Paris Attacks: French Tweet #JeSuisChien, Russian Federation Offer Puppy in Solidarity

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs is poised to send over a puppy named Dobrynya to replace Diesel, a French police dog who died in the course of tracking down suspects.

In memory of Diesel, the police dog killed by a suicide bomber on Wednesday, Russian government officials this week donated and sent Diesel’s replacement to help “in the fight against terrorism”.

With solid information about the raid still scarce and a large area still cordoned off, the tweet was shared thousands of times in a matter of minutes.

Social media users expressed their sorrow for the death of the dog, and others thanked Russian Federation for the gesture of solidarity with France.

In a tweet, Police National said the Belgian shepherd dog, or Malinois, who was “killed by terrorists”.

Abdelhami Abaaoud, 27, was believed to be living in Syria but has been identified by police sources as the target of the overnight operation.

The hashtag #JeSuisChien (I am a dog) was trending on French Twitter after the announcement.

“Our four-legged friends also serve the police, protecting society from terrorist threats”, the Moscow police service said.

Seven people have been arrested following the dramatic shootout but it remains unclear whether the man suspected of masterminding Friday’s atrocities, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, is among them.

The hashtag did draw critics, however, who noted that Diesel may have received more public sympathy than victims of recent terrorist attacks in Lebanon and Nigeria, which respectively killed 40 and 32.

Five police officers suffered injuries in the operation to capture Abdel-Hamid Abu Oud in a raid that began at 4.25am (3.25 GMT).