Vladimir Putin tests Russian GPS on his dog
Vladimir Putin showed off Russia's technological progress by using his black labrador Koni to test a new satellite navigation system.
Although Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System is not yet fully operational, it seemed to work on the prime minister's dog.
After a briefing on the system from his deputy, Sergei Ivanov, the two men tried out a collar containing satellite-guided positioning equipment on Koni.
Mr Ivanov said that the equipment goes on a standby mode when "the dog doesn't move, if it, say, lies down in a puddle."
Mr Putin interrupted him to say: "My dog isn't a piglet, it doesn't lie in puddles.
"She wags her tail, she likes it."
The navigation system, which goes by acronym Glonass, was developed during the Soviet era as a response to the US Global Positioning System. But it has been slow to take shape amid the post-Soviet economic meltdown.
The government had promised to make the system fully operational by the beginning of this year, but it was delayed by equipment flaws and other technical problems.
Mr Ivanov told Mr Putin that the system would have 21 satellites by the year's end - enough to provide navigation services over the entire Russian territory.
Mr Ivanov said it would be available worldwide by the end of 2009, for which it would need to have 24 satellites.
Telegraph
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