--- title: Vladimir Putin Was Gifted a Puppy From Turkmenistan description: Russian president Putin was gifted a Turkmen shepherd puppy from the president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. canonical: https://time.com/4977670/vladimir-putin-puppy/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-11T15:39:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:47:56.122Z og:title: Here's the Moment When Putin Got a New Puppy as a Present og:description: The best kind of gift to recieve og:url: https://time.com/4977670/vladimir-putin-puppy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a3b9e08282e57c1/6988e170196cf4dd2a042468/vladimir-putin-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Russian President Vladimir Putin receives CIS Leaders in Sochi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's the Moment When Putin Got a New Puppy as a Present twitter:description: The best kind of gift to recieve twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a3b9e08282e57c1/6988e170196cf4dd2a042468/vladimir-putin-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's the Awkward Moment When Vladimir Putin Got a Puppy As a Gift > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 11, 2017 3:39 PM UTC  SOCHI, RUSSIA - OCTOBER 12: (RUSSIA OUT) Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymuhakmedov (L) smiles as he presents a Central Asian Shepherd puppy Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) during their meeting on October, 12, 2017 in Sochi, Russia. Leaders of ex-Soviet states have gathered in Sochi for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eurasian Economic Union (EES) summits. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images) SOCHI, RUSSIA - OCTOBER 12: (RUSSIA OUT) Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymuhakmedov (L) smiles as he presents a Central Asian Shepherd puppy Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) during their meeting on October, 12, 2017 in Sochi, Russia. Leaders of ex-Soviet states have gathered in Sochi for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eurasian Economic Union (EES) summits. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images) Mikhail Svetlov—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 11, 2017 3:39 PM UTC Bringing a gift for your host when you’re visiting from out of town is often a courteous move and something that Turkmenistan’s president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov obviously believes in as he brought quite the gift for [Russian president Vladimir Putin](http://time.com/4865982/secret-plan-stop-vladimir-putin-election-plot/) on a trip to the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi. During their meeting, Berdimuhamedov revealed that he had brought a Turkmen shepherd puppy dog, which he then proceeded to pick up by the scruff of its neck and handed to Putin, who seemed to be surprised but pleased with the canine, even going so far to give it a cuddle and a kiss. According to [_Reuters_](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-turkmenistan-putin-dog/dog-lover-putin-gets-top-breed-pup-as-gift-from-turkmen-leader-idUSKBN1CG1JM), Berdimuhamedov told Putin upon gifting the pup that the animal was a connecting factor between the two. “We have a common friend,” he said. “This is the world’s unique alabai dog. And today I brought this little alabai with me.” Putin has named the puppy Verny, which means “faithful” in Russian. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4977670/vladimir-putin-puppy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4977670/vladimir-putin-puppy/"},"headline":"Here's the Awkward Moment When Vladimir Putin Got a Puppy As a Gift","datePublished":"2017-10-11T15:39:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:47:56.122Z","description":"The best kind of gift to recieve","url":"https://time.com/4977670/vladimir-putin-puppy/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","viral","Bizarre","Vladimir Putin"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a3b9e08282e57c1/6988e170196cf4dd2a042468/vladimir-putin-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a3b9e08282e57c1/6988e170196cf4dd2a042468/vladimir-putin-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian President Vladimir Putin receives CIS Leaders in Sochi","caption":"Russian President Vladimir Putin receives CIS Leaders in Sochi","creditText":"Mikhail Svetlov—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4977670/vladimir-putin-puppy/","name":"Here's the Awkward Moment When Vladimir Putin Got a Puppy As a Gift"}}]}] ```