Presidential pup: Serbian leader to present Putin with unique gift during Belgrade visit

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has a special gift lined up for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a source in Vucic’s administration told the Blic newspaper, Trend reports referring to TASS.

During Putin’s visit to Belgrade on Thursday, the Serbian leader will present Putin with a Sarplaninac (or Yugoslavian Shepherd) puppy, the paper writes.

"The puppy has an impressive pedigree of seven generations. This is our oldest native breed of dogs, and it is well known that President Putin loves this breed of canine," the source told the paper. This will be the first time that Vucic presents the Russian leader with a dog.

The Sarplaninac or Yugoslavian Shepherd Dog is a canine breed, which hails from the Balkan Peninsula that is used to protect flocks of sheep in the mountains and as a guard dog. According to legend, Alexander the Great’s warriors had imported the ancestors of these dogs, the Tibetan mastiffs, during his eastern military campaigns.

Putin earlier received puppies as a gift from Turkmenistan, Bulgaria, Japan and Kyrgyzstan.