cub to publicise the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, portraying himself as a cuddly animal lover, while his henchmen in the Olympic city launched the brutal massacre of thousands of stray dogs.

The mayor of Sochi had previously promised to capture, sterilize and care for the stray animals and significant sums of money had apparently been allocated for the acquisition of land on which a dog shelter could be constructed. The money somehow disappeared and instead, the mayor advertised for a company prepared to shoot or poison the animals. No company from Sochi responded to the call for tenders, forcing the mayor to bring in a company reportedly called BASIA from the city of Rostov. Teams from that company have been engaged in shooting thousands of dogs with poisoned darts, causing outrage from animal lovers throughout Russia and worldwide.

Putin has spent more than $50 billion in Sochi, making this by far the most expensive Winter Olympics ever. It is a tragedy that some of that money could not have been used for the sterilisation and re-homing of Sochi's stray dog population. The killing of these animals stains the snow of Sochi with blood before the games get under way. Posing with a leopard cub will not distract the world from Putin's culpability in this massacre of helpless animals. If the Kremlin is genuinely trying to forge closer ties with Europe, they should bear in mind the importance of our animal welfare policies enshrined within the Lisbon Treaty.

Struan Stevenson spearheaded a nine year campaign to ban the import, export and trade in cat and dog skins in Europe, with EU-wide legislation introduced in January 2010.

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