Diesel the Paris police dog:

Russian police offer to replace dog that

died in Saint-Denis raid

The Russian police will give a police dog to the French forces to express their solidarity in their fight against terrorism.

Russian police suppressing a demonstration in Moscow

The announcement was made on the Russian police Facebook page on Friday (November 20), two days after thousands of people paid tributes to Diesel, the seven-year-old Belgian Malinois who was shot by an extremist during the raid in Saint-Denis, a Paris commune, on Wednesday (November 18).

A Belgian Malinois in the snow.

The Russian-born puppy called Dobrynya, after a legendary Russian hero, will be “handed over to France to replace Diesel and in solidarity with French people and the police in the fight against terrorism” states the Russian police’s post on Facebook. In Russian folklore, Dobrynya is a knight which embodies the forces of good, military prowess and selflessness.

A Malinois puppy

The Russian gift to the French police comes after a viral Twitter trend of tributes to Diesel. The French dog was shot dead as police raided a flat, where Paris attacks mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud was in hiding. The French National Police had announced the death of the hero dog in a Tweet on Wednesday - which itself was retweeted 16,000 times – and resulted in the hashtags #JeSuisChien (I am dog) and JeSuisDiesel trending on social media.

French National Police on a foot patrol

Wednesday’s raid in a flat in Saint-Denis followed a French operation to find Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of the Paris attacks which killed 130 people last Friday. The raid resulted in three deaths, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, and eight arrests.

Rue Gabriel Péri, a pedestrian zone in Saint-Denis, Paris

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)