Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
A 3-month-old black terrier puppy; that was the unlikely gift given to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by Russian leader Vladimir Putin in September. Ironically enough, the breed in question is often referred to as “Stalin’s dog,” a term that was originally coined during the 1950s when these terriers guarded prisoners during the Russian dictator’s regime. Chavez didn’t seem to mind the connotation, telling a Russian delegation in Caracas that “He is a good dog and beautiful. I’m going to call him ‘Russian.'” And presumably, Chavez won’t care that he’s not the only leader to have received a dose of puppy diplomacy; in fact, Putin himself has been the recipient of a couple canines. In 2010, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov gave the then Russian Prime Minister a Bulgarian shepherd called Baffi. More recently, he received a 3-month old Akita Inu puppy from a Japanese governor. Putin promised to return the favor by sending “a Siberian cat, a bigger one.”